Reds Land Latos for Prospects

Okay so I've seen the message boards, "We gave up too much" "Alonso was our future" and so on. Just hold on to your seats there guys. I look at it like this, I'm sick of losing, I want to win now! Sure we won the division in 2010, but how'd we do in the playoffs? I don't think that any of you were surprised we got swept, I mean look at the Phillies pitching staff. Now in no way am I regarding Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos in the same light as Cliff Lee and Doc Halladay, but pitching wins championships.

Let's look at what we gave up.

Yonder Alonso, the biggest trading piece the Reds had, it didn't matter who we got, he was going to be the one to go. The man without a position, sure we could have moved him to left but lets be honest here, he's no left fielder, and if you thought Adam Dunn was a defensive downgrade, you should hear some scouting on this guys left field. The biggest problem with keeping this guy in Cincinnati is Joey Votto, after the departure of Pujols, and most likely Fielder, he is probably the best position player in the NL central, if not the NL right now. What are you going to do? Platoon Joey and Yonder? Come on! If we played in the AL this no problem, but we play real baseball on the senior circuit, so no DH.

Yasmani Grandal, the next great catcher. We have Meseraco and Hanigan, even if Mez doesn't pan out to be a superstar, Hanigan has proven time and time again that he is one of the best clutch hitters on this team.

Brad Boxberger, Regarded as the future closer. This seems like the piece that the Padres needed to put this deal together. Looking to replace Heath Bell, it's a quality loss, but it had to be done.

Edinson Volquez. If you ask me, about damn time. This guy has no been consistent whatsoever, between the fatigue, the attitude, the steroid suspension, and everything else you get with the man, this doesn't bother me whatsoever, I wish him good luck in the future and hope he can turn things around in that big old ballpark out in San Diego.

What we have to remember is that THESE ARE PROSPECTS, this is not major league proven talent, Latos on the other hand is, and while I would love to have all those guys in my organization, I'll take Latos right now. This tells me that the Reds are ready to win now and not wanting to be mediocre for the years to come. Now is the time to win Reds fans and we just got a lot better.