The Reds have placed 29-year old righty swinging catcher Ryan Hanigan on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured left thumb. Hanigan has played in 27 games this season for the Reds and he is 27 of 77 (.351 avg, .975 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 2 homers and 17 RBIs. This is a bad break for Hanigan who was playing the best baseball of his major league career. This injury makes Ramon Hernandez the full time starter behind the plate for the Reds. He has played in 32 games for the Reds this year and he is 31 of 101 (.307 avg, .842 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 2 homers and 12 RBIs. The Reds have recalled 33-year old righty swinging Corky Miller to replace Hanigan on the active roter. He has played in 31 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 29 of 103 (.282 avg, .829 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 4 homers and 24 RBIs. Miller has already played in 1 game for the Reds this year but he hasn’t batted. Miller has played in 168 games in his major league career and he is 77 of 430 (.179 avg, .552 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 9 homers and 50 RBIs.

The Reds are set from the left side of the bullpen but if they truly want to compete with the Cardinals in the N.L. Central they are going to need to address the right side of the pen in the trade market, and sooner rather than later. The Reds have the firepower to make smaller deals or bigger ones depending on the quality they get back. If the Reds want to go big they will call the Blue Jays (Jason Frasor), the Astros (Brandon Lyon and Matt Lindstrom) of the Indians (Kerry Wood). If they want to aim smaller they place a call to teams like the White Sox (Tony Pena), the Royals (Kyle Farnsworth), the Pirates (Brendan Donnelly and D.J. Carrasco) or the Padres (Edwin Mujica, Adam Russell or Ryan Webb). Personally I would try to deal with the Astros or the Padres. I think the Padres would give the Reds Mujica, Russell and Webb for Chris Heisey and Chris Dickerson. Despite Heisey’s nice upside this is a deal the Reds would likely have to make as the bullpen would be in much better shape. The Astros would have to send a lot of cash in this deal but they would take Juan Francisco, Dickerson, Micah Owings and Paul Janish for both Lindstrom and Lyon which would give the Reds a powerful pen and a very deep one. The Indians would jump at the chance to deal Kerry Wood and cash to the Reds for Chris Dickerson and Paul Janish or Micah Owings. The Blue Jays would likely require either Juan Francisco or Chris Heisey straight up for Jason Frasor and I’m not so sure he’s worth that price. The cheaper alternatives would come cheaply as the Reds would likely take Chris Dickerson or Micah Owings for both Brendan Donnelly and D.J. Carrasco. Micah Owings would likely be the price for Kyle Farnsworth of the Royals while Tony Pena of the White Sox would require Chris Dickerson and Micah Owings. The Reds have the team to make a legit run at the playoffs so they need to pull the trigger on a trade for bullpen help soon.

The Reds have placed 24-year old righty starting pitcher Homer Bailey on the 15-day disabled list with inflammation in his right shoulder. Bailey has started 9 games for the Reds this year and he is 1-2 with a 5.51 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. The Reds have recalled 24-year old righty reliever Enerio Del Rosario to replace Bailey on the pitching staff. Del Rosario was the Reds’ #19 prospect heading into this year according to Baseball America. He has pitched in 20 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball this year and he is 1-1 with 3 saves, a 1.46 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP.

The Reds have signed 26-year old lefty 3B Mike Costanzo to a minor league deal. He is off to a good start in AA-ball for the Reds as he has played in 4 games in which he is 4 of 13 (.308 avg, .718 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Costanzo has played in 560 games in his minor league career and he is 529 of 2,061 (.257 avg, .771 OPS) with 303 runs scored, 66 homers and 319 RBIs. Costanzo is running out of chances so the Reds hope he will give them a reason to give him his first shot in the majors this year.

I remember a lot of “experts” saying last summer that the Reds gave up too much to get 35-year old righty swinging 3B Scott Rolen. But he appears to be all the way back this season as his power has returned. He has played in 36 games for the Reds this season and he is 37 of 127 (.291 avg, .909 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 8 homers and 23 RBIs. Rolen’s all around game is giving the Reds a huge boost right now and he is part of the reason that they are in first place in the N.L. Central. Rolen has 7 Gold Gloves in his career and he has whacked more than 30 homers 3 times and he has driven in at least 100 runs 5 times. If Rolen can stay healthy enough to play in 140+ games he might add to those numbers in 2010.