URL is behind EPSN pay wall, but here's what mlbtraderumors.com had to say:

Within a piece which focuses on yesterday's non-tender decisions, ESPN.com's Buster Olney mentions that a handful of clubs are interested in Brian Giles, including the Yankees and Reds. It's still up in the air whether teams will be willing to offer Giles more than a minor league contract.

Petey sez:
Minor League deal w/ ITST sounds delicious to me for a potential low-risk/high-reward candidate like Giles. I think he's done, but in 147 games in 2008, he had an OPS of .854 while playing in very pitcher-friendly Petco Park.

Park Factor stats:
Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.
multi-year: Batting - 88, Pitching - 88;
one-year: Batting - 88, Pitching - 89

He's gonna be 39 in 2010, and his SLG took a dive in 2003 JUST BEFORE his trade to the Padres. But the man has gotten on base to the tune of a career OBP of a cool .400 in 15 seasons, which is reason enough for me to see if he has any left in the tank, despite a horrible 2009 campaign in which he hit .191/.277/.271 for an OPS of .548 in 61 games. He's only a year removed from finishing 6th in the league in OBP with 56 extra-base hits. He's no perfect fit, as he's a lefty RF'er, not a righty LF'er. But his upside intrigues me enough to see if he can look sharp in Goodyear.

But, WOW, that 2009 line was weak. So I checked it out. The man got off to a TERRIBLE slump, even against righties, whom he normally CRUSHES to the tune of a .950+ OBP. In mid-June, he had a right-knee strain that he has since recovered from...but by the time he had healed in mid-July, the Padres were in full youth-movement mode, so he rode the pine. Yes, career stud can fall off a table like that at age 38. But he almost only slumped in a pair of 12-game stretches of his 225 AB's last year. Here's how it went down:

goes 1-for-4 int the 2009 Season opener
hits .143 for 12 games
hits .261 for 5 games
hits .093 for 12 games
cranks up a .967 OPS for 6 games
goes hitless for 3 games
cranks it again to a .899 OPS for 12 games, hitting in 9 straight starts
goes 2-for-14
hits .313 for 4 games
ends the season with an 0-for-11 streak (strained knee?)

So if we discount the final 0-for-11 to injury, then really the only gripe we have with Brian beyond his age is a pair of 12-game slumps last year? That's all

Sign him up. Let's see what he can do, and send him immediately to the Mexican Pacific League to work out with their active teams for rest of the month and into the playoffs.

Whatchathinks?

From CTR:
Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said the team has had a couple of trade talks in the last hours of the MLB Winter Meetings, and if anything happens with those, it'll likely be sooner, rather than later.

"We had a couple of conversations with agents last night, had a few with different clubs, one this morning," Jocketty said shortly after the Rule V draft on Thursday morning. "Certainly nothing's going to happen before I leave today, but a couple of things may or may not develop by the weekend. They'll either develop by this weekend or go away, I think."

Jocketty said he'd also talked to agents about free agents, but those talks could go on much longer, it's the trade market that is time sensitive.

"At these meetings it seems to be a feeding frenzy, as long as they have you here, they try to attack and get things done," Jocketty said. "I don't see anything happening right away."

On Thursday, the Reds lost minor league left-hander Ben Jukich to the Cardinals in the Rule V draft and picked up minor-league right-hander Douglas Salinas in the Class AA portion of the Rule V draft. Other than that, it was an uneventful four days for the Reds in Indianapolis.

"As I've said before, we really like our club and I don't think we needed to rush out and do anything this week," Jocketty said. "I think the free agent market, we'll see how that plays out, later into January and maybe into February and March, who knows? On the trade front, we had a couple of little things we talked about and they didn't materialize and it just doesn't make sense to do something for the sake of doing it."

MLB.com's Adam McCalvy says the Brewers upped their offer to Craig Counsell this morning and GM Doug Melvin is confident they'll get it done. The Reds are still in the mix for Counsell, says MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.

C. Trent Rosecrans of CNATI.com tweets that the Reds signed infielder Chris Burke to a minor league deal. Burke, 30 in March, struggled in 89 plate appearances for the Padres this year and otherwise hit .279/.351/.397 in 354 Triple A plate appearances for the Braves and Mariners. He spent most of his time in the middle infield.

Please click link for recap.

Rotowire (subscription):

Todd Frazier (2B) CIN - Dec 01
http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.htm?id=9848

Frazier will likely open up 2010 as the starting left fielder for Triple-A Louisville, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: This is a pretty good indication that Frazier's work at second base in Instructional League play didn't go all that well. Keep in mind that Frazier doesn't yet have to be protected on the 40-man roster, and that
there are a slew of left field candidates. He'll probably spend most if not all of his summer in Louisville while the Reds work on finding him a permanent position.

Enerio Del Rosario (P) CIN - Dec 01
http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.htm?id=10456

Del Rosario, who was recently added to the Reds' 40-man roster, is pitching well in the Dominican Winter League, posting a 2.37 ERA in 19 innings of relief work.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: Del Rosario throws hard but doesn't get the strikeouts you'd think would come with that. In 80.1 innings of relief, mostly split between High-A Sarasota and Triple-A Louisville, he had a combined 1.68 ERA and 54:12 K:BB, allowing just three homers on the year. Not surprisingly, he was an extreme ground ball pitcher, posting a 3.23 G/F rate.

TBS. Very funny. Unless you're Chip Carey.

From Rotowire (subscription):

Jonny Gomes (OF) CIN - Nov 24
http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.htm?id=7036

The Reds are working to try to get Gomes signed before the deadline to offer him arbitration, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: It's likely that they'll offer him arbitration if a deal doesn't get done beforehand, especially in light of their decision to not keep Laynce Nix.

From Rotowire (subscription only)
Yonder Alonso (1B) CIN - Nov 18

Alonso will play winter ball in Puerto Rico after the Arizona Fall League finishes up this week, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: Alonso recovered a little bit at the plate after a slow start in the AFL. However, he hasn't hit for much power in a place that is power-friendly.

A new study of sports fan psychology concludes that fans who have the most negative emotions toward their team's prospects, get the most enjoyment out of games.

So treasure your angst ... because it's more fun that way.