The Reds have placed first baseman Joey Votto on the 10-day IL with left shoulder discomfort, the team announced. In a corresponding roster move, Nick Senzel has been recalled from Triple-A Louisville.
This specific injury is especially worrisome for Votto, considering the left rotator cuff surgery that cost him the final seven weeks of the 2022 season and the first 12 weeks of 2023. It’s often a bad sign when a player re-aggravates a previous injury, and it’s particularly concerning for a player of Votto’s age; he will turn 40 in September.
Last summer, Votto explained that his shoulder had been causing him problems since 2015, and he only opted for surgery once the pain reached a breaking point. Evidently, the surgery was unable to completely alleviate his pain.
The veteran got off to a slow start when he first came off the injured list in mid-June, but it wasn’t long before Votto found his footing. Across 30 games between early July and mid-August, he hit ten home runs in 115 plate appearances, putting up a 134 wRC+. He wasn’t walking quite like prime Votto, but he was crushing the baseball. He recorded 12 barrels and 34 hard-hit balls, and his 92.1-mph average exit velocity was reminiscent of his 92.9-mph figure from his resurgent 2021 season. It certainly seemed like Votto was back to full health and ready to start padding his Hall of Fame resume.
Unfortunately, he has struggled tremendously over his last ten games. In 37 plate appearances, Votto has just four hits and 11 strikeouts. His whiff rate has risen to a career-high, and he hasn’t barreled a single ball. He exited yesterday afternoon’s contest against the Angels partway through and did not return for the second game of the doubleheader that evening. The recurrence of his shoulder discomfort explains his early exit and could explain the sudden downturn in his performance.
As Gordon Wittenmyer reports for the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Reds are planning to put Votto through “a strengthening program” before re-evaluating his status. With no timetable for his return, it’s fair to wonder if Votto is done for the season. If so, it becomes increasingly likely that the Reds will not pick up his option for the 2024 campaign. The team holds a $20 million option with a $7 million buyout, which means they must decide if their long-time star is worth an additional $13 million in payroll next year. If the Reds decline their option, Votto will become a free agent for the first time in his 17-year career. There is little use speculating about what Votto might do in free agency without a better understanding of his current injury. The severity of his shoulder problems will inform Cincinnati’s decision and, subsequently, his next course of action.
Senzel has had a difficult season, including two separate trips to the injured list and one optional assignment to the minor leagues. In 80 games for the Reds, he has a 72 wRC+ and -0.5 FanGraphs WAR. He has mostly split his time between third base and the outfield, and the defensive metrics suggest he has been below average at the hot corner and all three outfield positions. With the recent promotion of top prospect Noelvi Marte, Senzel is unlikely to see much time at third, but he could play the outfield while Spencer Steer takes over for Votto at first base. Cincinnati also has young outfielders TJ Hopkins and Michael Siani on the 26-man roster, in addition to journeyman Nick Martini. Trey Mancini is also in the organization as of yesterday evening, and it stands to reason that the Reds signed him to a minor league deal in light of Votto’s injury.
Is this Votto’s last year? If it is, one awesome career, definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, ridiculously good numbers overall. 410 OBP, over 900 OPS, 144 OPS Plus, and for the traditionalist group, he has an MVP in the bag.
Check out his last six years. Hall of fame my ass.
He’s not ending his career with a bang, that’s true, few do, but the overall body of work merits at least a conversation.
OK, I agree with “merits a conversation” but “definitely deserves to be in the Hall of Fame” is something else.
Is that how the determine HOF status? Over the last six years? I missed that.
Yes, too bad for Joey, but it is the new standard. Miggy and Pujols are effed, too.
“Over the last years, I missed that”..Whether it be your first or last 6 yrs, 6 years IS a significant sample size. If you have a bad “6 years” at any point in your career, I would think you’d fall short of the MLB HOF.
astick….exactly……in fact, let’s judge Mike trout on his last 6 years
The last 6 years of Willie Mays career were nothing compared to the rest. Should he get kicked out of the Hall?
Hopefully the media takes into account a player’s entire career. Six bad years are absorbed into that. But there is also the ability to judge a player by what the voters see. I’ve seen players who are clutch and become favorites even if overall they’re batting .234. They obviously aren’t getting into the HOF, but they’re very enjoyable to watch. Players like Pujols, who left the game with a bang, ang Miggy, who isn’t going out the same way, deserve to go in because of their body of work. Even with a few down years, Miggy made his name from the moment he stepped onto a major league field.
astick, are you another member of the “Everyone should be in the Hall” club?
Your name sucks.
Insert eye roll here. Not even a legitimate comparison.
That’s not what your wife said about it..
from age 37-42 (the last 6 years of Mays’ career) he produced a 22.7 WAR with a 138 OPS+.
Which is a MASSIVE dropoff from the rest of his career.
As much as I’ve liked Joey and watched him, this is a neck and neck decision. Does he or doesn’t he? I’m in his corner.
jcraft21: Every year it seems that the media’s criteria for making it into the hall has gone down. They don’t have to vote someone in every year. It has happened before. So, with that in mind, players on the borderline like Votto, have a chance to get into the HOF.
@avengers65 The statistical HOF bar has to be lower. Pitchers (even the best of them) are no longer tossing CG SOs nor having 200+ IP seasons. Hitters aren’t playing 162/season with planned rest days. The averag3 MLB triple slash line is now way lower than it was a decade ago.
That is a very fair answer
jcraft21,,,,,,,,,,
I’ll see you last 6 years and raise you his first 11
Avg .313 – OBP .428 – SLG .541 – OPS .969 – OPS+ 158 – WAR per 650 PA 5.9
Not a first ballot but deserving nonetheless. Votto has been an asset to baseball.
