Read More: Huston Street (P – COL), Josh Hamilton (LF – TEX), Edinson Volquez (P – CIN), Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds

The MLB Winter Meetings opened up on Monday, and already the Colorado Rockies have been liked to infielder Placido Palanco, but now the bigger news is that the team is reportedly in discussions with the Cincinnati Reds about a trade involving Rockies’ reliever Huston Street and Reds’ starting pitcher Edinson Volquez. Troy Renck of the Denver Post is reporting that the Rockies are looking to acquire a young starting pitcher with upside, and the Reds are trying to fill a need at closer, but the teams are struggling to make the money work.

Huston Street is due $8 million in salary in 2012, and for the Reds to even consider taking on that money in the deal they would likely also require a young, minor league pitching prospect included as well. 

Volquez went 17-6 and earned a National League all-star selection in 2008, after joining the Reds in a trade that involved outfielder Josh Hamilton, but has since served a suspension for PED use and has struggled with injuries as well. Even so, he is still only 28-years old, under team control through 2013, and made a paltry $1.623 million through salary arbitration last season.

For more coverage of all things Denver sports, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more in-depth coverage of the Rockies, visit Purple Row. For more updates on the MLB Hot Stove, check out Baseball Nation.

Saturday brought encouraging signs for the Cincinnati Reds and pitcher Edinson Volquez—in Louisville.

Volquez, demoted Monday after posting a 6.35 ERA in 10 starts with the Reds, pitched as if he’s eager to get back to Cincinnati, working a season-high 7 2/3 innings Saturday in the Class AAA Louisville Bats 4-3 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.

“I felt good,” Volquez said, according to The Louisville Courier-Journal. “I haven’t had all my pitches like that in maybe two months. Tonight was probably my best game. It means a lot. It brings my confidence back, and I’ve got to keep working.”

Volquez was in line for the win until he allowed a two-out solo home run to Ramiro Pena in the eighth that tied the score at 2, the only negative on the night for Volquez.

“He hit a good pitch,” Volquez said, according to The Courier-Journal. “It was down and in. A lefty is always looking for something in. They have that golf swing. There was nothing I could do about it. It’s one pitch. The best thing was that we won.”

Before the home run, the only run he had allowed came in the first inning.

Volquez was so dominant that Bats manager Rick Sweet let him try to finish the eighth even while there was bullpen action.

Volquez retired the first two, but then Pena hammered the tying shot to right field. Sweet let Volquez pitch to one more batter, and Jesus Montero beat out an infield hit. That was it for Volquez, who threw 109 pitches, 69 for strikes.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds have sent former All-Star right-hander Edinson Volquez to the minors.

Volquez was optioned to Triple-A Louisville along with right-hander Jordan Smith before Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Volquez was 3-2 with a 6.35 ERA in 10 starts. He won 17 games and was an All-Star in 2008.

Utilityman Todd Frazier and lefty Matt Maloney were called up to fill the roster spots. Maloney began the season with the Reds and was 0-1 with an 8.49 ERA in five appearances.

Smith had a 7.20 ERA in 17 games.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds have sent former All-Star right-hander Edinson Volquez to the minors.

Volquez was optioned to Triple-A Louisville along with right-hander Jordan Smith before Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Volquez was 3-2 with a 6.35 ERA in 10 starts. He won 17 games and was an All-Star in 2008.

Utilityman Todd Frazier and lefty Matt Maloney were called up to fill the roster spots. Maloney began the season with the Reds and was 0-1 with an 8.49 ERA in five appearances.

