Joey Votto Rumors

Jocketty Names Five Untouchable Reds

Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch relays a Walt Jocketty radio show appearance. Jocketty reportedly named five untouchable Reds players: Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, and Edwin Encarnacion. Hunter is surprised to see Encarnacion labeled off-limits. The 25 year-old third baseman has a career line of .268/.344/.450 in 396 games. With several .900+ OPS months on his resume, EE has shown flashes of star potential offensively. Veterans Francisco Cordero, Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, and Brandon Phillips apparently did not make the list. Only Arroyo has been mentioned in trade rumors this year; the rest seem unlikely to...   Continue Reading

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Odds and Ends: Hatteberg, Colon, Longoria

And now for more Odds and Ends around the league: In his latest "Full Count" audio piece at Fox Sports, Ken Rosenthal expects the Reds to do some roster shuffling that could come down to trades. Scott Hatteberg has become "expendable" with the recent emergence of Joey Votto and by the fact that the Reds have too many lefty hitters. Cork Gaines latest Baseball Blogs Weigh In delved into the Evan Longoria signing. To add to that, Ken Rosenthal, also in his Full Count piece, notes favorably that Longoria has set himself for life without having to establish himself and...   Continue Reading

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Rosenthal's Latest: DeWitt, Murton, Vargas, Hatteberg, Pena, Baek, Piazza

Ken Rosenthal has his latest column up at FoxSports.com. As usual he is not shy about stirring up rumors. Let's take a look at what the rumor-guru has to say: Rosenthal notes that the Dodgers will go with Blake DeWitt at third base who has never played a game above AA. This comes after the Dodgers failed to acquire either the Astros' Mark Loretta, who was unavailable and the Royals' Esteban German, who was too expensive. The Royals were asking for the Dodgers' third best prospect, shortstop Chin-Lung Hu. He indicates that the Padres and the Rays are pursuing Matt...   Continue Reading

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Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Bruce, Longoria

Yesterday Rob Neyer of ESPN.com wrote about the fates of Baseball America's top two prospects, Jay Bruce and Evan Longoria. While Bruce start the season in the minors, Neyer notes that the Reds could be a playoff contender if Bruce and Joey Votto receive 1,000 plate appearances. On the other hand, a decision has yet be made on where Longoria will start the season. Neyer feels that the Rays may wish that Longoria was not playing so well in Spring Training. He thinks the Rays should forgo the potential savings of keeping him in the minors and buy some goodwill...   Continue Reading

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Votto May Crowd Hatteberg Out

If John Halpin is right, Scott Hatteberg of the Reds ought to be looking forward to a lot of bench time this coming season. Writing about fantasy baseball on foxsports.com, Halpin is wild on Joey Votto. The Cincy first baseman ranks second in Halpin's list of rookies to watch in 2008. If Votto comes through, would Hatteberg be trade bait at mid-season? Hatteberg will earn $1.85MM this year after Cincinnati picked up his option. It's a bargain for a professional hitter who controls the strike zone. The Yankees may need a first baseman once Joe Girardi gets tired of seeing...   Continue Reading

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Hatteberg Signed For 2007

In a minor move today, Reds GM Wayne Krivsky signed first baseman Scott Hatteberg for 2007 with an option for '08. The 36 year-old slumped to an awful .256/.334/.343 line for the A's in '05. He signed a free agent deal in February for $750,000 with Cincinnati. This year, Hatteberg has surged to a .324/.417/.505 performance in 275 ABs. He's drawn a walk in an impressive 14% of his plate appearances, 12th in the league. Hatteberg historically performs worse against southpaws, and Jerry Narron has done well to use him primarily against righties. In the previous three seasons, Hatteberg faced..   Continue Reading

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