Reds get Ramon Hernandez for Freel and 2 prospects

I'm late to the game for this since I was at work all day, but the deal mentioned yesterday is official as it needs to be for me to say its official.

Reds.com

LAS VEGAS --- The Reds appear to be "very, very close" to acquiring catcher Orioles catcher Ramon Hernandez in a trade for utility player Ryan Freel, a source told MLB.com.

The Orioles are pitching in 1 million dollars with the deal also. The 2 prospects named are Justin Turner and Brandon Waring. Thanks to Redsminorleagues.com for doing the dirty work and posting the scouting reports on both of those players for me to copy and paste.

Justin Turner - I think this was a good guy to target for the Orioles. I think by 2010 Turner can play a good role on that team. His defense is good and his bat is solid across the board. Here is a link to the Thinking About Justin Turner article I wrote last month.

Brandon Waring - He is a bit of a project in terms of his swing. Its really long and in turn it leads to a lot of strikeouts. He does have some power though and defensively at third he isn't bad. The lesser of the two prospects involved, but he has some decent upside if he can cut down on the strikeouts.

As for Ramon Hernandez. It's safe to say I'm about as down as I could be on this guy. All reports on him say that he is lazy, and a bit of a mental case. I really can see why the Reds need another catcher and the pickings are slim, but they just added 4 million dollars in payroll for someone who from all accounts isn't worth half that. This has nothing to do with Ryan Freel because I'm pretty happy he was traded and if the salaries matched up I would have loved this deal, but 8 million dollars is how much Hernandez is going to be making next year. For anyone who doesn't know that ranks 6th in the majors in terms of annual value as of last year.

Cot's:

1. Jorge Posada, $13,100,000 (2008-11)
2. Ivan Rodriguez, $10,000,000 (2004-08)
3. Jason Varitek, $10,000,000 (2005-09)
4. Joe Mauer, $8,250,000 (2007-10)
   
5. Kenji Johjima, $8,000,000 (2009-11)
6. Ramon Hernandez, $6,875,000 (2006-09)
7. A.J. Pierzynski, $6,250,000 (2009-10)
8. Kenji Johjima, $5,500,000 (2006-08)

Looking at that list I just sigh because my point is pretty crappy considering most of those players suck too. So forget it and do yourself a favor and dislike this deal with me because we all just cant wait for Dusty to give Ryan Hanigan 150 at-bats this year and 400 to Ramon Hernandez and his sky high OBP of .308. At least he speaks Spanish so you know Hanigan will never catch Cueto or Volquez.