The more I think about it, the more I hate it for the Reds. I know they traded prospects that were mainly blocked, but Latos was shut down last year due to shoulder problems and they said he has major maturity/mental problems.
He's a great pitcher, but that's a lot to swallow if you are the Reds.
Does Latos make the Reds better than the Brewers/Cardinals? Not sure. They still need to make one more major move, and their bullpen is still pretty bad.
A couple of things I disagree with here.
If you go a couple of pages back, all of the realistic options were laid out. To me, Latos was the best option. He's got the best numbers, he's the youngest, he makes the least money, and he's under team control until 2016. If you don't like him for those other issues, fine, but to me he was still the best option (I suppose you could make a case for Gio Gonzalez, but Beane asked for the same package last week and Jocketty declined, so Jocketty likes Latos better, too).
As for what the Reds gave up, Alonso was obviously going to have to be part of any deal.
Obviously you can trade either Mesoraco or Grandal because you have two of them.
Volquez is a non-entity, and in reality, was more of a salary dump 'you have to take this guy back' type of deal.
I was surprised to see Boxberger, that came from left field, but Jocketty said directly that the Padres weren't doing this without him.
So you have two players who were blocked, who were on the trade block to begin with so that you could get a pitcher of this caliber. Volquez was a dump, and maybe the Padres get lucky, but in reality he had to go and wasn't going to be on the team next year regardless.
So it comes down to Boxberger. If you are Walt Jocketty, whose options were drying up by the day (not a good fit for Jerrjens, A's want too much for Gonzalez, haven't been able to get Shields since July, etc), do you let a chance to get the guy who is the best fit slip away over a AA relief pitcher?
The only major move the Reds have left is to find a closer. They also need a backup veteran SS as Cozart insurance, and maybe a LH 4th OF to platoon with Heisey in LF.
And I don't know why you say the Reds bullpen is bad. Aside from Cordero (who is still in play) it's essentially the same bullpen from the last two years (Bray, Masset, LeCure, and whoever doesnt start among Chapman, Wood, etc), and they've been pretty good. Bray is a top LOOGY, Masset is ok, LeCure is decent, Chapman is Chapman, etc. They just need to find a closer, and the market is in their favor with more guys available than spots to fill.
