The Cincinnati Reds traded away Yonder Alonso over the offseason, hinting that the franchise looked at Joey Votto as something of a long-term solution even though he was signed only for the next two seasons. From MLB Trade Rumors, we have a rumor suggesting that Votto could be a really, really long-term solution:
Cincinnati Reds, Joey Votto Reportedly Close To Huge Extension
According to MLB Trade Rumors, Joey Votto and the Cincinnati Reds are close to a gigantic extension to keep the first baseman around for a long time.
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Joey Votto and the Reds are nearing an extension that will keep the first baseman in Cincinnati for a long time, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes and Ben Nicholson-Smith have learned. ...Terms of the deal are not known, but the total contract value could surpass $200MM.
The obvious comp is Prince Fielder, who signed a nine-year, $214 million contract this offseason with the Detroit Tigers. Votto is a year older than Prince, but he's also been a little better over his career regardless of your metric of choice (Wins Above Replacement, OPS, OPS+, NOTHSSB*).
MLB Trade Rumors is usually in the business of passing along transaction rumors rather than breaking them on their own, which for some reason makes me believe this one even more, probably because they wouldn’t be messing around with a friend of a guy who knows an agent. It looks like Joey Votto will be a Red deep into the next decade, and for a lot of clams.
*Number of times he’s seen Strange Brew.
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