Central Notes: Reds, Votto, Pirates, Indians

A look at items out of the Central divisions..

• Reds first baseman Joey Votto told Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun that he wanted to become the highest-paid Canadian player in baseball.  Votto’s ten-year, $225MM extension not only made him the top earning Canadian baseball player, but made him the country’s highest-paid athlete.  There was talk about the Blue Jays targeting Votto down the line but the slugger said that it would be difficult to ever settle for a five-year deal as per their policy.
• There’s been a lot of talk about the Braves’ low-paying television deal but Bob Cohn of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review points out that the Pirates contract is also undervalued.  The Bucs are in the third year of a ten-year TV deal and will receive $18MM this year, according to industry sources.
• Even though the Indians are in need of an impact bat, Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer isn’t sure that the club should trade Chris Perez to get that done.
• Drew Stubbs has some level of trade value but the Reds wouldn’t get a whole lot back for him, tweets John Fay of Cincinnati Enquirer.