Casey has a career OPs+ of 113, which i'll assume (i havent looked and wouldnt even know where to look) is decent but not good for a first baseman. his last 4 years are 78, 98, 142, and 104. He is 31 years old and made 7.8 million last year (i can only assume that goes up a bit as most contracts are backloaded) the Reds had 5 guys for 4 spots and they aren't a NY team, purging that salary without a downgrade to their lineup is probably a benefit in and of itself, the question is did they get rid of the right guy? Player- positions* (age**) OPS for 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 Casey - 1B (30) 78, 98, 142, 104 Griffey - OF (35) 100, 140, 128, 138 Dunn - RF/LF/1B (25) 118, 112, 152, 135 Kearns- OF (25) 130, 113, 97, 99 Pena - OF (23) 52***, 66***, 121, 100 *my own extrapolation of where they can play, i havent checked games played to see so feel free to disagree or correct me. **the age at which they played last season according to baseballreference.com *** Pena had only 18 ABs in 2002 and 185 ABs in 2003 Dunn is flat out better and younger. Pena is the youngest of the bunch, could be just as good a hitter, and is probably seen as the future in CF (a position far harder to fill than 1B.) Griffey certainly has more upside but with more age, injury risk, and a higher contract he is arguably the worst bet of the bunch. Kearns was a highly regarded prospect but seems to have gotten progressively worse in the majors, he might have been a better choice to deal than Casey (except for contract considerations and 5 years of age.) in the end they'd have probably done better to trade griffey (but only if they didnt pay the salary which is unlikely) or Kearns (but only if they got a better player than Williams back since Kearns is cheap) in a deal for Williams i think Casey was the best choice to give up, if they're not paying the contract at all. The money saved with which they might be able to afford ANOTHER starting pitcher is a good thing for this team.