On the heels of their fifth straight sub-.500 campaign, the Reds entered the offseason planning to post a higher payroll in 2019 than in years past. That remains the case, according to president Dick Williams, who said (via John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that “payroll will be up to levels we haven’t had before. We still have money to spend.” Williams’ comments imply the Reds will outdo their franchise-record Opening Day payroll from 2015, when they ran up a $115MM-plus tab, and Fay suggests they could ultimately climb toward the $130MM range. Moreover, even after acquiring righty Tanner Roark from the Nationals this week, the Reds remain “very engaged with multiple clubs” and are “talking trades with multiple clubs,” Williams added. Regardless of whether further upgrades come via trades, free agency or both, Cincinnati should still have enough money left to pick up an outfielder and find another starter to join Roark & Co. in its rotation, Fay posits.
Here’s more from the National League:
- The Giants have been speculative suitors for outfielder Bryce Harper, arguably the preeminent player on the open market, but they aren’t “currently involved in discussions with most high-profile free agents,” Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group writes. Rather, in an effort to maintain payroll flexibility in 2020 and beyond, the Giants seem to be focusing on free agents who are likely to collect short-term contracts.
- Trading catcher J.T. Realmuto would leave a gaping hole behind the plate for the Marlins, who wouldn’t be able to adequately replace him this offseason. But if the Marlins do go the expected route and part with Realmuto, they may add a veteran backstop to work with their young pitching staff, Joe Frisaro of MLB.com relays. President Michael Hill acknowledged the team’s desire for an experienced catcher, saying “a person who is going to take care of your pitchers as you continue to build” could help those hurlers “turn into the championship pieces you think they can be.” Miami could acquire Realmuto’s replacement in its forthcoming trade for him, though that’s not a must, Frisaro notes. Aside from Realmuto, the only other catcher on the Marlins’ 40-man roster is Chad Wallach, who has all of 21 MLB games under his belt. The lone somewhat battle-tested backup in the organization is Bryan Holaday, a recent minor league signee who has achieved minimal success across 606 trips to the plate in the majors.
- Before he agreed to a three-year, $25MM contract with the Dodgers this week, hard-throwing reliever Joe Kelly drew interest from half the league (15 teams), according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. Kelly revealed that the Dodgers were the first club to extend him a three-year offer.
Giants aren’t pursuing Harper. Good, because they’ll be getting Arenado next year.
Neither are the Giants type
Mainly because both are under 35…
Hm? Under 35? Name 5 giants players over 35.
are any players over 35? most players on the giants are 30 or just on the other side
Teams with more players 35 or older (at start of season) than the Giants: 24 teams. The Giants have zero players 35 or older.
Cubs- 4
Rangers- 4
Yankees- 4
Padres- 3
Dodgers- 2
Rockies- 2
Diamondbacks- 2
Cardinals- 2
Brewers- 2
Nationals- 2
Mets- 2
Braves- 2
Astros- 2
Blue Jays- 2
Red Sox- 2
Reds- 1
Phillies- 1
Marlins- 1
Mariners- 1
Athletics- 1
Angels- 1
Royals- 1
Tigers- 1
Rays- 1
They had better find a way to shed a couple bad contracts before then (I.e. Longo).
They have the money for it either way. Hoping Longo gets off to a hot start and we flip him at the deadline. Money isn’t a problem though, we are one of the richest franchises.
Plus Arenado won’t demand Machado-Money. He’s older, has mediocre road splits. If he stays in the NL West, he’s still get consistent ABs and Chase, Coors, and Dodger Stadium.10/290 and we contend in 2021 when Bart and Ramos are up.
When they trade Bum, Longo will be attached.
Longoria’s contract isn’t bad at all until 2021 and even then he’ll be making what Hunter Pence made this last year. Longoria had a pretty solid year actually. 1.9 WAR in 125 games with 16 HR’s with basically no consistant protection in the lineup becauseall the injuries. There’s no way the entire IF will have down years all at once again. Now the Melancon and Samardzija contracts need to go ASAP. They should trade some combination of Panik, Watson, and Smith for an OF. Sign the pitcher from Japan. Our problem was injuries. It seemed like when one guy started getting it going they lost someone else. It happens.
how many contract will giants have over 35 when each contract ends. Giants have most bad contracts.
Harper agreement to sign with LA dodgers done to be announced next week
Good for them. Still won’t beat the Astros, Red Sox, Yankees, or Athletics.
Neither will the giants
Says the Reds fan.
Your Reds are so bad I hear rumblings some fans are trying to bring Marge Schott back from the dead.
