CINCINNATI -- Instead of contending, the Cincinnati Reds are retreating.
Five months after they made the city giddy by trading for Ken
Griffey Jr., they've left fans with an empty feeling by trading No.
1 starter Denny Neagle to the New York Yankees for prospects.
It's the type of thing they did three years ago, when they
traded top starter John Smiley to Cleveland for prospects and
officially stamped themselves as a rebuilding team.
|  | | Trading Denny Neagle to the Yankees was the Reds' way of packing it in. |
Fans thought they'd outgrown that phase when they won 96 games
last year, added Griffey and were picked to win the NL Central. The
trade Wednesday ended any hope of contending this season, and maybe
beyond.
The key date now appears to be 2003, when the Reds are scheduled
to move into a new stadium.
"Obviously, deals like this are very difficult because you're
trading your No. 1 starter," general manager Jim Bowden said.
"You're hurting your chances of winning now, and we know this.
"But we're not straying from our goal of 2003 and having a
championship club when we open up the new stadium. In order to do
that, you have to make deals like this."
Neagle was one of the few Reds who lived up to expectations this
season as the Reds fell eight games behind St. Louis in the NL
Central. It's nothing at all like what they expected.
The Reds expected to build on 1999, when they were the
small-market surprise of the majors. They missed out on the
playoffs by one game, then added one of the game's top players in
Griffey.
They've been a hit at the box office -- the Reds are on target to
set a franchise record for attendance, topping the 2.6 million they
drew in 1976, in the midst of the Big Red Machine dynasty. But they
flopped on the field, heading into the All-Star break with a losing
record (43-44) and only a slim chance of making up ground.
"I think the guys felt confident that we had a chance to come
back and get into the postseason, but guys could sense that we
didn't have that chemistry or that spark or that magic feeling that
we had last season, when we were down two or three runs and felt we
were going to come back and win," Neagle said. "We couldn't get
that spark back this year."
As recently as last Sunday, Bowden talked about the team making
a run at the playoffs. He had Griffey pull out of the All-Star game
so he could rest his sore knee and be ready for the second half.
When the Yankees called Bowden on Wednesday and agreed to give
up four prospects for Neagle, the Reds' general manager made the
deal and ended hopes for this season.
He knew it would be unpopular to trade his No. 1 starter and get
fans thinking long-term again.
"That doesn't mean you don't want to win between now and then,
but we want to continue to stockpile as many good young players as
we can so that by the time we get to the new stadium, we can be
competitive for a long period of time and not just one or two years
at a time," Bowden said.
The other question pending at midseason is whether the Reds will
sign captain Barry Larkin to an extension. Larkin also can be a
free agent after the season and wants at least a three-year
extension.
Bowden said the Neagle deal doesn't have any impact on Larkin's
situation.
"They're totally separate issues," Bowden said. "You're not
letting one go to use the money for another player. They're totally
unrelated." | |
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