It looks like the 2009 Winter Meetings are going to get a little bit of a kick start tonight, as a little more than 12 hours before things are scheduled to kick off in Vegas tomorrow, the Dayton Daily News is reporting that the Reds and White Sox have agreed to terms on a Jermaine Dye for Homer Bailey trade. Nothing's official yet (Hal McCoy's source says the deal won't be announced until next week), but this isn't really a surprise since the two teams have been discussing trading Dye for about a week now and even long-sideburned bloggers were able to guess that Bailey would have to be involved for the Reds to pry Dye loose. The White Sox are apparently serious about re-making themselves into a younger team next year and in Bailey they have a guy that's not even 23 yet with great stuff who's been absolutely maddening over the past two years, to the point that people are already wondering if he's ever going to live up to his potential. Still, Dye is almost 35 and Bailey at almost 23 is only two years removed from the end of his breakout year in the minors. If the Sox can put him back together after a rough 2008, they win this trade hands down.
The Reds, on the other hand, are apparently convinced that the time is now to strike in the NL Central with their young core, and adding Dye should help make up the power void created by losing Adam Dunn. If Bruce and Votto and Cueto and Volquez grow a little more into their projections this year, they could surprise people. Bailey was very disappointing last year and the team's frustration with him was evident. Still, cutting bait on a 22-year-old who's bad season saw him strike out 7.8 hitters per nine innings in AAA is pretty risky business. I hope Walt Jocketty knows what he's doing.
UPDATE: The Reds are, of course, denying the trade. Don't you love Hot Stove Season?
