Good Morning, dear readers. The Reds have a new pitcher. The club has agreed with free agent LHP Jeremy Affeldt – most recently a member of the NL pennant-winning Colorado Rockies – on a one-year, $3 million contract, pending Affeldt’s passing a physical.

I’m not terribly impressed with his overall body of work in the major leagues prior to last year, but for $3 million in today’s market? The husk of Ron Mahay is costing the Royals $4 million a year for the next two years. At least Affeldt, who is only 28, might still have some upside. He’s lefthanded, has postseason experience, is coming off a career year, his career ERA+ is right around league average, and if he doesn’t start, he could turn out to be the best LOOGY the Reds have had in a long time.

He could also enable a trade later in the year if the kids have taken over the rotation slots. If Affeldt plays well, they can trade a package consisting of Mike Stanton and two autographed pictures of Mel Queen to any team in baseball that’s willing to pay the asking price (a bag of batting practice baseballs sounds just about right), and consider it a deal that heavily favors the Reds.