According to Reds.com, the Reds brought Elizardo Ramirez up from Class A Dayton today. The Lizard was optioned to Dayton before the All-Star break to keep him active while the major leaguers lounged around for a few days.

To make room on the roster, David Ross was put on the 15-day DL, which really just delays the real decision for a few days. If someone is to be sent down when Ross comes back, you'd have to guess it would be Jason Standridge, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to replace a pitcher with a catcher. I'm sure that Wayne Krivsky is trying to deal Jason LaRue and/or Javier Valentín before then.

Just heard on WLW:

To make room for their shiny new pitchers Gary Majewski and Bill Bray and shortstop Royce Clayton, the Reds have designated for assignment Esteban Yan, optioned William Bergolla back to Louisville, and placed Matt Belisle back on the 15-day Disabled list with a strained back.

They've apparently also claimed Brandon Watson, a minor league outfielder, off the waiver wire, also from the Nationals.

Perhaps Krivsky would like to trade teams with Bowden.

You might be interested to know that Wayne Krivsky pulled the trigger on an eight-player deal today with Jim Bowden and the Washington Nationals:

Cincinnati completed an eight-player trade with the Nationals on Thursday afternoon, sending starting shortstop Felipe Lopez and right fielder Austin Kearns, as well as Minor League pitcher Ryan Wagner, to Washington in exchange for relievers Gary Majewski and Bill Bray, shortstop Royce Clayton, infielder Brendan Harris and pitcher Darryl Thompson.

Kriv-dawg likes to emphasize the defense, so dealing Lopez isn't much of a surprise. Personally I didn't think Felipe was doing so bad this year, but maybe I was just comparing him to last year. Such a deal makes you wonder about the prospects of Edwin Encarnación should someone come a callin' for his services.

That doesn't explain trading Kearns, though. And it doesn't heal my broken heart to see him go, either.

Looks like HMZ has some hard facts share, as always:

The Reds get:

* Gary Majewski (righthander who is 3-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 46 games this year after 79 relief appearances with a 2.93 ERA last year)

* Bill Bray (a rookie lefty who's 1-1 with a 3.91 ERA in 19 relief appearances this season)

* Royce Clayton, a shortstop who started this season ranked 2nd among active shortstops in games, starts, innings, total chances, putouts, assists and double plays, trailing only 10-time Gold Glover Omar Vizquel in every category; whose career fielding percentage of .974 entering this year ranked seventh among all Major League shortstops; and who on top of playing much better defense at short than Lopez is hitting .269 with 22 doubles and eight stolen bases in 87 games)

* Brendan Harris, a major-league ready glove at 3B, SS and 2B who has shown signs of being able to hit for average and being a good situational hitter, plus

* Daryl Thompson, a 20-year old pitcher with a fastball in the low 90's and a solid curve and change (in other words, a good pitching prospect if they can get him healthy…20-year old pitchers with three solid pitches aren't easy to find).

I'm afraid my glasses aren't so rose-colored. Sure, there's a lot here, but worth Lopez AND Kearns (and Wagner)?

Krivsky bought himself a lot of benefit of the doubt with Bronson Arroyo, David Ross, and Brandon Phillips. He's already used up some of it with Quinton McCracken and Joe Mays, but he's got enough left for me to reserve judgement for a little while longer, especially since this move means that William Bergolla and--even more important to me--Chris Denorfia come back.

Still, I'm baffled. Does this mean that the Reds have accepted a seller role this off season? I'd love for another shoe to fall to bring someone bona fide with a little name recognition and make this make more sense.

Thanks to our buddy over at Rain Delay for bringing to my attention the fact that the Reds have traded Travis Chick to the Mariners for left-handed pitcher Eddie Guardado and cash.

Chick was the more loudly touted of the pitching prospects that we got in exchange for Joe Randa in July last season. The other player gotten in that trade Justin Germano is currently rocking a 4.20 ERA with the AAA Louisville Bats.

There was so much hype about Chick; I'm sorry I won't get to see him in action. What's up with this Guardado character? Is he the answer to our prayers or Krivsky's revenge against Shackelford for embarrassing the organization so?

The official site has a little more to say on the matter:

“I know him well,” Krivsky said from Sarasota, Fla, where he was watching the club's Class A team. “We've got a really good relationship. I feel he's got a lot left. We feel that he can go into the closer's role and we're excited to have him.”

In 28 relief appearances this season, Guardado was 1-3 with a 5.48 ERA and five saves. Earlier this season, he lost his closer's job to J.J. Putz and was unhappy in a setup role.

Much as I like Todd Coffey, he hasn't been putting it together as our closer lately. I don't know if it's the pressure of being the only decent one in the bullpen or what, but he might benefit from a little time in the setup role.

Even more interestingly:

According to a source with knowledge of the deal, the Commissioner's office had to approve the trade because Seattle is picking up a majority of Guardado's remaining $6.25 million salary for 2006. He signed a three-year, $17 million deal with the Mariners in December 2003 after spending 1993-2003 with the Twins.

You go, Krivsky.

Short a left-handed reliever, what with Brian Shackelford apparently still being held without charges in Milwaukee on suspicion of sexual assault, the Reds optioned Shack to Louisville and brough up LHP Michael Gosling.

If Gosling makes this work, he'll have quite a story to tell the grandkids.

UPDATE 6:58 p.m. According to Marc Shack is a free man, no charges having been filed. He has 72 hours to report to Louisville.