No Help at Third, Huh?

Hopefully, you can easily follow this.

This past Wednesday, John Fay posted an article about how the Reds were not in the market for outside help for the third base position. Reason being is that the Reds don’t believe Scott Rolen will be out for an extended period. Or so that’s what Reds GM Walt Jocketty told to Fay.

Then you see this…

The very next day, MLBTradeRumors.com, Nick Collias provides this little tidbit of info. Melvin Mora‘s agent reportedly received an offer from the Reds and will be flying to the US in order to begin negotiations. It is also stated that Mora’s agent affirms that the San Francisco Giants are another team that has reached out to Mora. Those are the only two teams Mora’s agent speaks of reaching out to him and his client.

Perplexing? You bet. Especially since Fay was told the Reds weren’t going to look outside the organization. And there’s the fact that Mora’s 40 years old and definitely not in the Reds organization and definitely not the Mora that has appeared in two All-Star Games. Plus, with the options Cincinnati currently have at third, it would seem preposterous that this could even come to pass. Even if there is no Rolen, there are still viable options. Some may consider those already in the organization a far better option than Mora.

Last time Mora donned a uniform of any MLB team, it was last season as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. In 42 games for the NL West Champs, Mora could only muster a slash of .228/.244/.276 with 0 HR and 16 RBI. He was released by the D-back’s on June 29 of last season. No other transactions are listed for him on Baseball Reference.

So yesterday on MLBTR, Mike Axisa notes that the Giants deny having made any offer to Mora. I can only hope the Reds have followed suit here. How can Mora help this team? I say not at all. Besides, it’s not like the Reds need him…or his bat…or his glove. (Yes, the last was done with extreme sarcasm!) So if Mora is flying to the US and the Giants are denying any offer, I hope there’s that “mystery team” lurking in the woods…and I also hope Cincinnati is not in the bidding.

When Rolen returns from the disabled list and even if he’s not the Rolen of 2010, the Reds still have Miguel Cairo and Todd Frazier in addition to Rolen. While Cairo and Frazier may not offer the fear factor at the plate or Gold Glove defense compared to the Rolen of old or the sheer grit and passion of the possibly soon-to-be traded and Cincy native Kevin Youkilis, they are far better choices than Mora.

Of course, Mora and his agent could be blowing smoke in the hopes of raising interest. But as they say, where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire.

My hope is that Cincinnati is not the scene of that fire.