Smith had a 7.20 ERA in 17 games.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds have demoted struggling starting pitcher Edinson Volquez after another lousy performance and some questionable postgame comments.Volquez gave up seven runs in less than three innings on Sunday, including four in the first inning. The 27-year-old Volquez has been smacked around in the first inning of almost every game he’s started this season, though the Reds have often rallied to win.But some fans were unhappy with a statement Volquez made in the locker room.”Everybody has to step up, start to score some runs. In the last five games, how many runs have we scored? Like 13? That’s not the way we were playing last year. We’re better than that,” he said.Manager Dusty Baker said after the game that he and general manager Walt Jocketty would mull over the right-hander’s immediate future with the Reds. They apparently decided to burn Volquez’s third and final option and send him to Triple-A Louisville.The team also optioned right-handed reliever Jordan Smith to Louisville.The Reds promoted outfield prospect Todd Frazier and left-handed pitcher Matt Maloney to replace Volquez and Smith.Frazier, 25, was batting .294 with 11 homers and 33 RBI in 43 games at Louisville.The Reds have received 25 homers from their starting outfield of Jonny Gomes (7), Drew Stubbs (7) and Jay Bruce (11). However, Gomes is hitting just .171 with 42 strikeouts in 129 at-bats.Frazier won the Little League World Series with Toms River, N.J., in 1998. He was the 34th overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Copyright 2011 by SportsDirect. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read More: Shin-Soo Choo (RF – CLE), Michael Brantley (CF – CLE), Joey Votto (1B – CIN), Jay Bruce (RF – CIN), Edinson Volquez (P – CIN), Travis Buck (LF – CLE), Jack Hannahan (3B – CLE), Carlos Carrasco (P – CLE), Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds

Asdrubal Cabrera went 5-for-5 with two homers and five RBI, Michael Brantley added three hits and two ribbies, and Shin-Soo Choo drove in a pair as the Indians finished off a sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in the first round of the 2011 Battle of Ohio with a 12-4 win at Progressive Field that saw the Tribe improve to 29-15 and maintain a seven-game lead in the American League Central.

Carlos Carrasco (3-2, 5.16 ERA) hung around long enough to get the victory, going six innings and surrendering all four runs — including home runs from Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. Carrasco struck out three and walked only one while allowing six hits in winning his second straight.

Chad Durbin came on with a man at second and nobody out in the seventh and worked around an error to shut the door and keep the lead at 8-4, before Cleveland put it away with a four-run seventh.

Rafael Perez worked a scoreless eighth, and Josh Judy made his major league debut in the ninth, giving up a single and a double but keeping the Reds off the board.

After Votto gave Cincinnati the lead with his blast to the bleachers in the first, Asdrubal connected off of losing pitcher Edinson Volquez (3-2, 6.35 ERA) with Brantley aboard to put the Tribe ahead.

Choo then doubled, and after Carlos Santana was retired for the first out, but moved Choo to third, Travis Buck walked, and then things got interesting.

Buck broke for second with Orlando Cabrera batting, then put on the brakes as Choo bluffed for home, drawing a throw to the plate. As Choo headed back to third, Reds’ catcher Ramon Hernandez uncorked a throw into left field that hugged the line all the way to the wall, allowing both Choo and Buck to score and giving the Indians a 4-1 lead.

Choo drove in Brantley with a single in the second to make it 5-1, though it could have been more, as the Indians failed to further add to their lead with runners at first and third and none out.

But the Tribe came through in the third when Brantley hit a sacrifice fly to score Austin Kearns, who had reached on a hit by pitch. Then Asdrubal Cabrera singled to score Jack Hannahan, who had walked, and Cleveland was up 7-1 and Volquez’s day was done.

Volquez allowed seven runs — six earned — in only 2.2 innings, with seven hits, four walks, and the hit-batsman.

The Reds got a run back in the fourth on Bruce’s homer, then added two in the sixth to get to within 7-4. In that sixth, Joey Votto doubled in his second run of the game, and a Brandon Phillips ground out cut the Indians’ lead to three.

Asdrubal Cabrera hit his second homer in the bottom of the sixth off of Sam LeCure to make the lead 8-4, and then in the bottom of the seventh, with one out, Kearns tripled off of new reliever Jordan Smith and scored on Hannahan’s double to make it 9-4. Lou Marson walked and Brantley doubled, scoring Hannahan and moving Marson to third. Asdrubal drove in his fifth run of the afternoon with a single, and the final run of the inning — and the game — scored when Choo hit a sac fly.

The Indians now welcome the Boston Red Sox to town for a three-game set beginning Monday night at 7:05, as the Tribe looks to move to 19-4 at home.