No, this trade is about improving two of the team’s most glaring weaknesses, namely its bullpen and its defense.

Now, what’s Krivsky been doing since he got here? Improving the pitching (Arroyo, Guardado, Majewski, Bray) and defense (Hello to Hatteberg, Ross, Phillips, Clayton; goodbye to Lopez and Wily Mo).

Which, come to think of it, is exactly the same thing the last two World Series winners did to go from also-rans to champions.

Sounds like a plan to me, and looks to me like the Reds finally have a GM (and an owner) who care about the baseball side of the operation and not just the business side. After so many losing seasons in a row, I count this as a Good Thing.

Those who have pointed out that pitching isn’t cheap are right on the money. There are a lot of teams in baseball looking for pitching. It’s a seller’s market. You either pay the price, or go to the end of the line and try again next year. Just like poker – ante up or leave the table. The Reds have been doing that since Lindner and Bowden were running things.

Giving up Kearns (when he’s easily replaced by Denorfia or, if Heartthrob doesn’t work out, Freel), Lopez (oh, and although nobody seems to have said this yet, if Clayton doesn’t cut it they can move Phillips to shortstop – Brandon’s natural position anyway – and insert Freel at 2B), and the remains of Ryan Wagner after Bowden had his hands in Wagner’s career the first time is cheap when you consider who some of the alternatives (Dunn or Griffey, or some of the top-notch prospects like Bailey or Joey Votto) might have been.

And finally, without Kearns to drag the Reds into an arbitration case next year, Krivsky has created salary room to be active in the free agent market this coming winter.

So, after years of leaving the table, the Cincinnati Reds have finally decided to ante up. I say it’s about !#$%&* time. Now I’m going to go get some popcorn, and sit down and watch the rest of this season. I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be interesting.

There’s a chance it’s wishful thinking, but I can see this trade turning out to be something very, very good.

Lopez is on pace for about .270, about 20 homers, 40 steals and almost 90(!) walks. How many middle infielders in baseball are that good offensively? Defensively, he loses some of that advantage, but I doubt he loses all of it.

Kearns is more understandable, though I would have thought they could have got more.

Kriv-dawg may wind up looking bad in this deal no matter what because the general public doesn’t appreciate how tight the market for pitching is. Hopefully one or more of these new guys blows us away and makes this an obvious win for the Reds.

I’m glad that Bowden took on Wagner; I think he’ll end up like Scott Williamson (funky mechanics lead to shoulder problems).

At the end of the day, pitching doesn’t come cheap. It was impossible for The Kriv to get anyone decent without giving up someone decent.

I don’t know enough about the relievers to know whether they’re going to make the bullpen more better than the lack of Kearns and Lopez will make the offense/defense worse. If so, I suppose it doesn’t really matter if what we paid is worth the same as what we got.

It’s just that the idea of getting taken by Bowden…it just makes my skin crawl.

Reading everyone’s thoughts on Reds sites and general baseball sites indicates that the prevailing opinion is that the Reds lost. Big time.

I don’t know. I can’t see it as a salary dump or selling away the season. I think this is a genuine attempt to improve the team and the bullpen for this year. And because the pitchers are young, it could very well help for years to come.

Nothing we Reds fans can do now but cross our fingers and hope. Well, that’s not entirely true. We could also bitch and moan about how stupid Kriv-dawg is and how much everybody who disagrees with our obviously superior opinion is ignorant and an idiot. But I’m sure no Reds fan will stoop to that.