Baseball | Wayne Krivsky's Transaction History

MLBTradeRumors.com conveniently laid out Wayne Krivsky's transaction history today. Below are the notable moves from his tenure with the grades and comments that I've assigned for each one:

• 2-12-06: Scott Hatteberg signed to a one-year, $750K deal.
• GRADE: A
• COMMENT: A great February signing when all impact free agents had already found homes, Hatteberg gave the Reds cheap production at 1B when it was clear Dunn wasn't going to be moved there.
  
• 2-13-06: Adam Dunn signed to two-year, $18.5MM extension.
• GRADE: A-
• COMMENT: A reasonable extension for the fulcrum of the Reds offense. For all of Dunn's noticeable foibles, this team's offense is sunk without his on-base ability and power.
  
• 3-20-06: Acquired Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena.
• GRADE: A
• COMMENT: Krivsky assessed his outfield situation and picked the right one to deal away. Arroyo was great his first season before setting into mediocrity last year.
  
• 3-21-06: Acquired David Ross for Bobby Basham.
• GRADE: B-
• COMMENT: Grade would be higher with Ross' immediate post-trade impact, but -- as we've too often seen with Krivsky -- the downfall was a long-term extension for a known mediocrity . . . shackling the team with a problem player down the road.
  
• 4-7-06: Acquired Brandon Phillips for Jeff Stevens.
• GRADE: A+
• COMMENT: The only thing cooler than getting Phillips for free was the fact that I called for the Reds to target him a full two months before they acquired him. Great gamble by Krivsky when no one else was willing to roll the dice on a troubled talent.
  
• 5-26-06: Traded Cody Ross to Marlins for a player to be named later
• GRADE: C-
  
• COMMENT: Meh.
  
• June '06: Selected Drew Stubbs eighth overall in draft.
• GRADE: Incomplete
• COMMENT: Stubbs has had contact issues and hasn't shown the power advertised as a collegian, but he's shown reason for hope since the end of last season. A gold-glove caliber centerfielder with a questionable stick at the moment.
  
• 7-6-06: Acquired Eddie Guardado for Travis Chick.
• GRADE: B-
• COMMENT: The Guardado trade was widely panned due to obvious concerns about his arm; however, I never had an issue with the trade. Chick was never going to have an impact at the big-league level and Guardado was the closest thing the Reds had to a reliable closer all season.
  
• 7-13-06: Acquired Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris, and Daryl Thompson for Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez, and Ryan Wagner.
• GRADE: C
• COMMENT: Ah, the Big Daddy of them all. This trade caused more hand-wringing over mediocre players than any I can remember. I credit Krivsky for attempting to fix his roster's most glaring problem -- the bullpen.
  
• I'm familiar with the theory that the problem wasn't trading away Kearns & Lopez, but the idea that we should have retained those assets and extracted more in a different trade. To that, I say: bullspit. Nobody wanted these two players. Professional baseball organizations employ scouts -- good ones -- to tell them that Austin Kearns hasn't been able to hit since Ray King sat on his shoulder and that his dedication is spotty at best. Lopez was a shortstop who couldn't stay at the position while his offensive numbers were more often than not a product of his home ballpark. Both players were overpaid and stood to siphon on even more of the team's payroll going forward.
  
• At the time, I was thrilled to get 1st round lefty Bill Bray, intrigued by A-ball pitcher Darryl Thompson, and hoped Brendan Harris would finally get a shot at playing time. Bray may never be the closer he was projected by some to become. He's been beset by minor injuries but still shows plenty of promise as a bullpen lefty. Thompson is fully recovered from his Washington-era shoulder issues and may now be the Reds best pitching prospect below the AAA level. Harris was a great throw-in, but unfortunately, he was never given a chance and ultimately lost without compensation. Gary Majewski has been alternately terrible and injured. I know it reeks a bit of Monday Morning Quarterbacking, but many saw this exact scenario at the time. My biggest problem with the trade was Krisvky bringing on Royce Clayton and acting like he wasn't doing Reds fans a tremendous disservice in the process. The Reds were better off manning shortstop with someone, anyone in their own organization or even moving Phillips or Harris to the position for a couple of months (should be noted that the D-Rays did move Harris out of position to shortstop the very next season, and his bat flourished).
  
• Overall, we gave away little value and received bubkes in the way of immediate contributions. However, the Nationals have been saddled with two overpaid players wallowing in mediocrity while the Reds may still receive important contributions from Bill Bray and Darryl Thompson.
  
