Reds Trading for Shin-Soo Choo?

All-Ohio Trade in the Works; Best Possible Deal For Both Teams

By Ryan Bramwell

Reports are surfacing today that the Reds and Indians are "deep in talks" regarding a trade that would send Drew Stubbs and Didi Gregorious to Cleveland in exchange for Shin-Soo Choo and possibly a player to be named later. 

In my opinion, of all the names and deals that have been thrown out there the past couple of weeks, this one is the best for Cincinnati.  Let's take a look and see exactly why:

Drew Stubbs

The Bad

• Declining the past couple of seasons (Drops in Avg, OPB, SLG, OPS)
• Striking out consistently (Last 3 seasons: 168, 205, 166)
• Not reaching base (Last 3 Seasons: OBP .329, .321, .277)

The Good

• Young (time to fix his mistakes and reroute his current path)
• Under team control (is signed at reasonable price until 2016)
• Plus fielder (can cover a lot of ground in any ballpark)

Shin-Soo Choo

The Good

• Gets on base (Career OBP of .381; : 394, .401, .373)
• Knows how to leadoff; Has patience (Last 3 Full Seasons: 78 BB, 83 BB, 73 BB)
• Can steal bases on occasion (Last 3 Full Seasons: 21 SB, 22 SB, 21 SB)
• Can slug a bit too (Last 3 Full Seasons: 38 2B/20 HR, 31 2B/ 22 HR, 43 2B/16 HR)
• Bill James like him (Last 3 Full Seasons: Offensive WAR; 5.0, 5.1, 4.5) 

The Bad

• Isn't quite the defender Stubbs is (Last 3 Full Seasons: Defensive WAR; -0.5, -0.1, -1.5)
• Under control for just one season (Free agent at end of 2013; has Scott Boras as an agent)
• We lose Gregorious in the deal (Saddest part of deal; Didi will really be something)

*Last full three seasons: 2009, 2010, 2012



Compared to the other trade talks the Reds were said to have been in?
-We didn't lose a single pitcher.  Homer Bailey is still locked in.  Mike Leake will still be the 6th starter when necessary.  And Robert Stephenson, Tony Cingrani and company are still prospects in the Reds organization.
-We didn't lose Mesoraco.  One of the latest rumors had the Reds sending Mezzi to Tampa Bay in a three-way deal that would have brough Dexter Fowler to Cincinnati.  Losing Mesoraco would have hurt substantially due to the lack of MLB-ready catchers in our system.
-We only lost one prospect. 
-We parted ways with Drew Stubbs.

*Also, for the Indians, they get the shortstop they wanted so they can trade Asdrubal Cabrera.