She could probably out pitch Homer Bailey, so worth a look, right?
Why not? She is the last owner to get a ring for this franchise. Where is Dr Frankenstein when you need him?
If your biggest problem is teams in the other leauge your in good shape.
I wish we had Marge back!!! The Reds ownership now is the worst in baseball!!!
Hey Keysor what’s up?
I’m hearing the same from a national writer source
Y’all making stuff up
So Longo will become the 18 million dollar bench man?
Are you forgetting Adrian Gonzales? How about Scott Kazmir. Brandon McCarthy? What about Carl Crawford. Almost forgot Josh Beckett. Who was that Chris Perez again? Heard he’s a good closer. Brandon League? Matt Kemp?
Those were just the guys off the top of my head. Sure there’s more.
What about them? Gonzo, Kazmir and McCarthey were dead money for 1 year. Carl Crawford for 1.5 years. Thats a lot more manageable than 4 years of it. And i have no clue why you thew Chris Perez in there. Dude was a 1 year cheap contract. That was a very desperate response
Still adds up to more than Longo, who is a 2 win player.
You can get 2 wins a year with aaaa journeymen if you just start them enough, so that’s not really much of a defense for longo…
Kemp is the only one on the team from what you listed and he is better than Longo with the bat and expires after 2019. Idk what you are trying to prove. My point still stands. How can they possibly sign Arenado with Longo still existing
Exactly. Anyone who watched Longoria play last year can tell he is washed. He can’t make contact hardly ever, can’t get on base to save his life, and his defense is slipping. Him being worth 2 wins last year seariously makes me question the validity of WAR.
How are you blowing off dead money contracts? That means you’re paying people to either sit on their couches or play against you. It wasn’t just one or two – if my memory serves me right it was around $70 million a couple years ago. That was more than some other teams entire payrolls.
I thought he played pretty well considering he was settling into a new team with zero protection in the lineup. He still has 3 or 4 good years left. Just watch. The whole infield had down years and I’d venture to say it has alot to do with no power hitters in the OF. We basically have four guys in our lineup that are good hitters. Posey, Longoria, Belt, and Crawford. We need speed and power in the OF. Hanson honestly is a better fit at 2B because he provides alot of speed and decent power.
You know they saddled themselves with the ghost of Evan Longoria, right?
The Reds organization is camouflaging like they are serious. 90+ loses in 2019
Or just delusional… But points for trying, I guess
They will make two moves soon. Doubtful they get a ace pitcher but I think they are targeting 2020 as the year they make a big move
Where do they turn? Is it ace or is Castillo that guy? What do they do in the outfield? I keep hoping they sign Josh Harrison as a super sub
Absolutely not on sub par Josh Harrison…no place for that kind of player if you’re going to try and contend…
I would put Peraza in center senzel at short scooter in
left. Find you a second baseman until Trammell is ready to handle centerfield then bring Peraza back to second
Scooter cannot play left. He’s got weak range and no arm. I think the Brewers tried him out there a bit and gave up. It’s not going to happen. Peraza in CF, though, is a viable option. I doubt that’s their dream, though, because they’ve been looking into Inciarte and others who can play CF.
I actually think the Reds will be pretty decent.
Their main problem is that the NL Central is the deepest division in the NL.
And a front office that refuses to make smart rebuilding moves like taking what they could get for Matt Harvey, not waiting until the last possible second to move Cueto, Leake, Cozart and probably Gennett this summer or not selling Chapman at an absolute lowest point.
It’s astonishing that you continue saying this despite evidence to the contrary. Not all those trades were busts. Peraza, Schebler, Duvall, etc came out of those trades. Sure, the Chapman trade hurts, but there was vast uncertainty about his pending suspension. And they took a stand that they don’t want guys like that on the team. Whatever – you’re not listening, you’re oblivious to facts, and you’re a one hit wonder with this comment. You’re an insult to the people who come here to earnestly engage in baseball.
Peraza and Schebler weren’t in any of the trades I mentioned, okay dingus? They were in the Todd Frazier trade. That was one of the few trades that was actually a positive for them.
Reds could have gotten more out of the Giants (or someone else) if they traded Leake to them during the prior offseason. 1 year of Leake plus the right to QO him has more value than 2 months of Leake and no QO, and was always going to.
What uncertainty? If he had been suspended longer it would have been a blessing in disguise because they would have gotten an extra year of control.
To say nothing of the fact that they just let Cozart and Harvey leave for nothing and will probably do the same with Gennett in a year.
