http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060730/COL09/607300399/1071


Quote:

GM's shakeup paying off
Moves bolstered bullpen and ended club's pre-break funk
BY JOHN FAY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

MILWAUKEE - By 4 p.m. Monday, the non-waiver trade deadline will have come and gone.

But even if the deadline passes without a move, you can argue the Reds were one of the top players on the market.

General manager Wayne Krivsky has made about 79 trades in his short tenure, and he has kept word from getting out on each one until the announcement was made. (The actual count is nine, but you get the point.)

Ask Krivsky if any more trades are coming - and there can be deals even after the non-waiver deadline - you get this:

"It takes two. We're always looking to improve the club."

So much is made of the trade deadline. But Krivsky's best move was ignoring it and making his big move early.

Krivsky's biggest trade came 18 days before the deadline, on July 13.

You can argue the long-term merits of the deal that sent Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and Ryan Wagner to the Washington Nationals for Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris and Daryl Thompson. But you can't argue the short-term positive results.

The Reds lost eight of nine games going into the All-Star break. Anyone on the road trip leading into the break saw the Reds as dead men walking. They were a couple of series from being hopelessly out of the postseason picture.

Post-trade, they proceeded to win three of four series going into the weekend at Milwaukee. The only series they lost was two-games-to-one with the NL's best team, the New York Mets. And they were one big hit from winning that series as well.

Majewski, Bray and Clayton have not been responsible for the turnaround. Majewski, in fact, has hurt more than helped. Bray has been good for the most part. Clayton's been better than Lopez defensively and similar offensively.

The trade's biggest effect was that it shook the club out of its pre-break malaise.

The deal came a week after the trade for Eddie Guardado, which might have had a bigger effect. He went into Saturday six-for-six in save chances. He also closed a pair of games in which the Reds led by four. That doesn't get you a save, but those games were far from locks earlier.

Guardado, Majewski and Bray have made the bullpen so much deeper. That has helped improve the guys who have been here.

When Majewski and Bray nearly let a five-run lead slip away Thursday night, Todd Coffey was there to bail them out with a strikeout.

Two nights before, Bray bailed Coffey out. Jason Standridge, who got a mini-trial as a lead setup man, now is in long relief and has been extremely effective in that role. With the Reds' offense, if the bullpen can stop the bleeding early, there's always a chance. The one game the Reds won from the Mets was the result of a rally from a 4-0 deficit. The bullpen pitched seven scoreless innings, starting with two strong innings from Standridge.

Whether Krivsky did enough to get the Reds into the postseason for the first time since 1995 remains to be seen.

The club could use another reliable starter. But that probably can be said about 28 other clubs.

Another bullpen arm wouldn't hurt. Again, you can say that about 28, maybe 29 other clubs.

But we're two days from August and the Reds are in the thick of the postseason race. Yeah, that trade 17 days ago is looking pretty good.