So, the Reds bought out Joey Votto’s arbitration years over the weekend. Frankly, I don’t get it. The Reds gave Votto what he wanted, cost certainty no matter what he does on the field over the next two years (he was going to get paid this year either way). The only benefit the Reds are getting in my opinion is that they don’t have to go to arbitration and say anything bad about Joey Votto. That seems to be the only good thing they get out of the deal. I am sure Walt and company tried to get at least a 4th year with the deal, but I don’t get agreeing to the deal if he wasn’t going to give us the 4th year since he was already under team control for three.
That of course brings up the question of: What do you do with Yonder Alonso? While we controlled Votto all along, the Reds are financially tied to him a little better now. Do you try Alonso in left? Do you just trade him? Do you hold onto him and Ryan Howard him (let him just own the minors while another guy starts in the majors and finally call him up when he is 25/26)?
Not a ton of news, and I was talking about Aroldis Chapman tonight with some friends, so let me just toss this poll out there.
[poll id=”8″]
Over at Beyond the Box Score, Satchel Price looks at which farm systems have shortstop depth and he mentions the Reds among the teams with solid depth. He doesn’t really get into it much, but does list Cozart, Negron, Rojas, Gregorius and Hamilton in the article. I was a little surprised that Junior Arias didn’t get a mention along the way. While he might not be a SS in the long term, a few guys mentioned in the article fit that bill as well.