If the question is whether the Reds got the better of the Dmitri Young deal, the answer is no. If the answer were yes, we'd be calling it the Juan Encarnacion deal.

        This was a salary dump, pure and simple and sad. Dmitri Young is a professional hitter who stings the ball from both sides of the plate and has adapted to several positions without disgracing himself on defense.

        Encarnacion is a chronic underachiever who will either soon find his way or shortly clear the way in left field for Austin Kearns.

        Young was a stalwart. Encarnacion is a stopgap. Baseball trades are rarely about equal value anymore. They're more often about payroll flexibility, about replacing a big salary with a cheaper player so that spare revenues can be reallocated for higher priorities.

        No pitching help

        Trading one outfielder for another does not solve the Reds' shortage of starting pitching, but it could free up some funds for that purpose. That, at least, was the grand strategy Reds general manager Jim Bowden enunciated last summer when the Deion Sanders follies raised doubts about his direction.

        Bowden predicted the Reds would get cheaper in the corners of the outfield in anticipation of Adam Dunn, Kearns and/or Wily Mo Pena, and he indicated they also would purge the salary of Pokey Reese, the malcontented middle infielder. Ideally, Bowden's big picture would come into focus with Sean Casey, Aaron Boone and/or Danny Graves locked up to long-term contracts. Any money left over would be plowed into pitching.

        The difference between disclosing this plan and executing it, however, is the difference between adopting a diet and maintaining it. The past postseason underscored the importance of pedigreed starting pitching. Yet neither the Reds' active roster nor their payroll limitations portend much help in this department.

        “We had hoped to trade for a starting pitcher to go into the rotation,” Bowden told reporters in Boston, site of baseball's winter meetings. “But everybody is in the $4 million to $10 million category, and that doesn't fit. We can't afford that.”

        Look to the minors

        It says here that the Reds no longer can afford to skimp on their starting rotation, but that they have little choice but to continue on their fingers-crossed course. In acquiring Ken Griffey Jr. and re-signing Barry Larkin, Reds management (mainly owner Carl Lindner) decided to devote a disproportionate part of the payroll to a pair of 30-something position players. Because Lindner declines to indulge in deficit spending, the only way the Reds can expect to locate a legitimate ace is to develop one from scratch.

        It can happen. In Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito, the Oakland A's have three elite home-grown starters — all under the age of 27. Describing the Reds' rotation, however, demands the felicitous phrase coined by Branch Rickey: “A conspiracy of ifs.”

        The Reds pay lip service to starting pitching, but they don't often pay for the actual arm. Their free agent philosophy, dating to Bob Howsam's signing of Dave Parker, generally has focused on position players. It is as if the organization views everyday players as furniture — durable, necessary — and pitchers as porcelain — expensive and fragile.

        Given the prices teams must pay for established starters, it's easy to understand. It's just hard to win that way.

        Contact Tim Sullivan at 768-8456; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: tsullivan@enquirer.com.

Young traded to Detroit SULLIVAN: A move that helps only the payroll Reds, Young swap parting compliments New double plays in N.Y.: Alomar to Ordonez

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