Ultimately, the Reds should have just had a 1998 Marlins-esque fire sale after the 2014 season.
You can’t just list the bad trades as the complete body of work.
14 Simon Trade = Suarez (Huge Win)
14 Latos Trade = DeSclafani (Win)
15 Cueto Trade = Reed, Finnegan (Loss)
15 Leake Trade = Duvall, Mella (Win to Equal)
16 Chapman Trade = Not worth listing (A Fleecing)
16 Frazier Trade = Peraza. Schebler, Dixon (Huge Win)
16 Bruce Trade = Herrera, Wotell (Loss)
17 Strailey Trade = Castillo (Win)
No other trade had any real consequence
I don’t think the Reds can consider winning a trade for a pitcher who can’t stay on the mound (DeSclafani). And when he was on the mound last year he wasn’t very good. He was a huge part of the Reds having the worst staff in MLB. Catillo and Strailey wasn’t that far apart from what they offered their teams. The advantage you have is younger, cheaper and longer control. Those things don’t necessary count for a lot. Leake is still the better player than Duvall and going forward he will be better. Duvall may never play again in the MLB. The Frazier trade is far from being a huge win..Peraza is a good player (not a All Star) who is probably average on both sides of the ball.. Schebler is a fouth outfielder. You would struggle to find 4 teams in the MLB. that would start him. If you remember the Frazier market went wild at the All Star break. Everyone wanted him, even if they didn’t need a 3B. The Reds refused to trade him and his market cooled way down and they lost the fizzle. If the Reds had traded Frazier the day after the All Star game they probably would have gotten a lot more.
You can spin anything you want the way you want to believe it to be. Listen to a democrat talk for 10 minutes. The fact is the Reds have a really poor ownership group. Their management group lead by “In over my head Dick” just don’t understand whats going on. And things aren’t going to get any better for the foreseeable future. If the Reds do make a trade they probably will be on the short in of the stick..
Yeah, like I said. They had a mini fire sale on their rotation after the 2014 season. Both of those trades helped the Reds and for a pair of guys who were going to leave anyway. They should have traded Cueto and Leake at that point too along with Chapman and Cozart. They’d have gotten more for Cueto and Leake if the acquiring team got them for a full season and could QO them. Then they stupidly held onto Scott Feldman at the deadline last year and Matt Harvey this year because of “integrity” or “wanting to extend them” or whatever and then they just ended up losing them for nothing. I see them doing the same thing with Scooter Gennett in 2019.
There was barely a market for Harvey and they were essentially going to give him up for nothing. As much as I realize Williams and company are just barking to make themselves look good to the fans, I dont blame them for holding onto Harvey with the putrid pitching staff they have. Unless they overpay for good pitchers, nobody is gonna wanna play for Deadinati.
Is the Disco trade a win tho? The potential is there and he showed it his first is year here, but dude is injury prone and has yet to fully establish his consistency. I would hardly call it a win as of now, we’ll talk after the season is over.
Timmay with his “Alternative Facts” again.
You say that Castillo = Strailey, except for $ and years of control. Then u say that those things don’t necessarily count for a lot. Thank god you’re only an armchair GM. Years of control mean everything.
As for your claim that trading Latos for Disco is not a win, I’ll ask u: how many wins has Latos had the last few years?
Keep coming with those Alternative Facts.
Yeah, hanging onto a guy like Harvey is inconsequential at best. If they wanted to resign him as they’ve said shipping him away for some marginal prospect and salary relief is hardly worth it.
Again, you can’t just pick the trades you dislike. The rebuild started in 14. Could it have went better? Yes, a lot better, but it’s not the train wreck you make it out to be.
I agree…they aren’t that far away…
Harvey is less than a nothing. Even if all they got was salary relief letting him go would have been worth it.
@jbigz12 Idk why they would want to re-sign Harvey, but if they do, trading him away isn’t going to make it any harder.
@Isthisserious they were gonna lose Mat Latos in a year anyway. Money saved by not paying him wins the trade for them right off the bat. Then consider whatever DeSclafani might do for the Reds.
@ksoze I didn’t pick and choose the trades I dislike. I liked the Frazier, Latos, Simon and Straily trades.
Again, they should have had a ’98 Marlins-esque fire sale after 2014. They’d have made as many postseasons in the past 4 years as they have in the real world and would be looking better for the future.
Feldman was hurt at the deadline.
Reds will win more than Giants
If Realmuto goes to the Mets, I assume Plawecki would be in the trade.
No, they are not..
Dollars to donuts Tyler Flowers would have been in any trade with Braves for JTR.
