Votto had a pretty incredible season this year. The man is the greatest 1B we've ever had.
Frankly if our front office was actually invested in, we...uh.....,investing in the team, then I'd be more apt to be salty about Joey's contract these past several seasons.
Bottom line, he's under contract for 3 more years for $25/$25/$20. He's going to retire a Reds lifer. Meanwhile we're already gutting what semblance of a competitive roster we had. I'd rather see Joey retire a Red because the chance they load up on payroll after this coming season is damn slim. Seeing is believing
I wouldn’t say we’ve “gutted what semblance of a competitive roster we had”
Tucker Barnhart isn’t worth 7 million
Wade Miley isn’t worth 10 million
Castellanos was always going to opt out
a backup catcher can easily be signed. Won’t be as good defensively as Barnhart but TySteve needs every day playing time
Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Reiver Sanmartin, and Graham Ashcraft make letting Miley go an easy decision since you still have Mahle, Castillo, Gray, and Gutierrez
now the issue is replacing Castellanos. We also know Senzel won’t stay healthy past May. And you have two guys who should be shipped to Japan in Aquino and Akiyama unfortunately on the team.
I personally would trade Sonny Gray for a young OF prospect. If the Angels would do Brandon Marsh or Giants for Heliot Ramos, etc