Reds Tidbits (2012 Season)

[Jaxbuck]

Keith Law picks the Reds to win the division:

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog...arvish-cole-hamels-other-award-division-picks

"I wouldn't trust Dusty Baker to manage a convenience store, but he's got a substantial amount of talent at his disposal this year, enough to win a weakened division where the Cincinnati Reds' two main rivals lost major offensive cogs this winter."

Possibly the most concise and insightful commentary regarding the Reds chances this year that can be written.

It shall be my summertime signature.

 

[DGADBTWSOM]

Apparently being a $250 million man comes with its own line of cereal.

Was at Kroger today, bought two boxes.

 

[jlb1705]

Just saw this on RedsZone:

One way to look at the contract is that it will end 13 years before the Mets' contract with Bobby Bonilla is done.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...108198050.html

Also, CBS Sports has an article where other owners and executives anonymously unleash their sour grapes and penis envy:

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/j...otto-extension-one-of-the-nuttiest-deals-ever

Four explanations for $225M Votto extension, one of the nuttiest deals ever


Folks around baseball are amazed by Reds superstar Joey Votto's new $225-million contract extension that now guarantees him $251.5 million over 12 years. Folks are outraged even.

Here's what one competing GM had to say about the deal that really is for $225 million in new money, as USA Today first reported: "The Reds look like they have no plan. They always say they have no money for deals. Then they spend $30 million on Aroldis Chapman. They say they have no money. And now this.''

This is one of the crazier seeming contracts in baseball history, a deal that keeps Votto in the National League where there's no DH into his 40s. Votto is one of the best offensive players in baseball, but he isn't Albert Pujols (no one is), he very likely wanted to stay, and frankly, he's a bad bet to play great baseball at age 40 (everyone is). You have to wonder: Couldn't an eight-year extension to make it 10 years under contract have gotten it done? That was the logical new deal for Votto, not this. And logic went out the window here.

What's the explanation for this illogical deal? Well, here are a few ...

1) The Reds worried that Votto, originally scheduled to be a free agent after the 2013 season, might wind up with the Dodgers, who look like a new big player now. "I think (the Reds) were afraid of the Dodgers,'' another competing executive said. "A lot of teams are afraid of the Dodgers.'';

2) The Reds pocketed "about $25 million a year'' in luxury tax monies for years, one rival owner said, and they just spent it on Votto. "They're betting the franchise on Votto,'' yet another competing executive said. (I guess there are worse players to bet on than Votto, who is one of the better players in the game);

3) There aren't many superstars coming up for auction in the next couple years, and the ones that are probably aren't switching to Cincinnati. Can anyone see Robinson Cano going there for instance?

4) Reds owner Bob Castellini badly wants to win, and while it isn't widely reported, he isn't a very good loser (he is said to have a bit of Steinbrenner in him, which isn't considered such a bad thing anymore). "I give him credit,'' a competing owner said. "It's bold.''

Well, it most certainly is that. And yes, Castellini gets credit for wanting to to deliver a winner, and spending that money he previously pocketed. But I side with the majority here. As a baseball deal, it makes no sense.

 

[Dryden]

"I would say it's the end of the world as we know it. ... I am speechless by that contract. ... It's unbelievable. Literally, it will take the sport down, that contract. We're right back to the ridiculous contracts. It can't be."
-- Marlins president David Samson, on reports Ichiro Suzuki would sign a $100 million contract

"My mother always taught me that if the only thing you have to say is, 'Fuck Dave Samson,' then don't say anything at all. So I'm not going to say anything at all. Is my mother the greatest or what?"
-- Mariners GM Bill Bavasi, after signing Ichiro to a $90 million contract

 

[Bucknut24]

where was this outrage when Fielder got his big payday?

oh that's right, people don't view the Tigers as a farm system for the MLB like GMs do for the Reds..and now since the Reds are finally being serious in keeping their players..they're pissed

 

[Jaxbuck]

Bob C just set his balls on the chopping block betting on Joey Votto.

