Wow. Just like last year’s trade for Mat Latos, I did not see this one coming. Today, the Cincinnati Reds traded Drew Stubbs and Didi Gregorius to the Cleveland Indians for Jason Donald and Shin-Soo Choo, solving the lead-off problem.

“It was very difficult giving up home-grown talent, but we think Choo can fill the missing parts in our lineup both offensively and defensively,” Jocketty said. “He is an exciting player, and we expect him to set the table for Phillips, Votto, Bruce, Ludwick and the rest of our run producers.”

Following the trade with the Reds, the Indians flipped Gregorius to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were in need of a shortstop. Arizona also received left-handed pitcher Tony Sipp and first baseman Lars Anderson, while the Indians received right-handed pitchers Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers, and Bryan Shaw.

But the most exciting part about this is the Reds’ side of the deal. Right now, I see no down-side to this deal. Stubbs had shown that he wasn’t suited for the lead-off role where the Reds needed him. And with Zack Cozart under team control for the next 4-5 years, Gregorius, who was already knocking on the Major League door, was expendable.

General Manager Walt Jocketty has done an amazing thing here. The Reds managed an on-base percentage barely over .200 last year. With the acquisition of Choo, the team has almost doubled the on-base percentage from that spot. For his career, Choo gets on base at a .381 clip.

Not to mention the fact that for the first time, the Reds will have a lineup that’s totally Dusty Baker proof. In Baker’s world, the speedy center fielder leads off, regardless of his skills. Stubbs was ill suited for that role. Choo is perfect for it.

The whole lineup looks very potent right now, too.

1. Shin-Soo Choo
2. Brandon Phillips
3. Joey Votto
4. Ryan Ludwick
5. Jay Bruce
6. Todd Frazier
7. Zack Cozart
8. Ryan Hanigan

That’s a damn fine-looking lineup. Perhaps the best one the Reds have fielded since they started winning again.

Choo has one year before he’s a free agent, but after that the Reds expect Billy Hamilton to be ready. So basically, they turned Stubbs and Gregorius, players who aren’t expected to have positions in the lineup in 2014, into a rental center fielder for this season. And one of the best parts is that Jocketty didn’t have to trade away any pitching.

When does Spring Training start? This has me getting excited.

The Cincinnati Reds started off their annual fan convention RedsFest with a bang, announcing the re-signing of slugger and left fielder Ryan Ludwick.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Fay had the early details.

The Reds and left fielder Ryan Ludwick have agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the mutual option for a third year, a baseball source confirmed.

“It’s close,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “We hope to have it resolved by early next week.”

Basically, that quote from Jocketty means that Ludwick has to pass a physical before the Reds will officially announce the deal.

But this does mean that the Reds have a left-fielder and clean up hitter for the 2013 season. Ludwick rebounded quite nicely in Great American Ball Park in 2012, hitting .276/.346/.531 with 26 home runs. He was especially huge when Joey Votto was injured and then at the end of the season. Hopefully he’ll be able to repeat that performance next season.

The Cincinnati Reds have a closer for the 2013 season, and he’s not named Aroldis Chapman. CBSSports’ Jon Heyman reported that the Reds and Jonathan Broxton have come to agreement on a multi-year deal.

The deal is believed to be for at least three years. An announcement is expected Wednesday.

Broxton is expected to be the Reds closer, enabling them to move the 100-mph-throwing Aroldis Chapman to the rotation.

The Reds have long maintained that the role they want for Chapman is in the starting rotation. Injuries to the bullpen at the start of last season prevented that from happening. Right now, though, with this signing, it looks like Chapman will be replacing Mike Leake. I think that’s an improvement.

Details on the contract with Broxton haven’t been made available yet, so I’ll reserve judgment until then. But a multi-year deal for a closer is a risky venture for a small market team. Of course, with Bryan Price and his pitcher whisperer skills, maybe it’s not that risky.

Via Red Reporter, I saw this story on CBS Sports about Cincinnati Reds outfielder Ryan Ludwick declining his $5 million mutual option with the team next season.

Reds outfielder Ryan Ludwick will turn down his $5 million mutual option for 2013, but sources say the Reds will talk about a new deal to keep him in Cincinnati after his big season in 2012.

It’s not a big surprise. Ludwick put up some excellent numbers with the Reds, coming to life while Joey Votto was out. He ended the season with a .275 batting average, a .346 ob-base percentage, and a .531 slugging percentage. It was his best year since 2008 when he was an All Star and won a Silver Slugger award.

Ludwick is reportedly interested in returning to the Reds, but will be shopping around his services. It would be nice to have him back as I think he has some slugging left to do, and his skills suit Great American Ball Park nicely.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Giants (2-2)	1	2	0	0	2	0	3	0	0	8	11	1
Reds (2-2)	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	9	0

Boxscore

Boy, the playoffs got real ugly, real fast. It seems like only yesterday that the Cincinnati Reds were in the driver’s seat of this best-of-five series, holding a 2 games to none lead. And all that without their ace, Johnny Cueto.

The San Francisco Giants are a good team, though. And they’ve roared back, taking the momentum away from the Reds.

After finally making the hard decision yesterday, the Reds removed Cueto from the roster and activated Mike Leake, hoping he could turn in a good start. He couldn’t. The bullpen didn’t help matters, and with the offense failing, it was a long, painful game.

Leake pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 1. You knew things weren’t looking good when the very first batter he faced hit a home run to give the Giants an early lead. Baker probably left Leake in too long for this one.

The bullpen came in after that, and Sam LeCure put up another 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Then Jose Arredondo allowed 3 runs to make it clear that the Reds weren’t going to win. J. J. Hoover and Alfredo Simon kept the Giants off the board after that, but it was too late.

The Reds did have score a few runs, but the offense really failed to drive in runs. The team left 10 runners on base and failed to have a single hit with a runner in scoring position. That is just not good enough.

What could very well be the final game of the year for the Reds is this afternoon. Cincinnati will turn to Mat Latos to see if he has any Giants-killing magic left in his arm. The Giants will counter with their game one starter, Matt Cain.