Crazy like a fox

When I read what he'd done, I thought Krivsky was crazy. As in Jim Bowden-crazy.  But it was not as crazy as it first sounded.

Krivsky was crazy like a fox on Thursday, paying the Cubs (of all teams) to select Josh Hamilton and slide him over to the Reds.

It costs the Reds very little in the way of money (at least baseball money) and Hamilton was a number one overall pick in 1999.  Most observers know that Hamilton got hurt in 2001, got into crack and basically was wandering in the wilderness until he was reinstated last June.  He put in some time in split season ball before hurting his knee, but reports are that he still has his considerable tools.

Odds are that he is going to be overmatched at the big league level.  Rule 5 selections have to stay on the major league roster all season.  But the Reds should be focused on the longer-term, and it is far better to get some upside in Rule 5 than to waste a selection on a fringe pitcher (as the Reds appeared to do with their own selection).

Given that the Reds carried Quinton McCracken and DeWayne Wise at various times, and Norris Hopper and then three catchers on top of that, this is really not going to hurt the Reds very much, since they are generally too thin to put 25 quality contributors on the roster anyway.  There is no reason to think that Hamilton cannot play adequate defense, and it won't hurt for him to get a fresh start in a new organization.

As much as I have been a critic of a lot of what Krivsky does, this was a very inspired move.  A crazy like a fox kind of move.

The beauty is, if it doesn't work out, it costs the Reds so little.  This was definitely a gamble worth taking--now the talent evaluators have to do a good job figuring out whether Hamilton can contribute--not in 2007, but rather in 2009.  If he can help the Reds in 2009, then he should get the roster slot in 2007 over the Norris Hoppers.