Leake isn't going to mysteriously become Zack Greinke either. He's the back end of the rotation for most teams and was really no better than No. 4 for the Reds. I always liked the game the guy brought to the ballpark and he battled a lot of tough luck in a stadium that didn't fit his pitching style. He would have been wiser to stay in the NL-W.
Hey, Leake was an overachiever...an athletic 5'10 175 pounder, in a league of 6'5 230's, a 7th round pick taken #1, ok ? Choo, had a rental minute, but between too much Sake early, mangers with 2 year deals and urgency issues and those ever thickening thighs late, hammies and time are inevitably going to Josh Hamilton him. Frazier was a #3 pick taken in the first round, a slow shortstop that couldn't field, that wound up being a pretty solid 3b and 6 hitter, on a team needing him the hit 6th, 2nd and cleanup. In two years, he'll be a $17M /year platoon player. Drew Stubbs was a 14th round pick taken in the first round. He's already platooning somewhere and they never ask him to bunt or recognize a curveball. Life is probably better for all those guys than they were for the Reds, honestly.
Johnny Cueto, and Aroldis Chapman are a different class completely. The Reds were lucky to have stumbled onto them at all, much less have the sense to have kept them instead of other regrettable choices.