Jason Michael Barker

Somebody stop the excitement! OK, so the "you gotta clear waivers first, bucko!" trade deadline passed Thursday night without nearly the hoop-la of the "real" deadline a month ago, but there were a few (OK, one) noteworthy deals of, er, note.

In a deal that should have been made the minute they acquired him, the Reds shipped Dante "Fonzie" Bichette to the Red Sox for a pair of minor league arms -- Chris Reitsma and John Curtice. (Rumor has it the rest of their bodies were included, as well, but we haven't confirmed that as we go to press -- film at eleven.)

Before dissecting the particulars of this deal, let's take look back at the deal that brought Bichette to the Reds from Colorado in the first place. Desperate give his new club something of a makeover, Rockies' GM Dan O'Dowd traded Bichette to Cincy for outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds and reliever Stan Belinda.

"Experts" lauded Jim Bowden for adding a .300 average, 30 homers and 120 RBIs to his club, while statistically inclined fans -- not unlike yourself, I'm guessing -- said Bichette's numbers were a farce, a creation of Planet Coors. The latter explanation seemed dead on, as over the past three years Fonzie hit a robust .351/.390/.609 at home compared to a meager .272/.308/.420 on the road.

Tossing park effects to the wind, Bowden defended the move by pointing out how well Bichette had hit at Cinergy Field over his career. To his credit, Bichette didn't fall flat on his face as some predicted. His numbers prior to the trade -- .295/.353/.466 -- while not worthy of a corner outfielder batting clean-up, were decent.

And Bowden was right -- Bichette did indeed hit well at Cinergy, finishing at .319/.381/.527 with 11 of his 16 homers. The problem, of course, just as it was during his time in Colorado, was that Bichette barely hit well enough on the road to justify playing at all. His .272/.309/.426 line isn't really acceptable for a middle infielder, let alone a corner outfielder hitting behind Ken Griffey Jr.

What of the players the Rockies got in return? Jeffrey Hammonds, when healthy, has been both better and cheaper than Bichette. In 106 games he's hitting .355/.412/.571 with 20 homers, though he doesn't walk as much as you'd like. His home numbers -- .429/.493/.714 -- are almost as good as Todd Helton's, but of course Hammonds falls short of Helton away from Coors.

Belinda, as you might expect, has been horrible since joining the Rockies, and as of this writing sports an ERA of nearly eight and his ERA at home is close to ten.

At the very least, however, the Rockies got the better of this deal by dumping $14 million in Bichette's salary over this season and next.

Jumping ahead to the present, I'm inclined to say the same thing about the Reds, who rid themselves of Bichette's $7 million tag for 2001 and added two young pitchers.

Reitsma, who has had some injury problems in the past, is a decent prospect who has pitched well this season at two levels. He got off to a decent start at high-A Sarasota in the Florida State League after spending all of last season with the club, earning a promotion to AA. In 64 innings with Sarasota, he allowed 57 hits and 17 walks to go along with 47 strikeouts and a 3.66 ERA.

He's pitched even better after the promotion, going 7-2 in 14 starts with a 2.58 ERA for Trenton of the Eastern League. In 103.1 innings, the right-hander has allowed 107 hits and 33 walks with 91 strikeouts. The 1.35 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) indicates he might not be pitching quite as well as his ERA would indicate, but his K:BB ratio and strikeout rate (eight per nine innings) are both good signs.

To say John Curtice hasn't pitched nearly as well would be something of an understatement -- 114 hits, 68 walks and 12 hit batters in 112.1 innings have led to a 4-10 record and 6.49 ERA. He did miss almost all of last season with a torn labrum and they say left-handed pitchers have nine lives, so the jury is still out on Curtice.

As for the Red Sox, they get a hitter who may or may not hit in the friendly confines of Fenway Park... and they're stuck with him for the rest of the season, the post-season if they get that far, and the 2001 season at $7 million. They didn't give up their best pitching depth so the long-term cost isn't crushing, but Bichette is hardly the answer to any team's offensive woes.

Jason Michael Barker cleared waivers a month ago, but there's no way we'd ship him to the Red Sox - not even for a large bag of peanuts (mmmm, peanuts...) However, if you have a better offer, why not let him know at jmb@strikethree.com.

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