Wow. Just like last year’s trade for Mat Latos, I did not see this one coming. Today, the Cincinnati Reds traded Drew Stubbs and Didi Gregorius to the Cleveland Indians for Jason Donald and Shin-Soo Choo, solving the lead-off problem.

“It was very difficult giving up home-grown talent, but we think Choo can fill the missing parts in our lineup both offensively and defensively,” Jocketty said. “He is an exciting player, and we expect him to set the table for Phillips, Votto, Bruce, Ludwick and the rest of our run producers.”

Following the trade with the Reds, the Indians flipped Gregorius to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were in need of a shortstop. Arizona also received left-handed pitcher Tony Sipp and first baseman Lars Anderson, while the Indians received right-handed pitchers Trevor Bauer, Matt Albers, and Bryan Shaw.

But the most exciting part about this is the Reds’ side of the deal. Right now, I see no down-side to this deal. Stubbs had shown that he wasn’t suited for the lead-off role where the Reds needed him. And with Zack Cozart under team control for the next 4-5 years, Gregorius, who was already knocking on the Major League door, was expendable.

General Manager Walt Jocketty has done an amazing thing here. The Reds managed an on-base percentage barely over .200 last year. With the acquisition of Choo, the team has almost doubled the on-base percentage from that spot. For his career, Choo gets on base at a .381 clip.

Not to mention the fact that for the first time, the Reds will have a lineup that’s totally Dusty Baker proof. In Baker’s world, the speedy center fielder leads off, regardless of his skills. Stubbs was ill suited for that role. Choo is perfect for it.

The whole lineup looks very potent right now, too.

1. Shin-Soo Choo
2. Brandon Phillips
3. Joey Votto
4. Ryan Ludwick
5. Jay Bruce
6. Todd Frazier
7. Zack Cozart
8. Ryan Hanigan

That’s a damn fine-looking lineup. Perhaps the best one the Reds have fielded since they started winning again.

Choo has one year before he’s a free agent, but after that the Reds expect Billy Hamilton to be ready. So basically, they turned Stubbs and Gregorius, players who aren’t expected to have positions in the lineup in 2014, into a rental center fielder for this season. And one of the best parts is that Jocketty didn’t have to trade away any pitching.

When does Spring Training start? This has me getting excited.

The Cincinnati Reds started off their annual fan convention RedsFest with a bang, announcing the re-signing of slugger and left fielder Ryan Ludwick.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Fay had the early details.

The Reds and left fielder Ryan Ludwick have agreed to terms on a two-year deal with the mutual option for a third year, a baseball source confirmed.

“It’s close,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “We hope to have it resolved by early next week.”

Basically, that quote from Jocketty means that Ludwick has to pass a physical before the Reds will officially announce the deal.

But this does mean that the Reds have a left-fielder and clean up hitter for the 2013 season. Ludwick rebounded quite nicely in Great American Ball Park in 2012, hitting .276/.346/.531 with 26 home runs. He was especially huge when Joey Votto was injured and then at the end of the season. Hopefully he’ll be able to repeat that performance next season.

The Cincinnati Reds have a closer for the 2013 season, and he’s not named Aroldis Chapman. CBSSports’ Jon Heyman reported that the Reds and Jonathan Broxton have come to agreement on a multi-year deal.

The deal is believed to be for at least three years. An announcement is expected Wednesday.

Broxton is expected to be the Reds closer, enabling them to move the 100-mph-throwing Aroldis Chapman to the rotation.

The Reds have long maintained that the role they want for Chapman is in the starting rotation. Injuries to the bullpen at the start of last season prevented that from happening. Right now, though, with this signing, it looks like Chapman will be replacing Mike Leake. I think that’s an improvement.

Details on the contract with Broxton haven’t been made available yet, so I’ll reserve judgment until then. But a multi-year deal for a closer is a risky venture for a small market team. Of course, with Bryan Price and his pitcher whisperer skills, maybe it’s not that risky.

In the land of the baseball-news-deprived, the rumor that the Reds were courting free agent infielder Emmanuel Burriss was hot stuff. Today, the rumor was made flesh when the Reds signed Burriss to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.

It seems pretty unlikely that Burriss is going to do much with the Reds. If he breaks camp with the big league team, he’ll get $750,000, but he only batted .213 with the Giants last year and is below-average in the field.

It doesn’t hurt to have another body at camp, though, and with experience playing 2B, SS, 3B, and LF, he should have plenty of opportunities to prove himself. He has until June 1 to convince the front office to put him on the 25-man roster, or else he has the option to go free agent.

Mike Hessman
In similar, but less ballyhooed news, the Reds also signed Mike Hessman to a minor league contract. Hessman has barely sniffed the majors despite being 34 years old: he spent last season in the Astros’ AAA organization and the season before that in Japan.

That being said, you’ve got to love the tenacity. The team might want him around just to show what dedication is. It’s one thing to have great work ethic when you’re Joey Votto, but entirely another to keep chipping away when you’re rewarded with 109 games in the majors and a career .188 average.

Todd Redmond
Remember that name because it will someday be the answer to a trivia question:

Who was the only pitcher other than Cueto, Latos, Arroyo, Bailey, and Leake to start a game for the Reds during the 2012 season?

One start only, and he allowed 4 runs, 7 hits, and 5 walks. It’s not a very auspicious way to get into the Reds’ history books, but now that’s he’s signed up for another year with the Reds for $490,000, he’s got a chance to make a bigger name for himself.

We all knew it was going to happen, but yesterday Ryan Ludwick made it official. He declined his option for next year and became a free agent.

Had he elected to take the option, he would have had another year and $5 million. On the open market he can probably get a 2-year deal and somewhat more millions, having hit .275 with 26 home runs in 125 games.

General Manager Walt Jocketty says that the team is looking to bring him back, which is cool. If you were going to complain about anyone in the outfield, it wouldn’t have been him. And if they didn’t bring Ludwick back, they’d had to go find someone new, since there isn’t an obvious left fielder waiting in the wings to take over.

I didn’t realize this, but Jocketty is also looking to bring back Ryan Madson. Remember Madson? The guy who got freakishly injured in spring training and then missed the whole season with surgery? Apparently he declined his option, which seems surprising to me. Can his just-missed-a-whole-year self command more than $11 million on the open market? Or, since it was a mutual option, did he just decline it to prevent being declined himself?

Either way, Madson really seemed promising in those early days this year. It might not be so bad to find out what we were missing. If they do bring him back, though, I bet they’ll get insurance on his contract this time.