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By Thaq Diesel

Yet another piece of the pitching “war of attrition” was added to the puzzle today as Oakland traded Kirk Saarloos to the Reds today for RH David Shafer, a 24-year old reliever who played in AA-Chattanooga last year (also included was the oft-traded “Player to be named later.”)   Saarloos pitched pretty well in the softball league that is the American, going 7-7 with two saves and a 4.75 ERA.  With the current Cincinnati pitching staff, he may have a shot at contributing; quality pitching is needed in both the bullpen and in the starting rotation so the Reds will takes what they gets from Saarloos come Spring Training.  If it doesn’t pan out, it was worth the risk (Saarloos settled arbitration for $1.2 million, so he’s a bargain and definitely more upside than risk).  Hopefully a few of these journeyman pitchers will make the leap and pitch great for the Reds next year.  Krivsky’s trying the “throw a lot on the wall and see what sticks” strategy.  It may make more sense than the strategy many other teams try (aka the Texas Rangers) - the  strategy of dumping buckets of money out the window on high-priced underperforming free agents.

Because we’re dealing with Billy Beane here, I’m asking myself a) what did he see in David Shafer that the Reds were missing and b) what didn’t he like about Saarloos?  It’s like dealing with the Libyans in “Back to the Future,” in that you never know when he’s going to backstab you.  Run for it Marty!

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