• 7-26-06: Signed Hatteberg to a one-year, $1.65MM extension.
• GRADE: A
• COMMENT: The Reds received a career-year for $1.5 million.
• 7-31-06: Acquired Rheal Cormier for Justin Germano.
• GRADE: D-
  
• COMMENT: Cormier was completely ineffective, but again the problem was the extension. The Reds paid Cormier to go away less than a year later while Germano has filled in the #5 spot in the Padres rotation quite nicely at times.
  
• 7-31-06: Acquired Kyle Lohse for Zach Ward.
• GRADE: C+
  
• COMMENT: Lohse's arm was a decent gamble, and trading away Single-A level B-prospect arms rarely comes back to haunt a team. If Ward goes on to success for the Twins, we can revise the grade downward later on.
  
• 8-7-06: Acquired Ryan Franklin for a player to be named later.
• GRADE: C-
  
• COMMENT: Swing-man sent away as an example after coming to camp overweight, but never had much of an impact in Cincinnati.
  
• 8-16-06: Acquired Scott Schoeneweis for a player to be named later.
• GRADE: C+
• COMMENT: Schoeneweis pitched fine in limited duty
  
• 8-28-06: Signed Javier Valentin to a one-year, $1.325MM extension.
• GRADE: B
• COMMENT: The Reds' best pinch-hitter, but his limited package of skills often lead the team to the mislead inclination of carrying three catchers.
  
• 9-25-06: Signed Juan Castro to a two-year, $2MM extension.
• GRADE: F
• COMMENT: Castro once had his uses on a baseball diamond, but he was past his so-called prime and obviously a horrendous candidate for a guaranteed contract longer than one year. On top of that, having Castro around the dugout often led to the temptation of managers penciling his "bat control" into the 2-spot in the lineup -- a capital offense when the object is to create offense. An appallingly bad signing.
  
• 11-20-06: Signed Alex Gonzalez to a three-year, $14MM contract.
• GRADE: D+
• COMMENT: Too much money, too many years for a mediocre shortstop. Another player whose contract leaves him with negative value.
  
• 11-20-06: Signed Mike Stanton to a two-year, $5.5MM contract.
• GRADE: F
  
• COMMENT: See Juan Castro. Deserved a non-roster invitation to camp, not a multi-year contract. Another player the Reds are paying not to play for them.
  
• 11-20-06: Traded Jason LaRue to the Royals for a player to be named later.
• GRADE: D
• COMMENT: It wasn't widely reported, but the Reds got a grand total of $1 from the Royals in exchange for LaRue. That seems about right. He should have been sent packing sooner while he still had some value around the league; instead, the Reds paid him to play for the Royals.
• 12-7-06: Acquired Josh Hamilton for cash.
• GRADE: A+
• COMMENT: Johan Santana is the best Rule 5 draft pick in history, but Hamilton may be the second best. A tremendous gamble by Krivsky, and a great story by Hamilton who remains one of the elite talents in baseball.
• 12-7-06: Selected Jared Burton in Rule 5 draft.
• GRADE: A
• COMMENT: Another terrific use of the Rule 5 draft, which fails much more often than it succeeds. To have two impact Rule 5 draft picks is unheard of in MLB; big-time kudos to Krivsky and crew for the 2007 Rule 5 draft which provided the team with great talents at very little cost.
  
• 12-12-06: Signed David Weathers to a two-year, $5MM contract.
• GRADE: B
  
• COMMENT: Bullpen warrior Weathers deserves a higher grade for his contribution, but Krivsky has to be docked for failing to flip Weathers for something useful at the trade deadline while he still had that closer sheen and veteran know-how attached to his name.
  
• 1-2-07: Traded Brendan Harris to Rays for cash.
• GRADE: D-
• COMMENT: I saw this move as the precursor to the Keppinger pick-up, but there's no reason the Reds couldn't have kept both players around. How would they like to have Harris around the bench right now as a legit right-handed stick?
  
• 1-10-07: Acquired Jeff Keppinger for Russ Haltiwanger.
• GRADE: A+
• COMMENT: Fantastic pick-up of a player described by some as Chris Stynes-ian when he's more like a Freddy Sanchez kind of bat. Given 500 ABs, Keppinger could seriously compete for the batting title as a right-handed utility man.
  
