"Today we will start to see if Bob Castellini's latest bold stroke to

try to turn the Reds around works.

Scott Rolen will return from the disabled list. We'll get 39 games to see what kind of effect it has on the

team around him.

The Rolen trade is Castelli latest attempt to change

things with one move. It's along the lines of the hiring of

Dusty Baker, the signing of Francisco Cordero, the hiring

of Walt Jocketty, the firing of Wayne Krivisky and the trading of Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn.

Castellini was behind all those moves, or at least had

the final word. None of them has righted the listing ship that is the

Reds' franchise.

The difference with the Rolen trade is it wasn't popular with a lot of people in the front office and some of the other owners.

There's no question Rolen is a big upgrade over Edwin Encarnacion. But the Reds

gave up young pitching in the deal and Rolen's salary really would appear flea add to hamstring the club are far as payroll flexibility.

With the way this season has gone so far, season-ticket renewals are bound to be off, so the player payroll will probably be less than it was this year when it was $73.5 million on Opening Day.

Say it's $70 million next year. Aaron Harang ($12.5 million), Cordero ($12 million), Bronson Arroyo ($11 million), Rolen ($11 million), Brandon Phillips ($6.75 million) and Willy Taveras ($4 million) are due $57.25 million.

If the other 19 players all made the minimum of $400,000, you're already at

$65 million. With the standard raises the Reds are probably already close to $70 million.

The point of all this? Rolen is going to be surrounded by a similar cast on Opening Day 2010 as he is today against the Pirates.

For example, since Baker rejected the idea of moving to Brandon Phillips to shortstop, someone like Paul Janish is going to be playing there."