[jpup]

The Reds have signed Arthur Rhodes to replace Affeldt in the bullpen. Judging the Freel/Hernandez trade on batting average is also suspicious. The trade had very little to do with offense. The Reds needed a catcher to put with their young pitchers Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto. Cueto speaks very little English and the backup catcher, Ryan Hanigan did well last season, but it was a very small sample. Research my friend. It's a little early to be judging the offseason since there are so many free agents left out there.

The Reds have one of the better bullpens in baseball considering Cordero, a healthy Jared Burton, Bill Bray, Arthur Rhodes, David Weathers is back, & either Nick Masset or Ramon Ramirez will be the other guy to be the long reliever. The bullpen has nothing to do with their problems.

The Reds need offense and lots of it. They traded Adam Dunn for Micah Owings and desperately need something to replace his on base ability. The Reds have only one outfielder that is a sure fire starter in Jay Bruce. Chris Dickerson should be the centerfielder, but questions remain about whether is late season call up performance was for real or just a mirage.

For once, the pitching in the Queen City is very good. Aaron Harang will surely be healthy and back to his normal self, Edinson Volquez is one of the best young pitchers in baseball, Bronson Arroyo is a league average guy in the 3 spot. Johnny Cueto has tremendous stuff and will certainly take a step up in his second year. The 5th starter spot will be a fight between, Homer Bailey, Ramon Ramirez, Owings, Darryl Thompson, and possibly a veteran brought in this offseason.

The Reds just need a shortstop, another big hitting outfielder (Bobby Abreu, Milton Bradley, etc.) to go along with the bats of Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Edwin Encarnacion.

So, your reasoning is pretty far off IMO.