Doesn’t matter that the Reds plan to have the highest payroll ever, when they are still well below the Cubs and Cards. And probably will be below the Brewers. They need to be close to the highest in the division to be competitive. If they are $40 million below the Cubs they have to make up for it with an awesome minor league system. We know that’s not happening. Or they have to have great minds in the upper management. I doubt that’s the case. The Reds need to spend lots more money wisely.
Reds minor-league system is in much better shape than the cubs.
The problem is the major league team isn’t and the Cubs can outspend them by 100 million dollars
You need a real good farm system to make up the gap
That, I agree with
Yes, it is…
That may be true. But, historically the reds can’t produce pitching in the minors. The only way they can have a quality minor league depth is by losing for 4 or more years. They have to be able to produce talent even when they are winning.
99.9% of these trade/signings will never happen … just thank the writers for keeping us engaged in this crazy speculation during the Hot Stove season ⛄️⚾️
Why do you mention Holiday as if he wasn’t Miami’s primary backup last season and just some recent minor league pickup?
The Marlins and Rays should be removed from the league.
Bugs Bunny agrees!
youtu.be/xiTM2HQ0g98
The Rays are one of the best organizations in baseball. If the was in any other city besides Oakland or Tampa they would probably be in the top 5. Even if they were in Cincinnati or Pittsburgh they would be a force, If i could trade my organization for any in baseball it would be the Rays.
Zunino and Wendle for Realimoto. Then cash him in for Robles plus from the Nationals.
The Giants should only give short term contracts to fill out a lineup, they are not ready for any top free agents. They need to build a farm system and should try and unload what they can for prospects. Not many if any of the current giants will be on the team when they are good again
Especially Bumgarner. Would love to see him pitch in the playoffs again. I’m sure all baseball fans would.
I’m going on the belief they are tossing next season away and shooting for 2020. They’ll fill some slots with free agents and try a rotation of the AAA’ers to see if one of them can be productive.
It’s going to take more than one season to turn that mess around.
True. I was more referring to seeing what is out there for free agents. It’ll be 2021 before I think they play .500 ball again.
Gotta love these negative comments about the Reds by people who probably never watch them, and only speculate because of their past. A new manager and coaching staff, along with an offense that is very solid and will only get better with the moves the front office is willing to make. If two more of those kids behind Castillo (Mahle, Romano) can somehow make big strides in ’19, combined with a now healthy Disco and Rourke that team will compete with the Scrubs and Scards easily…
Gonna lose Scooter to FA in a year and Joey Votto ain’t getting any younger or more tradeable. Reds won’t contend for the next 10 years easy.
You’re wrong.
You’re wrong. And JV will still be a better than average player at 38-40 because of the way he prepares, and Scooter can be replaced…
While Votto is an incredible hitter, banking on someone still being productive from ages 38-40 is a poor bet.
So many things have to go right for the Reds to be a contender in that division. And they seem intent on botching their rebuild every chance they get. We saw it with Cueto, Leake, Chapman, Cozart and Harvey. Scooter Gennett is next.
I don’t think anyone is banking on JV being a stud at 38+, but his OBP will probably remain very high.
@titanic you’re a nut! 10 years is insane. I am not sure how the club will be in 19, mainly because they haven’t added any significant pieces yet, but the 20 – 24 clubs will be loaded with talent, if they don’t trade them away.
Wasn’t me that said that said it would be 10 years before they contend. We’ll see what they do this winter, but I don’t believe they’re that far away…
It depends on the development of their pitchers. They’ve had so many top pitching prospects bust in recent years. Guys like Cody Reed, Tyler Mahle and Luis Castillo still have the ability to break through and become quality pitchers though. They really do need a front end starter to anchor their staff and the outfield needs an overhaul. Their infield is a definite position of strength and I would’ve tried to flip scooter. The market is saturated with 2B now so I could imagine his trade market may not be great also.
A new manager, coaching staff, and a few rookies might make the pitching staff watchable.
Good enough to compete in the NL Central? Sorry, there’s optimism and then there’s insanity…
Dude I agree. It’s so annoying. People constantly bash the Giants. They have one bad year (2017) and one injury devastated year (2018) and everyone wants to trade the whole team. I don’t know much about the Reds situation, but I’ve been reading alot about how they are working on alot of deals. Sometimes teams have bad years and turn it around the next i.e. the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, Cubs, Royals, Giants before 2010. Anyway good luck to your Reds man.
Same to your Giants, hope you get a better than before Cueto back because when he’s healthy he’s a lot of fun to watch!!
