ESPN is reporting a complicated trade that’s resulted in, among other things, the addition of Corey Patterson to the St. Louis Cardinals’ roster:

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox traded pitcher Edwin Jackson and utilityman Mark Teahen to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The White Sox will receive reliever Jason Frasor and pitching prospect Zach Stewart.

A short time later Wednesday, the Blue Jays turned around and traded Jackson to the St. Louis Cardinals in an eight player deal that netted Toronto Colby Rasmus, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney.

The Cards sent Rasmus Trever Miller, Brian Tallet and P.J. Walters to the Jays for Jackson, Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel and Corey Patterson.

The clear winner in this trade is, of course, Colby Rasmus, who finally gets to escape from under the malevolent thumb of Tony LaRussa.

Which is nothing. See, that’s the joke. (Though as Washington gets further and further from its Jim Bowden years, the situation is definitely looking up.) Not actually, nothing, of course. Here are the deets from Reds.com:

Gomes, a career .244 hitter with 115 home runs, is batting .211 with 11 homers and 31 RBIs this season. Washington traded pitching prospect Chris Manno and Double-A outfielder Bill Rhinehart to Cincinnati to acquire Gomes, who has hit .281 against left-handed pitching for his career.

Fox Ohio had a short little interview with Jonny Gomes before he took off for our nation’s capitol, and he seemed kinda bummed. I guess it would be hard to be traded and not have it feel like a rejection, especially when this team has been primarily in tact for a really long time. But I don’t see it as an insult to Gomes. The Nats were all over the Reds to trade for him, so clearly they really want him, and maybe he’ll be a key component to take the Nats the way of the Pirates. He might as well try: the Reds sure as hell don’t seem to be going anywhere this season.

The rest of the Reds seem kind lackluster today (though it’s hard to tell compared to their recent play). They’re always a little stiff at first in situations they’re not used to: big crowds, post season, and now having a friend traded away. Just like the first two, though, they’d probably better get used to it.

Good luck, Gomes-y! We’ll be cheering for you!

During yesterday’s game, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Zack Cozart injured his arm covering second. The ball and the runner arrived at the same time, resulting in a safe runner and a hyper-extended elbow for Cozart.

Today, Cozart was placed on the 15-day disabled list. Cozart had been very good in his short time with the Reds, hitting .324, hitting 2 home runs, and driving in 3 runs. It’s offensive output that the man he replaced, Paul Janish, was unable to come close to achieving.

But Janish will get a second chance. During Cozart’s absence, Janish has been called back up. He did have some luck finding his bat down in AAA Louisville, where he batted .256 with a home run, and 3 RBI. Oh, and he managed a .377 on-base percentage. If he can come close to duplicating that, the Reds will be in a good spot at short, even when Cozart returns.

Edgar Renteria will get the start tonight.

I have a bias when it comes to baseball: I favor the young guys.

To me, it feels like they have more drive, more desire, more to prove, and a higher potential ceiling, if only because time hasn’t cemented their position in the majors. So I was in favor of Paul Janish over Alex Gonzalez last year. And this year, when Janish failed to be demonstrably better than Edgar Renteria, I wanted Zack Cozart called up.

Walt Jocketty did call up Cozart, albeit two weeks too late–he’s really been just a horrible general manager this year–and it proved very successful. Until tonight, when he hurt his left elbow in a bang-bang play at second base. The throw from Joey Votto arrived at the same time as the runner, and Cozart exploded from the base in pain with his left elbow hyper-extended.

The Reds won, but are still wondering what the final prognosis will be on Cozart.

Renteria came in off the bench and helped power the Reds to the win over the Atlanta Braves. But you know who also helped? Freshly called up Todd Frazier.

Frazier was called up when 3rd basemen Scott Rolen was placed on the disabled list officially for a case of a sore shoulder, but really a case of the olds and can’t hit for shit anymore. Frazier, with the bases loaded, did what few Reds has been able to do this year, doubled off the top of the wall and cleared the bases.

I don’t know, but I feel more excited when the younger guys are playing. The Reds won tonight. Todd Frazier was playing, as was Zack Cozart and Chris Heisey. Play the young guys. They’re the ones with passion and a real desire to win that seems to come through the two-dimensional television screen.

Heck, play them on Sunday. Maybe the Reds will stop sucking and actually win 2 in a row.

Remember when Albert Pujols went on the 15-day disabled list with a wrist fracture? He was activated today on his first day of eligibility.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Reds manager Dusty Baker said he thought Pujols might be back early.

“I didn’t think it was going to take as long as they said originally, knowing Albert,” Baker said. “With modern medicine, and he’s probably working on it around the clock, no it doesn’t really surprise me.”

That’s interesting. I’ve never heard of working out helping broken bones.

What does Pujols have to say about his quick recovery?

“Does it surprise you?” the star first baseman asked. “It doesn’t surprise me. A lot of people praying for me and I believe all the prayers are being answered.”

Well, that settles it. God is a Cardinals fan.