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John Fay
John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

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Monday, August 20, 2007

Conine to Mets

Jeff Conine has been traded to the New York Mets for two minor league players.

Jorge Cantu was called up to take Conine's spot.

Conine's thoughts? "First place. I get to go back into first place and a pennant race. As an athlete and baseball player, that's what you strive to do -- win."

The Reds got shortstop Jose Castro and outfielder Sean Henry in the deal. Both were playing for St. Lucie on the Florida State League. Both will report to Double-A Chattanooga. Castro, 20, was hitting .318 with two home runs and 25 RBI. Henry, 22, was hitting .293 with a 11 home runs and 57 RBI. Both are small -- Castro is 5-8, 160 pounds; Henry 5-10, 154 pounds.

Cantu, like Conine, is a right-handed hitter. In 24 games since the Reds got him from Tampa Bay, he's .309 with 2 HR and 13 RBI. "He's been an RBI machine down there," Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky said. "Reports this week have been outstanding."

Conine is no stranger to late trades.

“This is third time in August,” he said. “This is third time into a pennant race. The first time was World Series victory. It would be nice to repeat that.”

Conine still plans to retire after the season.

“I think this is it,” he said. “I can’t think of a better way to go out than to do in the playoffs in New York. I kind of made of my mind it's time to call it quits. You always want to go out on a winning note. Fortunately, I’m going into a winning situation.”

Conine was a faviorite of the other players in the clubhouse. His very dry wit brighten up a lot of days.

“(I'll remember) a lot of good things,” he said. “This game is not about just bats and balls and games played. It's about people too. There's a lot of good people in here that I’ll miss.”

Conine is very familiar with the Mets.

“Heck, I played with half the team just about,” he said. “It's the Florida Marlins northeast division.”


14 Comments:

at 5:12 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good for Conine. Glad to see him moved with a chance at another ring. Anyone on the roster who is not in the plans I pull for a deal like this.

Hopefully Kriv hits with useable parts. The Jukich A-ball lefty from the A's in the Denorfia deal is off to a good start. Maloney from the Phils too.

 
at 5:37 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is good for Conine. I hope he does well, as he has that one shot left before retirement.

Does this mean Votto will be called up, even with Hatte still around? Is there anyone who hits right handed the Reds can call up?

I have to imagine the Reds won't be able to get anyone else through waivers, but you never know...

Here is hoping for two good future relief pitchers from the deal. :)

Adrian

 
at 5:42 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

uhh...i need to play the lottery this week.

http://redlegsrant.blogspot.com/2007/08/reds-7-brewers-6.html

 
at 5:45 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

What does Votto have to do to get called up?

 
at 6:00 PM Blogger docproc said...

Best of luck to Conine. He and Hatty are both class acts.

 
at 7:52 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Krivsky, Castellini, and Mackanin, please take note: you won't see Conine starting a game batting cleanup for the Mets EVER.

Why?

Because they know what they're doing!

Starting Bellhorn is hardly any different than starting Kellie Pickler except she'd be more expensive to sign and would probably make better contact at the plate!

This team is run by a bunch of clowns. Bellhorn doesn't belong on the roster, much less in a starting lineup.

I won't be wasting any money supporting the Reds until Krivsky, Castellini, and Mackanin are OFF THE TEAM!

Memo to Dumatrait: forget about being a major leaguer. You can't pitch at this level.

 
at 8:14 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keppinger is just so good--so he comes up and he's fine. Chances are Votto and Bruce would be fine too...

CALL UP BRUCE AND VOTTO TOMORROW. Hatteberg doesn't need to play any more, he's a known quantity and will be fine off the bench. Bruce would make a better pinch-hitter, at least, than Bobby Livingston!

Stop the CLOWNING AROUND BOB!

 
at 8:35 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mmmmmm, Kellie Pickler.

 
at 9:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

bye phil

 
at 9:43 PM Blogger tennesseered said...

John, can you do some research to find out if a major league team ever pitched three pitchers in the same game 2/3s of the way through the season who had double digit ERAs. Dumatrait and Guardado are pathetic. When are the Reds going to get rid of all the senior citizens who are well past their prime? I would rather see Coutlangus and McBeth get hammered that the geriatric boys.

 
at 10:46 AM Blogger Unknown said...

tennesseered is right! Dumatrait is 26 years old! He's too old! Hang it up already, grandpa! There isn't Ensure on the training table! Sshhhh... let's not tell Harang that he's 29. He'll start sucking.


Calm down. Dumatrait has 4 starts in the big. It's kind of early to declare him past his prime. Homer got shelled in his first few starts , but no one is calling him washed up.

 
at 11:38 AM Blogger Rob Dicken said...

I'm sorry...but if you say 26 is old for a pitcher...you have no baseball knowledge what so ever.

Pitchers last longer than normal players. Most of the time into their mid to late 40's.

Dumatrait needs to work on location. He gets shelled because he pitches the ball right down the middle of the plate. He doesn't have great velocity, so for him to do that it makes him even more vulnerable. He's pretty much pitching batting practice up there.

I say give Cueto a shot. Can't be any worse than what Belisle or Dumatrait has done.

 
at 6:25 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Inasmuch as Krivsky apparently said that Conine was a favorite player for him -- Krivsky should go too. That explains why Conine batted in the 4 hole so many times -- Krivsky needed to attempt to justify his investment in this guy & likely directed that the manager use him in the 4 hole.

Best of luck to Conine -- but Krivsky -- on balance is not a good GM if he thinks that Conine was actually an asset to this team. For the Mets -- he will be used as PH, and an occasional starter -- but you will never be seeing him bat in the 3, 4, or 5 hole for sure.

 
at 3:41 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Funny that Single A players in the Mets organization are at the same level as Double A players in the Reds'

 
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