Pitching Wins Championships

In the off season the Cincinnati Reds struck a deal sending fan favorite Josh Hamilton to the Texas Rangers in return for pitchers Edison Volquez and Danny Herrera. Hamilton was my favorite player last year and upon initially hearing that he was traded I was disappointed. His story was a good one of someone given a second chance and actually succeeding. However, I understood that this deal was good for the Reds. Hamilton is a good hitter, but pitching is the key to winning championships. I still hear a few Reds fans complaining we shouldn't have traded Hamilton and look where our offense is now. My answer to them: I have seen many recent Reds teams lead by a great offense that have gone no where while watching every championship caliber team succeed with good pitching. You can have a good team powered by a great offense but every team's goal is to win a championship and for that to take place you first need pitching. Yes, the Reds are struggling at the moment but they desperately needed another top notch ace for years to come if they are going to be serious about contending. Harang and Volquez at the top of the rotation are very dangerous.

An offense is much easier to fix than a team pitching and the Cincinnati Reds are in position to easily overhaul theirs in this remaining season and into the next. I would say the only locks for next year's every day position players are 2B-Brandon Phillips, 1B-Joey Votto, Infielder-Jeff Keppinger, and of course Outfielder-Jay Bruce. The Reds have the ability to clear up a ton of payroll if they choose to part ways with the likes of Griffey, Dunn, Patterson, Ross, Fogg, Belisle, Hatteberg, Affeldt, Weathers, and we will be done paying Stanton as well, freeing up around $25million by my calculations. Controversially I'm an Adam Dunn fan if the Reds' manager would use him right (I'll save that for another day) and like the stuff Affeldt has but the rest could go. With that money, and on top of that if Castellini is willing to dish out big bucks again, the Reds could make a bid for a right handed bat that could help this offense.