[jammin' jamey]

I agree, I have always been in favor of picking up the option. At 13 million, Dunn is really a bargain, when you consider what a guy like him would command on the open market. I would agree that 13 million is too much to pay him only under the context that it's too much to pay any baseball player. I would even be in favor of signing him to an extension if we could get him for 3-4 more years in the $13-14 million range. He is still fairly young and likely has his best seasons still ahead of him

Totally agree. You can search my previous post from the season gone-bye and see that I wasn't in favor of keeping Dunn. Yet, he's durable (when's the last time he was injured for an extended period of time?) He improved his numbers this season as well, especially in the RBI department. It's going to be interesting where Baker bats Dunn in the lineup. They may have a positive (hopefully) effect on Dunn and the Reds.

I know you guys don't want to give up on Hamilton or Votto or someone of their caliber that the Reds have, but how are the Reds going to get good pitching? It's not on the FA market. Gotta give good to get good. The Reds won't compete with better starting pitching next season.