The Reds have locked up Bronson Arroyo, Jay Bruce, Joey Votto and Johnny Cueto this offseason, but they may not be done yet. They are discussing the possibility of extending Edinson Volquez, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Volquez, 27, posted a 4.31 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 in 62 2/3 innings last year. He has made just 21 starts since his breakout 2008 season because he underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in 2009.
Volquez filed at $2MM and the Reds countered with a $1.3MM proposal earlier in the week. The right-hander is the team's lone remaining unsigned arbitration eligible player. Volquez is arbitration eligible for the first time and on track to hit free agency after the 2013 season if the Reds don't extend him.
Click here to read Howard Megdal's examination of the trade that sent Josh Hamilton to Texas for Volquez.
Is the core of the Reds really that good that Jocketty and Co. want to lock them up in multi-year deals? That’s a lot of confidence in guys that have been good but for the most part are unproven. Buying out all of those arb. years just doesn’t make sense.
This does seem odd. The Reds’ greatest weakness (of the relatively few that they have) is that they have a starting rotation built entirely around what seem to be #3 starters (exclusive of Chapman potentially). That works fine for the regular season, but sticks out like a sore thumb come a short postseason series. If anything, they should be looking to move the likes of a Cueto or Volquez along with prospects from their relatively deep farm system in order to acquire a bonafide or potential #1 starter (not that there are a whole lot of those guys available though as of now).
It has more to do with them being a small market team & not being able to afford a high priced starter then not having the desire to have one. Which would you rather have? Cliff Lee & and a bunch of scrubs … or 5 or 6 really good young starters that they can control for 3-4 years? Those are the choices the Reds have to make. Add in the contracts they had to give Bruce & Votto … make it difficult to fit them all in at a price they can afford.
Pitching wasn’t that bad in the post season. Everything else is what fell apart.
Yes the Defense and hitting just went out the window … The reds performed better against the phillies in the regular season by far.
Arroyo 17 game winner and over 15 a few other times. ERA under 4.00 with the Reds.
Volquez… Is sick if healthy. I think he won 17 in past too before he got hurt, lets hope he can get back to that and his ERA I think was lower than Arroyos..
Cueto might be considered a number 3 guy and who knows with the other young kids yet.
Brandon Phillips must feel sad…..poor guy. They gave an extension to a kickboxer ahead of him.
I’d play it safe and just buy out his arbitration years if I’m the Reds(and contrary to popular opinion, one person can be an entire organization).
PLEASE NO!!!!!!! We don’t need to exend a guy that hasn’t even pitched a full season in 2 years!!!!
Volquez is an excellent pitcher, coming back from Tommy Johns, which he has shown to have maintained his velocity. Finding the strikezone is easier than finding 95mph again, he just needs time. Now is the perfect time to extend him, he is asking for 2mill, if the reds could over him a contract somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 years and 15-20 million, it would be a steal.
This seems to be the way with GMs lately. Teams see that they can lock up players early and it cost them less money if the player is good. Pedroia and Longoria come to mind, there contracts look like they are way under paid. The Reds have a great young core that should only get better in the next few years. They even have some young minor leaguers they could use as trade chips. That being said, they could find it hard to win the NL Central over the Cards and the Brewers.
How about the Reds give me a 10 year extension for being a fan. Without it, maybe I’ll just walk… ha ha… I’d never do that!
Man. Love or hate what they’ve been doing, the Reds aren’t fooling around this winter.
This isn’t the kind of player you want to sign to a long term extension. No consistency from year to year and coming off an injury, I’d make him prove it on year to year deals or trade him when his stock is high, they have more than a few good starters.
This guy for Josh Hamilton looks more and more like a bad trade.
Your forgetting all the problems Josh has had and how much time he has missed on the DL the past few years too. Yes some nice numbers but sure is not perfect either.