If I'm betting my balls on a current MLB position player, Joey Votto is in the top 5 I roll them out there for.

In no particular order (guys who you bet on consistently producing at the highest levels)
Pujols
Votto
Longoria
Canoe
Ichiro

I'm sure there are others worthy of the list but Votto's in my top 5 no matter what

Guys like Cabrerra and Hamilton aren't on the list because of their off field bullshit. They could win a triple crown or spend half the season in Betty Ford.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

Have the reds been mathematically eliminated yet?

 

[Bucknut24]

Have the reds been mathematically eliminated yet?

Tomorrow they will be

 

[Bucknut24]

btw, 6:05 press conf set up for Votto

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

Have the reds been mathematically eliminated yet?

Dick.

 

[OHSportsFan]

Have the reds been mathematically eliminated yet?

Dick.

Baseball just isn't the same for BKB without Sammy Sosa to root for. :(

 

[jlb1705]

Official press release

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/04/04/official-votto-announcement/

Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty today announced the signing of All-Star 1B Joey Votto to a 10-year contract extension through the 2023 season with a club option for 2024. Votto had been signed through 2013 as part of a 3-year contract he received in January 2011, when he avoided arbitration.

A press conference has been scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET in the field level interview room at Great American Ball Park.

?We recognize the historical significance of this signing. Ownership has committed to Joey, and we anticipate that he will continue to be one of the best players in baseball for the next decade or so,? Jocketty said. ?He wants to stay here, and we want him here. We have shown we are committed to building a solid foundation from within the organization.?
Added team President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Castellini, ?Joey not only is one of the game?s best players, but on the field and in the community he represents himself, the organization and our city with extraordinary professionalism and dignity. We certainly are proud to be able to keep him in Cincinnati for 12 more years.?

Selected by the Reds in the second round of the June 2002 first-year player draft, since his 2007 debut the National League?s 2010 Most Valuable Player ranks among Major League Baseball?s offensive leaders in almost every statistical category. Votto, 28, is a 2-time NL All-Star (2010, 2011), a Sporting News NL All-Star (2010) and the only Reds first baseman ever to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award (2011). In the Sporting News? 2011 poll of baseball executives was rated the fourth-best player in baseball behind Albert Pujols, Troy Tulowitzki and Felix Hernandez.

Three times in the last 4 seasons Votto was voted by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers? Association of America the Ernie Lombardi Award as the Reds? Most Valuable Player (2008, 2010, 2011).

 

[Bestbuck36]

I love it. The Reds have been all about tradition, even rivaling the Yankees and Red Sox over the last 150 years. That is, until most of the 90's. Even then the Red Sox pretty much sucked. Once the Yankees started to try and buy championships, and succeeding, it changed the way you have to play the financial game of baseball.

Its about time the Reds started getting into it. Now, if we could just lose Dusty Baker somewhere soon and move on that way........

 

[jlb1705]

Watching the whiny bitches play the Marlins to check out the new park. It looks like a rainbow-colored Enron Field. Do not like. Don't get me started on that completely unnecessary widow's peak corner in the wall in centerfield. I don't think that outfield walls need to be perfectly curved and symmetrical, but they don't need those kind of gimmicks either.

This park is going to look very dated in 15 years. In some respects, it already does.

 

[Bucky32]

Watching the whiny bitches play the Marlins to check out the new park. It looks like a rainbow-colored Enron Field. Do not like. Don't get me started on that completely unnecessary widow's peak corner in the wall in centerfield. I don't think that outfield walls need to be perfectly curved and symmetrical, but they don't need those kind of gimmicks either.

This park is going to look very dated in 15 years. In some respects, it already does.

I absolutely hate the park. That's not baseball, sorry.

I think Lance Berkman says it best (*ESPN link*):
Cardinals don't dig Marlins' new digs