Both reliever Arthur Rhodes and left fielder Jonny Gomes would like to return to the Reds in 2011, writes MLB.com's Mark Sheldon.
Rhodes, 40, is coming off of a two-year, $4MM deal. The veteran turned in one of his best seasons to date, recording a 2.29 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in a career-high 69 apperances. After earning his first career All-Star nod, the lefty told the Reds that he would "love to come back". Rhodes has yet to receive an indication from the Reds one way or another.
Gomes' future is also up in the air as Cincinnati holds a $1.75MM club option on his contract. While his service time dictates that he would be arbitration-eligible this winter, Gomes' deal calls for him to be released if his option is not exercised. The soon-to-be 30-year-old didn't re-up with the Reds until just before Spring Training last year and says that he's prepared for that scenario again this year. He earned $800K in 2010 as he hit .266/.327/.431 with 18 HRs in 148 games. The Reds have until two weeks after the World Series to decide on Gomes' option but like Rhodes, the outfielder has yet to hear anything from the club.
I know Rhodes is old and he probably wont give us as great a year as this past year. But if the guy is healthy give him another 2 million. I am hoping and praying the LF will get filled by a trade or Free Agent not named Gomes. I like Gomes offense but his defense is just not that great. He also seems really inconsistent at the plate the past 2 years.
Hopefully we can find a new LF that plays every day and is someone with a good record on consistent production and hits for a little power at least.
I Love Arthur Rhodes and hoping that he can comeback. He has been one of the better stories of this season and he means a lot to the team and Baseball fans such as myself.
Mark Sheldon said that this is the first off-season news for the Reds and hopefully during the 5 day negotiating period they can re-sign him!
Still think Daniel Nava’s story is the coolest.
I said one of the better. Of course Daniel Nava is among the best.
Rhodes, Nava, great stories. Livan Hernandez having a nice season after scuffling the last two years and being passed through several organizations during that time, man that was great too. I have long been a Livan fan for reasons that go beyond pitching so it makes him my favorite story of the year.
Jose Bautista being this years Carlos Pena, only better, is way up there too. Rocco Baldelli actually appearing in a ML game this year is cool too.
Still gonna have to go with Nava… it’s storybook and almost movie quality. Kid who dream of being a major leaguer, never drafted, constantly told by coaches he could never make it in the big leagues, was picked out of the indy leagues by a top team as a million to one shot, gets a dream shot out of no where, takes the first pitch he sees out of the park for a grand slam. Come on… tell me that’s not close to the dream of 95% of the guys who post on this forum.
Have a point there. But I think Ron Washington’s is the best. This is a guy who tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season, and admitted to taking drugs in his playing career, and nearly lost everything he had. He apologized to everyone, the staff, and the players alike on the Rangers. Some argue letting him go should have been the better thing to do, but they gave him a second chance. Now look at them, one win away from winning the Rangers first postseason series.
Picking up Gomes option seems like a no-brainer. 3 million or so for 1 year seems about right for Rhodes.
Reds off-season prediction:
-Bring back Rhodes at ~2 million
-Pick up Gomes option but let him know LF is up for grabs for anybody
-Decline Harang option, pick up Arroyo’s option
-Let Lincoln walk, he is nothing but injured
-Bring back Ramon Hernandez for ~3 mil
-Decline O-Cab’s 4 mil option and pay him the 1 mil buyout
-Sign Votto, Cueto, Volquez, and Bruce to multi-year deals for cost certainty
Reds hot stove season has begun. Things should be fairly quiet this offseason with maybe a trade for a bat to fill leadoff and/OR LF. Reds are set up nicely for 2011.
votto did nothing in the playoffs.
No one for the Reds did anything in the playoffs.
Votto did EVERYTHING during the season. He’s the MVP man. Come on!
Three games where the whole team sucked and you’re willing to deny a long term contract to the man who was probably the most irreplaceable on the team… sound logic.
That said, rumors are Votto wants to go year to year.
Rumor based off a simple “I don’t know” answer to a reporter asking an irrelevant question during the playoff chase. It has been stated many times Votto does not give answers to hypothetical situations. I don’t know why, he may just hate thinking about something if it isn’t going to happen for sure. The “I don’t know” was a simple short way to get the reporter to go away and leave him alone.
He didn’t commit an error in the field which is a plus. 😉
True, but he carried The Reds throughout a lot of the season.
I hope rhodes comes back to philly
I have no issues with Rhodes coming back provided he’s not getting much more then he did this year. As for Gomes I much rather the Reds make a major play for Kemp and put him in LF. I wouldn’t mind Gomes coming back, but in that scenario I rather have Nix’s ability to play the three OF positions then Gomes ability to hit lefties.
As for Votto, both him and Bruce need to be locked up just to get some contract certainty for the Reds going forward.
I have nothing against Gomes, but when you have fine young outfielders like Stubbs and Bruce out there, don’t you want to go for a potential all stud outfield? They are this close to having one of the best outfields in the NL-couldn’t you see Carl Crawford out there? If not him, couldn’t they fit a guy like Nyjer Morgan or Rajai Davis in? They really can sacrifice some power out of left field because their center fielder hits like a left fielder. They have a lot of ways they could go. I like Gomes, but as a 4th outfielder, not a starter.
Crawford would be a dream fit, but I don’t know that the Reds can afford him. He’ll be looking for $10+ M, and the Reds have considerable raises in store for Bruce and Votto in arbitration. The one upside of this offseason is that Harang’s contract finally comes off the books.
I’m not wild about Gomes but could be okay with the Reds bringing him back to play off the bench or as a platoon only against lefties. His atrocious defense was even more evident this year, and his second half was god-awful. Dusty seemed to forget that Gomes can’t hit righties. I watched nearly every game this season and can’t tell you how predictable it was to watch teams pitch to him – breaking ball, fastball down, breaking ball down and away. Out of four at-bats, he’d pop one up to the infield, strike out twice, and maybe have a single in the last at-bat. Gomes and Cabrera were both at the bottom of the league in pitches seen per plate appearance (which would be okay if they were getting hits…).
I’d like to see the Reds give Heisey a shot as an everyday Left fielder.
What’s Heisey’s ceiling?