Cincinnati Reds

That's the newest Cincinnati outfielder, Gary Matthews Jr.

If the Reds' skipper wasn't such good pals with his pop, they would trade him for a warm six-pack and a couple of Slim Jims.

Rather than someone that no one would want, let's take a look at some Reds' needs and some prospects they may be willing to trade.

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With the  anticipated return of Edinson Volquez. longtime Reds' fans wonder whether he will be able to come back after Tommy John's surgery, or whether he will be just another half-year wonder. Most of Volquez's success in 2008 was before the All Star break.

He gave up a two-run homer that cost the game and home field advantage in the world series. It did not matter since the Phillies finished off the Rays in five games.

Two other Reds pitchers were half year wonders.  Both were first-round draft choices,

If the New Red machine needed servicing, vis-à-vis   an oil change, they got it at the right time.

Fresh (or shall I say stale) from a sweep at the hands of the lowly Seattle Mariners, the Reds borrowed the broom from the M's and took it to Oakland with them.

They swept the A's salvaging a split of the six game road trip.

Entering the 2010 season, Scott Rolen was a career .283 hitter averaging 20 home runs and 81 RBIs per season. However, just as a fine wine becomes better with age, so has Rolen.

When you are an uber-obsessed fan like me, who watches the majority of the games, you pick up on a few nuances along the way.  Obviously, we don't really know these guys, and who they are as people, but for me, Brandon Phillips has always been a guy with a megawatt smile who built up his career after nearly tearing it apart, but displaying some annoying, almost diva-like tendencies at the same time.

Edinson Volquez, or is it Edison Volquez, or Julio Reyes? Ah, Whatever. Number 36 on the Cincinnati Reds is ready to put Tommy John surgery, a 50-game suspension and not knowing his own name behind him. He is tentatively set to return to MLB action around the All-Star Break barring any further setbacks.

It's a simple question that the Cincinnati Reds brass has been able to avoid until now. The bullpen has been awful the past month and the starting pitching has been holding the team together.

Why can't the Reds use their new high priced toy at their biggest position of need? Why can't Aroldis Chapman come out of the bullpen?

The starting pitching is currently the motor running the Reds ship.

Don't look now but the Reds have 40 wins already, more than half of 2009's win total. A month ago many of us were crossing our fingers hoping that yearly mid season collapse would keep from showing its face (or for at least another month or two, if it is planning to return this year). And as July approaches: Surprise! Cincinnati has survived June, sort of.

Interleague play is a strange beast.  For every full ballpark for the Mets vs. Yankees, and Cubs vs. White Sox showdowns, you have these strange, arbitrary matchups that don't draw any additional interest, and only seem to detract from intraleague showdowns.

"Throw all the records out the window when the ORIOLES and PADRES get together!"

This concept, which clearly is one of Bud Selig's better ideas from a dollars and cents standpoint, needs some revision from a scheduling point of view.