Reds Could Trade Arroyo

Just a small note in Nick Cafardo’s recent column: the Reds could trade 30 year-old starter Bronson Arroyo.

Last year, Arroyo took the National League by storm by posting a 3.29 ERA in a whopping 240 innings.  He led all of baseball with 3851 pitches thrown.  Either the league started figuring him out this year, or the workload caught up to him and contributing to his declining strikeout rate.  Maybe a little of both.

In February of this year, Wayne Krivsky signed Arroyo to a contract extension for 2009-10.  Under his previous contract he’ll get $3.95MM in ’08, and the Reds added a $2.5MM signing bonus to that.  He’ll make $9.5MM in ’09, $11MM in ’10, and has an $11MM club option for ’11 with a $2MM buyout attached.  So basically think $29MM for 2008-10.  It’s not terrible but not a bargain; $10MM is probably the going rate for a guy like Arroyo these days.  Not bad for a guy waived by the Pirates in ’03. 

Woody Paige considers Arroyo one option for the Rockies, but finds it unlikely.  The only past Arroyo trade rumor I know of was back in December of ’05, when he was rumored to be going to Seattle for Jeremy Reed.  The Mariners remain in the hunt for a starter, but Arroyo probably isn’t viewed as much more than an innings-eater by most clubs.  Some other teams possibly looking for a starter include the Braves, Padres,  Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks.