Just when you thought Reds outfielder Willy Taveras could do no more harm to the Reds...

He is back for Season Two of his contract otherwise known as "Nightmare in Centerfield, The Sequel".  It stars Taveras as the antagonist, Reds Manager Dusty Baker as his sidekick, and hopeful centerfielder Drew Stubbs as the protagonist who cannot win.  The only other possible hero is the mad scientist who created Taveras- Reds GM Walt Jocketty, and he seems to be gagged and bound and locked away under surveillance by Bean Counter Bob Castellini.  Is there any hope for the 2010 Cincinnati Reds?

Taveras is not even playing- nobody is even playing- and he is hurting the Reds badly in a number of ways.  First and foremost, is his $4 million contract for this year.  As a result of this commitment, the Reds have been unable to make any moves besides overpaying declining catcher Ramon Hernandez $3 million.  In fact, the Reds had to decline an arbitration offer to productive outfielder Jonny Gomes because they could not afford the estimated $1.75 million he was probably going to command in arbitration.  The Reds basically have made two separate decisions over the last calendar year to go with Taveras (.240/ .275!!!!!!/ .285!!!!!!) and Hernandez (his line of .258/ .336/ .362 was warped by a blistering hot April and May) over Gomes (.267/ .338/ .541 with 20 HRs in just 281 at bats).

Instead of handing Hernandez that contract, what they should have done- and technically can still do- is sign gold glove second baseman Orlando Hudson (.283/ .357/ .417) to a two- year, $5.5 million contract and move Brandon Phillips to shortstop.  This would have been a huge upgrade at shortstop over Rafeal Belliard- like Paul Janish (.211/ .296/ .305).  They could have signed a different free agent catcher to pair with Ryan Hannigan like defensive whiz Henry Blanco (now with the Mets) or left handed hitting Brian Schneider (now with the Phillies) or once promising Josh Bard (.230/ .293/ .361 in 2009, but in 2007 was .285/ .364/ .404).  The upgrade at shortstop would be significantly better than the Hernandez upgrade (term used loosely here) at catcher.   Or, dream case scenario, some moronic GM (Jim Bowden- where are you?) takes Taveras off your hands and you can afford Hudson, Bard and Gomes.  So next time someone declares that a ballplayer is, "worth a shot", point them to Exhibit A- Wily Taveras, who was not worth a shot because his presence alone is keeping the Reds from upgrading at other positions.

Another part of his presence is his roster spot.  As a result of the Reds' commitment to Taveras, he took the roster spot of Ben Jukich, a minor league pitcher taken with the 20th pick in the Rule 5 Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.  Jukich had a 4.10 E.R.A. in 123 innings with Triple- A Louisville.  That may not be flashy, but these numbers are; he had 106 strikeouts with only 40 walks and had a groundball to flyball ratio of 1.36.  The Cards plan to convert the lefty into a long or middle reliever.  He may or may not pan out for the Cards, but if he does, Jukich is another Taveras casualty.

Lastly, and this is the scariest part of it all... he could be your Opening Day 2010 centerfielder.  Dusty Baker pushed Walt Jocketty to bring Taveras here.  Baker gave him a crazy amount of chances to prove Baker was correct to recruit him.  And now, the scenario could play out again in March of 2010... stubborn manager somehow back again wanting to justify himself... in just 40 Spring Training at bats, Taveras has some infield hits, bleeders, bloopers and seeing- eye groundballs and he pads his average to .268... Drew Stubbs, on the other hand, hits rockets right at fielders and come away hitting .175 in 30 Spring Training at bats... Taveras makes a diving catch and crashes into a wall- "Wow, he has a new attitude!"... Stubbs easily makes those same catches without diving or crashing and rubs Dusty the wrong way.  Its very possible.  In fact, its probable.

Signing Taveras was the worst move that any major league club made last season.  Small markets teams such as the Reds cannot afford to do that.  They do not have the depth, the finances, and in this case, the managerial prowess to overcome that.  You might have thought that Corey Patterson would have taught them a few lessons.  The Reds must change their free agent philosophy.  They must find the anti- Taveras; a player who can actually get on base and field his position at least adequately.  Some current free agents like Hudson, Gomes, Bard, Ryan Garko, and Kelly Johnson fit that description.  But then again, those guys will all be victims of Willy Taveras.

MLB cincinnati reds, willy taveras