Today, the Cincinnati Reds confirmed what the rest of the baseball world knew days ago: they’d traded for reliever Sean Marshall from the Chicago Cubs.

CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty today announced the acquisition of LHP Sean Marshall from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for LHP Travis Wood, OF Dave Sappelt and minor league IF Ronald Torreyes.

Marshall, 29, last season for the Cubs posted a 2.26 ERA and 5 saves in 78 relief appearances, tied for fifth-most in the Major Leagues. He established a single-season franchise record with 34 holds while holding opponents scoreless in 65 of his 78 games.

“Sean has been one of the best and most durable relievers in baseball the last couple of seasons,” Jocketty said. “He will be a solid addition to what we think already is a strong bullpen.”

Also in 2011, Marshall allowed just 1 home run in 75.2 innings, the fourth-best ratio among all Major League relievers. His 0.89 ERA in his final 33 appearances of the season was the second-best in the majors over that span to Jose Valverde’s 0.88 ERA. Marshall’s 4.65 strikeouts-per-walks ratio led all relievers who threw at least 75.0 innings.

Over the last 2 seasons, Marshall ranks second among all Major League pitchers with 158 appearances. Among among all big league relievers the last 2 years, he ranks second with a 2.45 ERA and fifth with 150.1 innings pitched and 169 strikeouts. Marshall has posted a sterling 2.67 ERA in 233 career relief appearances.

Last season Wood went 6-6 with a 4.84 ERA in 18 starts and 4 relief appearances for the Reds and 2-3 with a 5.33 ERA in 10 starts for Class AAA Louisville. Sappelt spent most of the season with the Bats but hit .243 in 38 appearances for the Reds. Torreyes hit .356 in 67 games for Class A Dayton.

So the Reds now have a seriously useful piece in their 2012 bullpen. The price was steep, but there can be no doubt that the team is serious about contending next year.

Yardbarker is reporting a rumor that the Reds are in discussions with the Cubs to trade LHP Travis Wood for LHP Sean Marshall.

Marshall, 29, has been one of the game’s top left-handed relievers the past two seasons. He will earn $3.1 million in 2012, then become eligible for free agency.

Wood, 24, endured two minor league demotions last season, finishing 6-6 with a 4.84 ERA in 22 games, including 18 starts, with the Reds. He is expendable in part because of the Reds’ recent acquisition of Mat Latos from the Padres.

It’s not exciting news on the level of the last trade, but it’s nice just hear Cincinnati mentioned in the conversations for a change.

The Reds are reporting that they have completed a five-player trade with the San Diego Padres to send RHP Edinson Volquez, RHP Brad Boxberger, infielder Yonder Alonso, and catcher Yasmani Grandal to the sunshine state in exchange for RHP Mat Latos.

It would have cost the Reds another top-10 prospect to get Mat’s other T, so they decided they could do without it.

Even though all the guys were sort of redundant and there’s scarcely a major leaguer among them, if you follow the Reds, you know that those four young men we’re sending away are a pretty big deal. The one guy we’re getting in return had better be pretty special. Here’s what the story on Reds.com has to say:

The 24-year-old Latos went 9-14 with a 3.47 ERA and .233 average against in 31 starts this past season in San Diego. In 2010, his first full season in the Majors, he set a modern Major League record by allowing two-runs-or-fewer in 15 straight starts of five-or-more innings pitched, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

I’ll also add that his ground ball to fly ball ratio was 0.76 last year.

Clearly we’ll see how it goes as more information emerges and as the season plays out, but for the moment, I’m saying it’s more exciting thing to happen in Reds fandom since June. I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

Via Redleg Nation, I saw this quote from Cincinnati Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty about some of the trades the team is working on.

There are two deals we can do right now, but it would probably take a lot of our top prospects and I’m always a little nervous about doing that. So I’ll spend a little more time analyzing that.

On its surface, it makes sense. Of course, you should do your due diligence when making trades. You don’t want to be the Houston Astros trading away Joe Morgan. But then again, doesn’t it seem like Jocketty has been cautious and careful to the Nth degree the whole time he’s been in charge of the Reds?

There are a lot of younger general managers leading teams in baseball now. Jocketty, at 60, is certainly one of the older ones. Has he become too cautious? I hope not. Obviously, being young and trigger-happy can be dangerous–just ask Wayne Krivsky–but when I think about the Reds’ lack of daring in the trades and acquisition department for the last year and a half, I do wonder if Jocketty’s lost some of those trading skills he had with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Albert Pujols is dead to St. Louis Cardinals’ fans this evening.

Today, Pujols surprised everyone by signing a 10-year, $254 million contract with the Los Angeles Anaheim California Angels, spurning the Cardinals’ own 10-year offer.

Pujols, at a stated age of 31, will allegedly be 32 when the first season of the contract begins. By the end, he’ll be 41. Of course, rumors about his age being inaccurate have long surrounded him. If he’s fudged that by a couple years and is actually 33–starting 2012 at 34–he’s going to be one mightily overpaid 43 year-old.

I can’t help but thing that the Angels did the Cardinals a huge favor here. And I mean huge. Pujols has had key stats trending downward over the last few years, and he’s unlikely to change that in the future. Being saddled with that contract–with that expensive of a barely above average player in just a few years–would have been horrible for the Cardinals and wonderful for the Cincinnati Reds.

I was hoping the Cardinals would resign him. I saw how hamstrung the Reds were during the time Ken Griffey Jr was with the team. It’s taken years to overcome. Heck, they’re probably still paying him deferred money. The chance to see the Cardinals shoot themselves in the foot like that would have been thoroughly delicious.

As it is, Reds fans will simply have to take comfort in the fact that one more whiny bird has left the building. It really is a changing of the guard in St. Louis. Unfortunately, now they’ll have money to throw around, while the Reds squander away their time and talent.