[rjt721]

With baseball's annual winter meetings unfurling this week at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, rumors run rampant.

A noteworthy one involving the Cincinnati Reds is making the rounds — pitcher Homer Bailey for Chicago White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye.

A major-league source close to the situation told The Dayton Daily News on Sunday, Dec. 7, "The deal is done and will be announced this week."

The Reds are in the market for an outfielder and moving Bailey makes sense. The 22-year-old righthander, the team's No. 1 draft pick in 2004, has not lived up to high expectations and some club officials believe a change of venue would be best for him.

Bailey was 0-6 with a 7.93 ERA in eight starts with the Reds last year and was only 4-7 with a 4.77 ERA at Class AAA Louisville.

He won only one game at Louisville after April and that was in September.

And he didn't enamor himself with the team when he was demoted to Louisville in early August and said he welcomed the demotion because Louisville had a winning atmosphere and the clubhouse was more fun.

Dye, 34, is a 12-year veteran with a .278 career major-league average after hitting .292 last season in 154 games.

He is a right-handed bat, something the Reds need, and he hit 34 homers with 96 RBIs playing for the White Sox in homer-friendly U.S. Cellular Field.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/con...spredsweb.html


Interesting trade. Dye will put up huge offensive numbers playing at Great American. Bailey looked lost in the majors, and his velocity was way down. Guess the ChiSox are hoping they can turn him around similar to what they've done with Gavin Floyd and John Danks.

[bigboydan]

I think the White Sox got the better end of this deal. Homer Bailey will only excel over the course of time and will be the pitcher the Reds thought he would be.

[Kingctb27]

Interesting. Dye sees a big boost in fantasy production in the heart of the line up, and it looks like the Reds have lost hope in Bailey. Guy seems to have a bad attitude and a extremely bad work ethic. Not a good combination. Guy still has the pitches to dominate in the majors, just needs to perfect his craft and develop mental toughness.

[MexicanStallion]

Update: Reds GM Walt Jocketty vehemently denied a Dayton Daily News report that a deal to send Dye to the Reds for Homer Bailey and others had been struck, the Reds’ official site reports.

Recommendation: It’s no secret that Dye has been the subject of trade talks, and that the Reds at least at one point were involved, but apparently those talks haven’t been recent. “Wrong. It’s not even close,” Jocketty said. “We haven’t had any discussions with the White Sox since before Thanksgiving.”

For now the trade is a rumor it appears.