Cincinnati Reds: Winning Sucks

So many transactions, I don’t know where to start! Death acquires Isaac Hayes, the Diamondbacks get Adam Dunn; what a 24 hours it’s been!

The Cincinnati Reds sent a message to their fans today, professing their love for last place in the pitiful National League Central division by trading their best player for a marginal pitching prospect to a team in their own league.

Dunn has been about as consistent as can be expected of anyone not named Albert Pujols, raking 3-true-outcomes-style to the tune of a .900 career OPS over 4,500 plate appearances during the last eight season, including hitting exactly 40 home runs in each of the past three years. Despite MLB.com’s insistence that a low batting average over the season’s first five weeks was an indication that he had somehow become bad at baseball, Dunn has continued his hot-hitting ways in 2008, rocking an adjusted OPS+ of 131 with 32 home runs entering Monday.

The bounty the Reds reaped in return for the only regular player on their team with a .500+ slugging percentage is a package of minor leaguers centered around Dallas Buck, a 23-year-old Tommy John survivor in A-Ball who has yet to strike out a batter per inning over a season at any level of professional baseball. Had the Reds retained Dunn for the rest of the season and suffered through his offense prowess over the next two months, they would have received two draft picks as compensation for his inevitable departure as a free agent during the offseason. It’s all good though, now Reds fans will be treated to more hilarity from Corey Patterson and his .221 on-base percentage. It’s a good time to be a baseball fan in southern Ohio/northern Kentucky (Ed.’s note: second Kentucky reference of the week; weird).