Castillo needs to still prove himself too dude was all over the place and that was to be expected, sooooo, put him into the category of question marks.
He does, you’re right. He looked very good the last month and a half of ’18. Hopefully he can come out sharp and be consistent.
I’m a little shocked that Kelly only got one offer of three years.
All of that money for guy who averages less than a 4 WAR.
He’s been below starter level 3 of his 7 years.
I’m a Reds fan, through and through. Have been my entire life and I will probably die a Reds fan, I’ve been to as many as 40 games in a year and averaged 20 most years. From my first games that i can’t even remember in the late 60’s at old Crosley Field. To a 9 year old that laid in the floor and cried with joy as my Reds won the greatest World Series in 1975. I went wild in the stands as Bates raced around 3rd base just feet from my seat in game two of the 1990 WS. On a rainy night I sat through a long rain delay and was rewarded by watching Browning become perfect A hot Saturday in July I watched Johnny Bench go yard 3 times. Dressen and Bench went back to back against the Phillies in walkoff fashion as I sat amazed in the upper deck. There the night Bench and Morgan’s numbers went up. When Eric Davis went off the upper deck in Riverfront to walkoff in extras. The Giants sweeping us. The bakers dozen opening days and parades. There have been a few hundred more games besides these. So when I criticize the Reds, my Reds, I can, I’m invested in them. Have been for 52 years!! But I haven’t been to a game in two years now. and next year will make 3.
I hate the Reds ownership and management team (led by “in over my head Dick”) and I won’t support the team as long as they are in control. If I was handed a season pass, I’d sell it if I could find someone to buy it. The Reds ownership is the worse in baseball. I guess it must be come kind of requirement that anyone who owns a professional franchise in Cincy, you have to be the worse in your sport (throw Mike Brown in there). Now chew on this statement: You couldn’t give this group $50,000,000 today to spend on next years team and they make the playoffs. You think this is a false statement? MLB has given the Reds ownership group over $130,000,000 the last 2 years and look what they have given you. That money doesn’t include local TV, radio, tickets, parking, concessions and etc..
Now to the team. Can you all shut the crap up about the Reds being a good offensive team!!?? The Reds were ranked 18 out of 30 in MLB offense. Folks that is below average,, they are in the bottom half. And don’t forget they are in arguably the most hitter friendly park in baseball. They don’t have an outfielder to their name. Nor do they have a starting pitcher to their name. They haven’t got a clue as to how to go about getting any of it. They couldn’t have paid Corbin $200,000,000 to sign to pitch in Cincy. Do you really think you could offer Manny or Harper 10/ $325 million today they would come? Not a chance. Until they change the culture and that starts with new owership, the Reds won’t win again.
Bottom line is if you brought Keuchel, Kimbrel and Harper to the Reds next year, they still wouldn’t make the playoffs. If you really want the Reds to win, stay away. Force baseball to step in. If the Reds draw 800,000 fans next year, change will happen.
While you all are hoping for a free agents I’m hoping for Mark Cuban to own the Reds and Jed Hoyer to run the show for him.Then you all can start dreaming of the playoffs again!!
Right, we should all stay away because afterall, you’re the only one who knows exactly what their problem is. Do you have an issue with the Williams family? You do realize they had controlling interest in the team during the Big Reds Machine heyday. Oh, that’s right…you were rolling in the floor crying like a baby at that point. They know what they are doing, and I doubt your expertise would help.
LOL!!!!! Sorry your feeling got hurt Dick (aka titanic struggle). I knew you was garbage, but to be trolling the chat pages during the night has to be a new low. I bet you and your wife have fake social media accounts. You think the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and Cubs are trolling chat sites? Nope, they are building winning teams. Baseball isn’t what it was 50 years ago when your family was running the Reds. But then once free agency started your family couldn’t hold the Big Reds Machine together. Must be something about a Williams and a free agent that they don’t understand. Let me say this real slooooooow for you. You sign free agents to make your team better.
To begin with, I’m a truck driver that drives mostly at night, and responded to your negativity while getting fuel Also, I’m not a Williams, but I do have first hand knowledge of what an outstanding and successful family they are. You know absolutely nothing about the investments they’ve made in this team, which is shocking because it’s public knowledge. Signing an ace is not going to put this team over the top. They’ve made one deal this winter…ONE, and you spew that negativity like you copied and pasted it from past seasons, only changing the names. Maybe let them finish before you burn them down…do you hack on your Ray’s like that part timer, or are there no William’s family involved in TB?
Reds would be just like Marlins and Padres