It was like the AT&T commercial where actor Luke Wilson is in a restaurant and is having a random person text everyone in the whole country who has AT&T.  The random guy asks everyone to text him back to see just how many people have AT&T out there.  His phone starts to buzz so much it falls off of the table.  At 2:15 p.m. today, that happened to me.  My cell phone's text inbox had a life of its own and obviously something big was going on.  And much to my delight, it was the news that the Cincinnati Reds had traded their blunder from last year, Willy Taveras.

Cincinnati Reds GM Walt Jocketty knew that he could not trust manager Dusty Baker to keep Taveras on the bench this season, so he somehow traded him for not just a living, breathing human being, but a useful, living, breathing infielder.  Jocketty dumps Taveras, his $4 million contract and  infielder Adam Rosales on to the Oakland Athletics for veteran infielder Aaron Miles and a player to be named later.  The later player could be a lamppost- it does not matter.  This is grand larceny.  Taveras was one of the worst players in the Major Leagues last year both offensively (.240/ .275/ .285) and defensively and only Baker's insistence to play him was more frustrating than watching him.  He was so bad that Oakland immediately designated Taveras for assignment the moment the trade became official.

The good news does not end there.  Though the Cubs gave the A's $1 million to pay for part of Miles's 2010 salary when they traded him in December, that $1 million stays with the A's in this trade.  The Reds are on the hook for all of Miles' $2.7 contract.  Still, adding in Rosales' minimum contract leaving the books, the Reds end up saving about $1,700,000 on the deal.  They got rid of Taveras and saved money?  What is A's GM Billy Beane thinking?  Nobody could want Taveras and claim his contract or trade for it- the A's will be saddled with it.

This is now the best move of the offseason FOR THE 2010 SEASON that the Reds have made.  The other notable moves are not as important for this season; Adrolis Chapman's days of contributing to the big league will probably begin in 2011 (too many control issues right now- his walk rates in the lowly Cuban leagues were in the four to five per nine innings- yikes! ).  Recently signed shortstop Orlando Cabrera ($2 million for 2010 with a club buyout of $1 million for next year) is a slight upgrade at shortstop.  Though he can hit better than incumbent shortstop Paul Janish, he is nowhere near the fielder that Janish is. 

In fact, the reason that Cabrera signed with the Reds is that they were the only ones who offered him a shortstop job.  Not a good sign.  As long as he hits .285/ .335/ .425, he can overcome the lost defense.  These are not easy demands for the 35-year old Cabrera.  No, getting rid of the last of Dusty Baker's recruits is the biggest move.  By the way, have you noticed how quiet Baker has been this offseason and how few of Baker's "guys" (anyone with awful on- base percentage) were signed.

The trade boosts the Reds' win total from 80 to 84 in my calculations.  If they can stay relatively healthy, get anything out of Chapman, or get big years out of Homer Bailer, Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto, it could go to 87.  How did I get that calculation?  Simple - addition by substraction.

MLB cincinnati reds, willy taveras, adam rosales, aaron miles, orlando cabrera, adrolis chapman