The Reds attempted to lock up yet another of their key young talents this offseason, but their proposal was handed back to them. Edinson Volquez told Julio Castro at the Domincan paper El Caribe (link in Spanish) that the team offered him a four-year extension, but he rejected it, preferring to bank on his value increasing over the coming season.
"They were offering me a contract for four years, the same as Johnny Cueto, but I didn't feel it was right for me. I spoke with the lawyer and the general manager, and we all agreed on a single season," Volquez explained while in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic.
Volquez didn't mention the amount of the offer, but Cueto's $27MM deal is an ambitious point of comparison. Cueto has gradually developed into a reliable mid-rotation option for the team, managing at least 30 starts in each of the last three seasons, while Volquez's ultimate $1.6MM contract is reflective of two seasons cut short by elbow surgery and a 50-game PED suspension. After an up-and-down summer, he looked stronger in the final month of last season, pitching deep into games and collecting strikeouts in line with his career rate of 8.7 K/9. These results, and his offseason workouts, have Volquez feeling bullish about 2011.
"Having a good year this season is my mission. Depending on my performance, we'll seek a contract of at least four years with the team," he predicted. "I can't define the amount we're going to seek following the next year, but it's going to be for that quantity of years." And should he have second thoughts, the 27-year-old pitcher (three years older than Cueto) indicated that some manner of offer is still on the table, saying, "Things remain open in case I want to sign during Spring Training or in the middle of the season."
Tough to turn that money away. He’s had his TJ surgery so he’s probably safe to not get injured soon. Good luck and nice try Reds.
Good for him. Wish more players thought like him.
Uh oh.. you say no to Walt Jocketty he’ll cut you. Literally.
he showed me the knife!
I like his thinking though. Sucks Reds dont have him locked up past this year, but I see what he is getting at. Now the pressure is on him to have a phenominal year so that he will make some big bucks, and the Reds would have to offer him more money.
It would be great if that happens!
Kind of wish we knew what the terms of the proposed deal were. With 1.6 mil this year, the deal had to of been very team friendly considering Volquez’s potential. Maybe 1.6, 3.5, 5.5, 8.5. 4 yr/~20mil
I don’t mind players waiting for more when they are early on in their careers and aren’t exactly financially set for life yet. It’s the players who already have over 100mil in the bank and are crying for more that I have a problem with.
Yeah, I’d hate to have to work for 4 years and get around 25 million – I may have to eat Spam a few nights a week to scrape by…give me a friggin break!
Jealous much?? Guess you should have become a professional athlete so you could be rich. How many spots are there in the WORLD for pro ball players? How many lawyers, accountants, teachers, doctors etc etc in the world? It’s about supply and demand, and I don’t think people would pay to see a guy squib one to the pitcher every AB. They will pay to see the best however
A few Cards fans hitting up the Reds threads for cheap shots, I see.
The fact is, Volquez not agreeing to 4-years and working on trying to better himself is good for him, the organization, and the team in general. If he doesn’t have a good year, the Reds organization got off well in not locking into a long-term deal with him for more money. If he does well, it’s good for Volquez and good for the team.
The fact that these Cards fans keep crapping on Jocketty and the Reds organization is funny. They won the division last year and signed their best player. The Cards are 0-2 in those categories.
Well put Rob. This was simply a great move by the Reds front office and better move by Volquez. Like it has been said if he ghets injured again this year then a contract like Cueto’s would have been pretty nice. If he pitches lights out the Reds will need to show him the money. Jury is still out to see if this guy is a 18-20 win pitcher. Cardinals look like chasers again this year.
pretty big talk coming from a team who got crushed, and I mean crushed, in the playoffs. you can say the scores were close, but in reality, you only had a chance to win one game. and you decided it would be easier just to hand that one over
Crushed? In what way…pitching? That’s the only thing that crushed the Reds in playoffs. The Phillies batted barely .200 for the series. The Reds weren’t far behind them, batting wise. They made some errors and didn’t hit against Halladay. Cueto and Arroyo pitched excellent games, and the relief pitching was awesome.
So either you didn’t pay attention to the statistics, or watched the game from a completely biased view (going with a combination of both there)…but really…who cares? The Reds made the playoffs last year and Cards didn’t. They were second place in the NL Central, which simply isn’t good enough.
And this year…haha…I am doubting they will be any better with Wainwright on the shelf with arm issues and the looming Pujols contract issue. Not “pretty big talk” at all…baseball common sense, bud.