The fact that he’s never been suspended for PEDs or done anything to test baseball’s morality clause will allow voters to focus strictly on his body of work. But then again that was true of Dale Murphy, and he’s still on the outside looking in.
There’s going to be more recency bias by voters for Votto. Him and Miggy aren’t that far apart in career bWAR while there’s a bigger fWAR gap between the two.
“Deserves to be in the Hall Of Fame”.
..He’ll most certainly be in the Cincinnati Red’s Hall of Fame, but for me he falls a bit short of the MLB Hall Of Fame.
Agree. I’ll cringe if he makes into the Hall of Very Good. Not quite HOFer.
His career On-base% is phenomenal, an MVP over 2000 hits 350 HR he’s a first ballot Hall of famer imo
@Tanger there are multiple 2 time MVPs not in HOF. Having 1 MVP is nowhere near being a HOF lock. 2000 hits again not a lock. 360 HRs not a lock. Black Ink hes off a decent bit being over 1/3 less than the average HOFer. Gray Ink he’s a bit above average. WAR he’s basically even with average HOFer and JAWS he’s just barely above average.
They have to buy him out next year for $7,000,000 but that is better than paying him the $25,000,000 he would be owed. Bring him back as a bench coach.
Never hit a post-season home run or won a playoff series hit 0.241 in post-season as a 1B or DH he is trying to “walk” his way into HOF, I think he will get in but it a squeaker close decision IMHO.
Trying to walk his way in to the hall?? Lol. Yes, he’s walked quite a bit so according to you the 2,000 hits and 350 HR don’t mean much?!?! SMH
As the Hall bar lowers, yes Votto is in.
He is not as accomplished as Jeff Bagwell or Todd Helton and (assuming Helton gets in this year) they each took 5 years to get in. I would bet that if Votto gets in, it will be close to the 10 year wait, if not a vet’s committee like McGriff.
For what it’s worth, he’s 12th all time in JAWS among first baseman. He’s going to have a tough time winning over the old heads with those counting stats, though.
great movie ,ben!
Hall of fame lock.
He’ll make the “Tik Tock” Hall Of Fame, first ballot.
According to the HOF stats at Baseball Reference, Votto is a borderline candidate just below average. There are still a lot of first base Hall of Famers below him in WAR. I think he gets in after a few ballots.
Depends on the strentgh of the ballot at the time too. Votto isn’t like most 1Bs. He never hit for as much power as you’d see from some HOF 1Bs like McCovey, Bagwell, Thome, or even one of the most recent electees, McGriff, But he had a BA of at least .300 in eight seasons and an OBP of .400+ in nine seasons.
But that doesn’t mean he was all contact/OBP and no power. He still has hit 355 career home runs and a career isolated slugging percentage over .200. He’s also one of the better defensive first basemen in the sport’s history with +56 defensive runs saved. I think he’s very underrated by many, simpily because he wasn’t consistently in the running for home run crowns at a position you typically see the biggest sluggers in the league at.
Votto also ONLY hit 8 infield flyball across 10 seasons earlier in his career which is incredible.
It’s not all about home runs, despite what a lot of stat boys think.
He’s better than John Olerud and Will Clark. But I don’t know if he’s HOF level good. Perhaps he just squeaks in as being slightly better than the Olerud-Clark crowd.
I think you are right and he gets inducted in ~2036.
One more year Joey!
I’d rather see the Reds in the mix of playoffs, rather than celebrating sentimental players from their recent past. Besides St. Louis already wins the sentimental “title”(Puhjols & Yadi), for their latest attempt to get Wainwright to 200 wins.
And they’re already talking about extending Goldschmidt into his late 30s, so the sentimental journey is likely to continue
Rather they spend the money (if they actually will spend money) somewhere else.
They won’t…spend money, that is.
I’ll bet he comes back next year.
The Reds have a better chance now. I like Votto a lot but he needs to be on the bench, if active.
The Reds best chance to make the postseason is with Votto at 1B. Votto is better than Christian Encarnacion-Strand, offensively and defensively.
Maybe you should look at his 2021 numbers. His numbers weren’t that bad this year either.
I think we know why they signed Mancini now.
Now that India has finished landing on the moon, he can come back and lead the playoff charge instead of Reds playing Super Votto
legit point, reds
Mancini will replace Martini, both are shaken not stirred.
10 days in Votto Days means you won’t see him on the field till 24. If you do, it’s because he’s filming something to target the 18-20 yr old tik tok gen as part of his midlife crisis.
First game of the double header was the same game Ohtani exited early too, right? And Trout soon after. Not a good day in Anaheim for future HOFers.
Joey Votto has done plenty for the Cincinnati Reds but now that he is unable to take the field due to constant shoulder pain it’s time for him to retire and let the younger players have their time to get experience.
Wait, Martini and Mancini are two different people?
You figured it out in the Nick of time.
Votto Stats – 64.5 career WAR | 46.9 7yr-peak WAR | 55.7 JAWS | 5.1 WAR/162 Games
Average HOF 1B (out of 24) – 65.0 career WAR | 41.8 7yr-peak WAR | 53.4 JAWS | 4.8 WAR/162 Games
Yawn…another member of the Scott Rolen wing of the Hall of Very Good.
So I guess that means when you go to war or jump the shark, Joey’s your man!
Oh my gosh, give it a rest. Votto has been a pleasure to watch and well outperformed that contract in the early years/overall.
One of the best hitters of his generation
Still boggles my mind that people question votto’s HOF resume. Same people who are gonna be mad when Mauer, Posey, and Greinke get in but will crow with delight if Yadi manages to slither in.