July 15, 2006
Press Conference
By
Amanda
Posted at 11:14 am
This is a tough time for us, but we understand that the team was desperate for bullpen help. We've seen the need for it ourselves painfully often.
So, sure, it stings to be traded for middle relief, but we wish the Reds luck and will go do our very best for the Nationals.
Jimbo gave me five players and I gave him three. I win!
I am so awesome.
Narron’s smile is creeping me the frak out.
Don’t like the trade much, RHM??? 😉 I’m neutral… if I had to pick a favorite Reds player it was Kearns (he’s from KY), but I don’t like to play favorites…anyone that wears the wishbone C is OK by me.
I compared this trade to the 1971 trade with Houston that BTW was also a 8 player deal. This happened in the off season and I debated to even follow the team in 1972. I really hated this trade, Lee May was and still is one of my favorite all time Reds. Another point is that I didn’t start really liking baseball until 1969, the team went to the WS in 1970 and even though 1971 would be the only losing season in the 70s, May had a good year – it didn’t make sense – how could this team trade away one of the better players. I only knew two players from Houston (out of the 5 – Armbrister was a minor leaguer). Morgan, it was mentioned in the newspapers, was a “troublemaker” and Billingham was a marginal pitcher at best. The rest I could’ve care less for. It didn’t help when the first game in the 1972 season I go to at Riverfront was against Houston and the Reds got beat 9-5 (IIRC). Of course, the rest is history.
So I’m holding out judgement on this trade.
KittyDuran
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I remember that trade well.
I knew about Morgan and Menke, and I was aware of Billingham from when he had been in the Expos’ system, but I’d never heard of Armbrister or Geronimo. Trading May to open 1B for Perez and plugging Menke in at third made sense, but like you, I still felt sad to see May go, and Helms go.
I also remember thinking that Tommy Helms had just been the rookie of the year, why trade him for a different second baseman, especially Morgan that had been, like, a .250 or .260 hitter the year before IIRC.
Another thing you reminded me of from ’71 was Bob Howsam’s other 1971 trade, stealing George Foster from the Giants for two guys named Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert, neither of whom ever did anything in the majors to give anyone the impression that they were even fit to so much as carry Foster’s MVP trophies.
I’m not quite ready to put Wayne Krivsky up there with Bob Howsam yet. He’s going to have to produce a few championships before I’ll consider comparing him to Howsam in that way. But I’ll gladly rank Bowden down there with Dick Wagner as one of the worst, and I’m glad the Reds once again have a GM who isn’t afraid to make some moves in an effort to improve the team.
You can compare this to the Morgan deal all you want, but the Reds got three relievers, Royce Clayton, and a 26-year-old utilityman who has been unable to hit in the majors at all prior to this point. The only way it ends up like that is if Bill Bray is Dennis Eckersley and Daryl Thompson is Bob Gibson.
*CRIES*
Your caption plays to a notion I had. There is a story in the news of late about a guy who, through a series of 14 trades, bartered a paper clip into a house. I figure Krivsky saw the story and had a Fibonnaci moment. If he trades 3 for 5, then 5 for 8, and so on, eventually he can get maybe 34 players and trade them all to St Louis for Albert Pujols. How could they turn down 34:1?
Zel – I’m with you, man. Those self-satisfied smirks get under my skin. Krivsky ought to be wearing an apologetic expression in my opinionation. Something that says, “honest, this was the best I could do.”
I heard him on WLW tonight to defend the trade, saying that these weren’t “middle relievers” but “qualified set up men” who were “capable of handling the seventh and eighth inning.” Kearns and Lopez exchanged for the man who’s handed the Rockies every single run they’ve scored the last two days, and Kriv-dawg is arguing semantics.
But as I’ve said, I genuinely don’t mind trading Kearns and Lopez; we just didn’t get enough in return. Couldn’t he have swung this trade minus McClayton and Majewski for just Kearns and Wagner? Then he’d still have Felipe for the next opportunity that presents itself.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone bring up the Fibonacci sequence in casual conversation before. I salute you, jbsh56.
Geki, I was comparing this trade to the ’71 trade based on how some fans are dealing with it – not on the “rest is history” part. The “Morgan” trade looks fantastic now because we know the outcome but when it went down, as KC mentioned, IT was a real downer. Luckily for Morgan and company, the Reds went onto the WS in 1972 – that took some of the sting away.