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.

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.

The Cincinnati Reds had an off-day today, and talk turned to the looming trade deadline.

Every July 31st, it comes. This is the deadline to add players to the major league roster without having them pass through waivers. (The second trading deadline that requires players to pass through waivers and allow every other team a chance to claim doesn’t happen until August 31.)

So what are the Reds’ plans this year? Are they buyers or sellers? Looking at their record, one might think the would be interested in selling. Not so, says general manager Walt Jocketty.

“We’re looking to upgrade any area,” Jocketty said.

That sounds like buying to me. Which is good. Aside from Bronson Arroyo, Francisco Cordero, and Brandon Phillips, the Reds don’t have salaries to dump. Arroyo’s having a bad year and has no trade value; Cordero’s over-paid and struggling of late; and getting rid of Phillips might cause a fan riot on Fountain Square.

Having said that, the Reds do have holes. No losing team doesn’t. The Reds’ biggest one is starting pitching, despite what was seen during the Pittsburgh Pirates series. It’s easy to look good against a punchless offense, and despite their success, the Pirates’ offense is weak. Nobody besides Johnny Cueto can be relied on each start to go deep and give the team a good chance of winning.

Offense from left field and shortstop has been mentioned, but playing Chris Heisey more and finally calling up Zack Cozart–two weeks later than it should have been–seems to have improved that.

To me, starting pitching is the obvious area to target.

The Reds have been rumored to be interested in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Ubaldo Jiminez and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ James Shields. Both are good young starters still under team control, which means they would cost a bundle. However, the Reds are loaded in the minors, with a team that would have rivaled any of the terrible Pirates teams before this years down in Louisville. They’ve got a surplus, and I’m hoping they spend it on something good.

Boxscore

In fact, one win in a row would be pretty good at this point. I’m going ahead and predicting a shutout series. After two straight times of being shutout against the once lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, I’m feeling confident.

Last night, the Pirates overtook first place in the division. A series in July between first and fourth place in the NLC, the Pirates and Reds: you might have predicted that at the beginning of the season, though you might have been thinking about it a little differently.

Tonight, both the expected standings and the expected outcome were flipped, as the Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0.

Mike Leake started for the Reds and allowed 1 run over 6 innings, clearly a terrible outing that deserves the loss he received.

Maybe the Reds won’t be swept tomorrow. But given their lifeless offense–even the might Zack Cozart had his hitting streak snapped at 6–nobody except the Pirates’ pitchers should feel optimistic.