• 2-6-07: Signed Aaron Harang to a four-year, $36.5MM extension.
• GRADE: A-
• COMMENT: Krivsky rightly tabbed Harang as a true ace before he was given league-wide credit for being one.
  
• 2-8-07: Signed Bronson Arroyo to a two-year, $25MM extension.
• GRADE: C-
• COMMENT: It's important to lock up good pitchers, but is Arroyo truly a good pitcher? He may end being another millstone by the time his contract is up.
  
• 4-16-07: Signed Ryan Freel to a two-year, $7MM extension.
• GRADE: D
• COMMENT: Has hit .220/.310/.320 since August of 2006 while the presence of Keppinger, Hopper, and Hairston Jr. make the rest of his skills extraneous. Another multi-year contract for an over-30 mediocrity; another player the Reds may ultimately pay to play elsewhere.
  
• 4-27-07: Traded Chris Denorfia to A's for Marcus McBeth and another player.
• GRADE: C+
• COMMENT: Neither player likely to make much of an impact in the majors.
  
• 5-9-07: Released Rheal Cormier.
• GRADE: F
• COMMENT: Don't go away mad, just go away.
  
• June '07: Selected Devin Mesoraco 15th overall in draft.
• GRADE: Incomplete
• COMMENT: Yikes. Not an impressive start for a catchers who was supposed to be more advanced with the bat than the glove. It's awfully early, but 1st round catchers are rarely a good idea.
  
• 10-31-07: Exercised '08 options on Hatteberg, Dunn, and Valentin.
• GRADE: C-
• COMMENT: For all of the talk of possibly not picking up Dunn's option, he was a no-brainer. Valentin's declining catching skills have morphed him into the same role as Hatteberg, leaving the team unbalanced toward the left-handed side of the pinch-hitting curve.
  
• 11-28-07: Signed Francisco Cordero to a four-year, $46MM contract.
• GRADE: Incomplete
• COMMENT: How often do the Reds get a chance to land the best pitcher on the free agent market and address an area of great need? They likely overpaid, but a franchise like the Reds has no other choice. An accurate grade won't be available for a couple of years.
  
• 12-21-07: Acquired Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera for Josh Hamilton.
• GRADE: Incomplete
• COMMENT: A classic challenge trade with both teams addressing areas of true need. Hamilton is 2nd in the AL in RBIs in the early going while Volquez sports a sub-2.00 ERA.
  
• 1-23-08: Signed Jeremy Affeldt to a one-year, $3MM contract.
• GRADE: Incomplete
• COMMENT: At least he didn't go multi-year on this one. Affeldt was a fine pick-up on a one-year contract and addresses a need while allowing the team to dump Stanton.
  
• 2-15-08: Signed Brandon Phillips to a four-year, $27MM extension.
• GRADE: Incomplete
• COMMENT: This extension means the team sees Phillips as a nucleus player. We'll soon find out if '07 was a career year or if we should expect more of the same.
  
• 2-21-08: Signed Josh Fogg to a one-year, $1MM contract.
• GRADE: D
  
• COMMENT: Luckily, only a one-year deal but still likely to be paid to go away before it's all said and done. These types of contracts waste money that could be put back into the scouting budget.
  
• 3-3-08: Signed Corey Patterson to a one-year, $3MM contract.
• GRADE: Incomplete
• COMMENT: May end up making a difference by the end of the year, but you have to wonder why the Reds gave him $3M when no one else appeared interested in offering anything more than a NRI.
  
• 4-8-08: Released Mike Stanton.
• GRADE: F
• COMMENT: Bwahahaha
  

Overall, more goods than bads for Krivsky. His trade history, Rule 5 work, and low profile signings were terrific, but he simply handed out too many multi-year contracts to too many known mediocrities. His failure to provide Dusty Baker with a bench or a working catching situation while paying players to go away in order to deal with the roster crunch essentially damages his reputation -- and rightfully so on balance.


Late Wednesday/Early Thursday update: OK, I was on my way home from school at about 6:15 this evening, getting geeked up to update this Krivsky transaction post and cook a plate of Skyline Chili for dinner when Mayor Gip called and told me to come over for PBRs and the Reds game on the radio in his backyard. I ended up at the Quarter at 11:00 tonight eating wingies and drinking more beers to close out an unexpectedly nice Wednesday night. Consequently, blogging on Krivsky will have to wait until tomorrow. These things happen on Tybee.