I was half asleep when George Grande said it, but I'm confident that it was not a dream. Rick White has been designated for assignment. The corresponding roster move has yet to be announced.

That's a start, but it doesn't prove much until they replace him with something good.

UPDATED 4:35 p.m. Marc says that the team is buying the contract of one Jason Standridge to replace Rick White. Standridge is 2-2 with a 2.62 ERA. He's made 29 appearances comprising in 34.1 innings pitched this season with the Louisville Bats. He's struck out 33 and walked 13.

UPDATED 9:22 p.m. to correctly distinguish between an official press release and a non-team-approved story.

According to an official press release on Reds.com, General Manager Wayne Krivsky has traded with the Minnesota Twins to acquire Juan Castro for minor league outfielder Brandon Roberts.

That's right, Juan Castro. The damn-near 34-year old that you remember from the early aughts. The middle infielder “defensive specialist” who can't get on base. The “veteran prescence.” The “Womack Jr.”

Mark Sheldon, MLB writer for Reds.com says in his related story: “One potential red flag is his inability to get on base consistently -- he has a .258 on-base percentage this season…”

So the question is, what are we seeing here? Is Krivsky getting sick of the errors and willing to trade everything Lopez offers for a consistent throw to first? Is he playing out his role as double-agent for the Twins? Or is he pulling off one of those doesn't-make-any-sense-until-it-works moves that he did so well a while back?

Guess we'll find out tomorrow. Paul Wilson has been moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man and a corresponding 25-man move (sending down Olmedo, I reckon, dammit) will be announced in time for Castro to take the field against the White Sox.

And only 21 1/2 hours later, I finally get around to mentioning that Justin Germano was sent back to Louisville last night to make room for Joe Mays.

Germano was told he was being optioned back to Louisville so he can get some more work -- he hasn't pitched since last Tuesday -- and the Reds will bring in Joe Mays to take his roster spot tomorrow. Narron was quite clear that Mays will be working out of the bullpen.

That's Joe Mays, not Darrell May, who was not re-signed, no matter what some snarky news reports implied.

Impossible not to notice that this “long reliever” came up the same day that Brandon Claussen needed over 100 pitches for five innings of work.

Brian “Love” Shackelford will optioned to Louisville this afternoon to make room for Esteban Yan.

Smart alecry to come in today's Ten Reasons.

So says Marc:

The Reds have acquired veteran reliever Esteban Yan and cash from the Angels for minor league pitcher Kyle Edens.

Yan, who turns 31 next month, was designated for assignment by the Angels on Friday. He has compiled a 6.85 ERA in 13 appearances this year and is making $1.25 million.

Jerry Narron said the Reds will use Yan, who can throw in the mid-90s, as a short reliever. That means it won't necessarily be Justin Germano getting the ax when Yan gets here tomorrow.

Edens, 26, was the Reds' third-round pick in the 2002 draft out of Baylor University. He was 2-1 with a 5.46 ERA in 18 appearances for Sarasota this year.

Not necessarily Germano going home, eh? Who votes for White?