Joey Votto would rather quit and lose $199 million than repeat his April

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Joey Votto’s April was a serious disappointment for the veteran first baseman. It was the worst month of his career as measured by OPS, which is saying something for a guy in his 10th season in the majors. On the year, he’s hitting just .230/.330/.310, and his OPS+ (72) is over 100 points lower than it was a year ago (174) when he finished third in the majors behind Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Votto’s April was so off from his usual form that he told the media he’d rather quit -- leaving the $199 million still owed to him behind -- than play at that kind of level again.

While this is likely just Votto expressing his disappointment with his performance rather than a cue he’s going to leave if things don’t get better, it’s a reminder of how quickly someone can sour on baseball (or any job) if they aren’t satisfied with themselves. Joey Votto could do a whole lot of things with another $200 million -- well, more realistically, his grandchildren could -- but if he had to show up to work every day for the next eight years of his life as a shadow of himself, his salary a constant reminder of the player he used to be, it would wear on him like it would any of us, regardless of how many zeroes are on those checks.

There are Reds fans who already despise Votto because they don’t think he does enough for the team or that his contract is taking up too much of Cincinnati’s modest budget, and that’s when Votto was consistently one of the very best in the game. That’s not an exaggeration, either: minimum 3,000 plate appearances, from Votto’s debut in 2007 through 2015, he ranked second in the majors in OPS+ behind only Miguel Cabrera. Can you imagine the noise those fans would make if Votto was actually bad at his job? Votto probably doesn’t want to imagine or experience any of that, and neither would any of us.

It’s just easier for him to admit it today instead of a few years from now since he’s already made $61 million in his career, whereas those of us here have, uh, not.