Prospects in the Mat Latos Trade

as the definite #1 and #2 prospects in that system. Where do you think you’d slot them?

Alonso seems better suited for Petco than Rizzo, Grandal should be our catcher of the future, Box could be a closer. If Volquez rights the ship enough to become even a solid MOR starter then this trade will look great.

This is a good trade for the Reds because it nets them a top caliber starter and for the sacrifice the Padres get two prospects who should develop into very nice positional players, another who should be a quality back-end reliever and yet another player who has no. 2 starter talent if healthy.

Rockies’ Prospects

the (team that traded for them) will get the better of this trade in the long run."

Isn’t that pretty much a given in any trade involving prospects?

…..but found it interesting that they were willing to trade Latos a year removed from his “breakout” season in 2010…..Didn’t look like the same guy last year, and I know he has a bit of a flake reputation……In the NL West you need a #1 starter to take on guys like Lincecum & Kershaw…..Pads fans, why did they let him go ?

Obviously Latos is significantly more valuable but this shows how to get max value for your talent, unlike the Sox did in dealing Santos. And for Reds fans who feel they gave up too much the Pads did not have to move Latos and he is under control for the next 4 years. He is ace quality its hard to say they paid too much.

obviously not the same positions but they got a way better deal.

Great deal forpadres. We need so much help and we got it. This trade gets us back to the top quicker. Latos is great but top starters have less value in petco. Now we get two needed young offensive studs and a power arm with real potential and volquez who could return to form and replace Latos. Plus if rizzo can’t play of he will be dealt for more. Reds traded from strength but props to the pads for realizing the big picture. Latos traded at his peak for undervalued talent. Cat wait to see the pads move up fast with players I am excited to see them get. Go padres

If in late July if Volquez will have decent numbers pitching at Petco and the Pads can swap him out for even more prospects…

they got rid of a total head case in Volquez.

I think it’s pretty obvious Rizzo’s on his way out, there’s no way Alonso can play the OF, especially in Petco, and no way did the Padres picked him up so he could spend the season in Tucson.

Not a Grandal fan, a decent regular on a less than playoff quality team, certainly no one you’re going to build around.

The Reds are a better team now than when we woke up this morning, San Diego isn’t.

Whether they are in three years remains to be seen.

I’m just not buying that Grandal is blocked positionally in Cincy until I see some evidence that Mesoraco can hit and catch capably at the big league level. If for some odd reason Mesoraco is hitting .200ish in August and not exactly impressing with his defense, there could be a lot of second guessing of Jocketty about that particular component of the deal.

Interestingly, looking at career stats:

ERA ERA+
3.37 108 Matt Latos
3.83 109 Johnny Cueto

I guess that sort of gives an idea of the difference in the environments. And I’m not sure why people are bringing up Home/Road splits, as Latos was 0.46 runs worse on the road, which is about what one would expect.

Of course Cueto was awesome last year, but something like Cueto’s 2010 season might be a reasonable expectation, plus Latos should have the ability to throw a few more innings. And, Latos only just turned 24 in the past 2 weeks.

Still, I think that’s a pretty nice package. None of those guys look like sure fire stars, though.

I don’t get a lot of these comments. Cincinnati is poised to win now; they have a competitive roster and one of the best players in baseball in Votto and should be managing the roster like they won’t have him forever. Alonso and Grandal are nice prospects, but neither of them is a sure-fire star, and both of them are redundant. In Latos, the Reds get four years of a front-of-the-rotation guy in both numbers and stuff, which coincides nicely with their likely window to compete. Sure, he’s not without health risks, but that’s the only thing I don’t like about this for the Reds. This was a fantastic deal for them; while their two division rivals faltered, they went out and got a young ace to anchor their rotation.

Yup, I’d say the boring truth is it’s a good deal for both sides; Alonso & Grandal look like 2-3.5 WAR guys to me, with maybe a couple better years at their peaks.

Latos is that good already, and young enough to still have a decent chance at real stardom.

Reds are still “only” an 85-87 win team, though…unless Jocketty has something else up his sleeve. (Which he probably does.)

I’ve read that Grandal won’t stick behind the plate, and if that’s the case, where’s he gonna play, 1st base? Alonso 1st base too? Rizzo?
I think the Reds did really well here in that they got an ace and still have a superior catching prospect and Joey Votto at 1st. The Padres will definitely need to make some more trades before we can accurately judge this trade, but I don’t think it’s a lopsided trade for the Padres like a lot of people are saying.