Disclaimer: All of this is pure, idle speculation with impossibly little chance of ever happening.  So if you're not a fan of made-up trades don't read it.  

Zonis' diary the other day got me thinking: is there a way to limit (but not eliminate) our competitions in spring training and get someone who could really help us?

Obviously, our biggest hole is offense and our biggest strength our bullpen. I wish we could have gotten in on the Adam LaRoche deal, but that is old news.  So the idea I came up was:

Adam Dunn and David Ross for
Jason Kendall, DJ, Kielty, TBuck and Street/Duke/Calero

At first I thought the deal favored us but the more I thought of it the more it made sense.  First the monetary issue: according to Cot's, Dunn makes $10.5 mil in '07; Ross $1.6 mil; Kendall $8 mil (13 and $5mil comes from the Pirates); Kielty $2.1 mil; Duke and Calero a little more than 1 mil. The rest all make minimum.  In other words, if we give the $5 mil for Kendall from PIT to CIN, then the trade is basically an even exchange of salaries.

Talent-wise we get two low average, high power, high OPS guys. However, if Beane feels he has found a market inefficiency in low K guys, he would have to break that trend.  And that's an understatement.  We gain two of the highest strikeout kings this side of Ryan Howard.  Oh wait one sec, we get one this side of RH and one on the other side (Dunn had 194[!] to Howard's 181).  Plus we limit our competition with the only real competition for one bullpen spot.    

The Reds biggest need is a closer.  Street, Duke, or Calero all could be the Reds' closer.  The Reds also get a proven NL .300 hitter at catcher, their future replacement for Hatty, and also a LF for today and one for tomorrow.  They trade one/two years of Dunn (he has a 13 mil option) and two+ of Ross for a good prospect and three years of a premium closer.  

Any thoughts?