The Reds brought Austin Kearns and Ruben Mateo to the big leagues to fill needs — not to showcase the players. But it could turn out that way.

        If Kearns and Mateo continue to play well, it will do nothing but increase their trade value. And with four players stacked in right field — starter Juan Encarnacion, Mateo, Kearns and prospect Wily Mo Pena — the Reds would trade one or two for a starting pitcher.

        But that's not easily done.

        “If we're going to trade one of the outfielders, we want to get in return a No.1, 2 or 3 quality pitcher who's going to stay with us a long time,” Reds general manager Jim Bowden said. “Unfortunately, the marketplace is such that all 30 teams are not going to trade pitching if they have it. Nobody wants to trade starting pitching.”

        Bowden says he'd rather wait for the market to change than settle for a lesser pitcher.

        “At some point down the road, when there's not such a supply of offensive outfielders and teams can't pay their $5 (million) to $8 million outfielders, someone's going to come to us, whether that be this year, next year or the following year,” Bowden said. “At some point, I believe that will happen.”

        There's no rush, because all but Encarnacion have options.

        “We're not forced to make a move,” Bowden said. “In the meantime, we have competition from four or five very talented outfielders who are trying to win the jobs here. The other thing that's important is you always want to be protected from injuries. If an outfielder or a first baseman goes down, we want to have a high-quality guy or two high-quality guys to fill in.”

Two rallies stave off sweep Reds box, runs Kremchek says Jr. improving quickly Reds have OFs to burn Sunday's start goes to Rijo Reds notes: Acevedo demotion a signal Reds at Chicago Cubs Baseball notes: 3-12 Milwaukee fires Lopes as manager AL: Lofton helps White Sox sweep Indians NL: Sexson gives Royster win in managerial debut

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