THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Good Morning!

My friend Eddie gave me a call the other day. I've known him all my life but don't see him much. Works in the oil industry down in Texas, started as a roughneck, now just about runs the company. Anyhow, Eddie and I grew up together. He's a huge sports fan, like me. And we spent a good part of our formative years getting under each other's skin, arguing about sports. He liked Mays. I liked Mantle. He thought Clyde Frazier was the greatest thing ever in sneakers. I was a Big O guy.

So when the Reds were stinking it up last week, Eddie phoned me up. He just came from a bar where he heard a friend of a friend of a big time sportswriter in Houston who says the Reds are about to deal Adam Dunn to the Astros. We were apparently going to get a couple of minor league suspects and a broken down Brad Ausmus in this deal. I could tell Eddie had been drinking, because he was actually believing this stuff. Sober, he's not go gullable.

I listened for about three minutes and then reminded him he's always been a moron. That's the way every one of our sports arguments ended back in the day.

For openers, I told him, Dunn or anyone of any significance isn't going anywhere yet. No deals get done this early in a season. Two, I said, Walt Jocketty was born at night, but he wasn't born last night. He's not going to send a 40-home run, 100-RBI guy to a team he has to face 12 times every season. And I told him the last time I checked, the guy in charge at Great American Ball Park seems to have a man crush on Dunn. So my guess is, it's going to take more than a couple of minor league pitchers named Fred and Mendoza line native Brad Ausmus to pry Dunn away from the Reds. Eddie and I laughed about a couple of other things and then he hung up and went back to work, bilking you and me out of our life savings, which is now going into our gas tanks.

But it made me realize that we are now approaching baseball's silly season. And it seems to come sooner year after year. You know what baseball's silly season is, right? The trading game. Stand by, it's about to hit us square in the jaw.
The Reds aren't out of the chase for the National League Central title. They're 6 out as we speak and arguably, playing their best baseball of the season. In this joke of a division, any win total in the low 80's can win you a title. But log onto just about any web site today, and you'll find half of this Reds roster traded to a lot of unsuspecting teams. On espn.com, baseball expert Steve Phillips, (that's what they call him anyway. Maybe he looks in the mirror and calls himself the same thing too. I dunno) But Phillips, who incidentally GM'd his way out of a good gig with the Mets, has ten things the Reds can do right now to fix the team. Seven of the ten involves trading anyone not named Volquez. He actually think the Yankees would part with Phil Hughes for Jeremy Affeldt and Jared Burton. They might, if Phillips were the Yankees GM.

It's not just him. it's just about everyone who writes baseball for a living. Ken Rosenthal is one of the best baseball insiders. He's floating this week, that the Rockies are willing to trade Matt Holliday. You know, because you own a fantasy baseball team, that Matt Holliday is one of the best pure hitters in the game. Well, then why would the Rockies want to get rid of him? Money? Really? Less than a year after getting to the World Series?

Here's what the last week has taught us. Teams that are in first place today, won't necessarily be there on October first. Teams that are within eight games of the lead today, aren't out of it yet. Teams get hot, players get hurt, pitching gets better.

But when I hung up with Eddie, it made me think. Would the Reds trade Adam Dunn this season? Sure. If they're out of it, they'd be crazy not to. Would they trade Junior? If they're out of it, absolutely. That's four million to Castellini's bottom line.

But is it going to happen? I don't know, Neither do you or anyone else at this point. It's way too early to be wrapped up in this game. But I do know this: if the Reds play the rest of this season like they've played this past week, they've got a legit chance to make a run at this thing. And if they do, what's going on in this silly season will be all moot. And then, we'll have to talk about some really dumb stuff: like Chad Johnson's state of mind.