Kearns signs

[CySeymour]

According to Lancaster's blog:

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/

[Heath]

According to Lancaster's blog:

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/


Not bad 1 yr 1.85 mill.

To "borrow" Marc's line - more increased playing time for a better shot at more production.

[kheidg-]

Surprised that Kearns got that much more than Wily Mo.

[harangatang]

Surprised that Kearns got that much more than Wily Mo.

Defense, Defense, Defense

[PuffyPig]

Surprised that Kearns got that much more than Wily Mo.
I'm assuming he has more service time.

[kbrake]

How hard would it be to throw a little more then what these guys might have proved they are worth so far and try to get them into LTC. I dont see how hard it would be get Kearns or Pena into 3yr/15mil deals. And I know that Harang wants to wait but give him some money now, see how high you have to go to get him locked up now. I really hope whoever replaces O'Brien finds a way to get these guys to Long term deals.

[Nugget]

There is no way that Kearns or WMP would sign to long term with the free agent market the way it is. No manager worth his salt would advise them to. They would both be looking at 5-10 a yaer depending on how the next two seasons go so its going to take more than just a little more money.

[westofyou]

Any GM who gave either of those guys 15 million at this point in their career shouldn't be GMing, corner OF that OPS .800 are the easiest parts to fill in baseball, if they ever extend beyond that they'll get some money.

But as of now both at 3 million is about right, neither deserves 2.5 million much alone 5.

[M2]

Given their injury histories, I'd think both Kearns and Wily Mo would be up for some LTC security.

[RedLegSuperStar]

Still predicting Dunner signs last...

Felipe.. Your on deck!

[RedLegSuperStar]

Given their injury histories, I'd think both Kearns and Wily Mo would be up for some LTC security.

Personally i'd like to see that.. I think these 2 are what teams look to build a foundation around. I would at least lock em up for 3 years

Kearns 3 yrs 15 mil w/ incentives
Wily Mo 3 yrs 14 mil w/ incentives

[captainmorgan07]

i agree 2or 3 year deal would have been good now we have to worry about signing them again this year

[TeamBoone]

01/16/2006 6:00 PM ET

Reds sign Kearns to one-year deal
Cincinnati has all three starting outfielders under contract
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

Another arbitration case bites the dust.

For the third time in two days, the Reds avoided arbitration with one of their players by signing outfielder Austin Kearns to a one-year contract worth $1.85 million on Monday.

The Reds now have all three of their starting outfielders under contract. Kearns is expected to be the everyday man in right field.

For Kearns, 2005 is best put in the rearview mirror, on the whole. He was hoping the season would be a breakout one for him, but after tearing it up in Spring Training, the 25-year-old struggled at the plate out the gate.

Kearns hit just .224 with eight homers and 25 RBIs in the first 51 games of the season before the Reds shocked the clubhouse by sending him to Triple-A Louisville on June 12.

The club said the move was aimed at getting Kearns to regain his hitting stroke and his physical discipline. In 21 games with the Bats, Kearns appeared to make strides on both fronts by batting .342 with seven home runs and 21 RBIs and dropping about 10 pounds.

When Kearns returned to the Reds in late July, he found himself sharing time in right field with Wily Mo Pena. But by the end of the year, Kearns was once again a fixture in the starting lineup. He hit .253 with 12 homers and 42 RBIs in 61 games after being recalled from the Minors, bringing his season totals to a .240 average with 18 homers and 67 RBIs.

The Reds cleared room in their crowded outfield for both Kearns and Pena to get regular starts in '06 by trading first baseman Sean Casey to the Pirates during the Winter Meetings and moving left fielder Adam Dunn to first base.

That should be good news for Kearns, who complained at the time of his demotion to Triple-A that the four-outfielder rotation hinders the development of a young player such as himself.

With Kearns' deal wrapped up, general manager Dan O'Brien has three more arbitration-eligible players to take care of. Dunn, shortstop Felipe Lopez and right-hander Aaron Harang all are expected to be signed to one-year deals before all is said and done.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060116&content_id=1296231&vkey=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin

[Aronchis]

Kearns and Pena need to be traded. Though I would gamble on enough health and improved production where their value increases over the summer, I would hold off to after the season starts and maybe into the offseason.

The Reds don't have time to wait this offense out while the pitching staff and defense suffer to catch up.

They need to overhaul now. That means trade the extra's. Kearns got adjusted to, continued his injury prone career and is a bit of a drifter. I don't see him ever being the 320 35hr 120RBI players he was projected to be. If he show nice improvement over last year, he could be moved for a package.

Pena simply doesn't fit in the NL. He is a obvious AL player who could give some team some pop as a DL while he hones his skills that are still fairly raw. Like Kearns, he is injury prone, but 2-3 months of play like during his 2004 run, may very well merit a decent return for him.

The Reds pitching and defense need to improve greatly. Getting rid of a medicore and poor defender is a start for young pitchers and defense. That leaves Dunn,Griffey,Lopez and Larue, who all should be traded. Harang should probably go as well. Wilson leaves in 2007, Milton by 2008. In 2008 we will be free of bad contracts, have had those younger pitchers auditioning in 2007 and some DanO era picks who have shots like Jay Bruce coming up through the system. That would be the time to make a move and begin to fill in the rest of the holes and raise payroll.

The Marlins did it, hopefully Cast follows up on those plans.

[Unassisted]

So where's the praise (or at least credit) for DanO on this and the Peña deals? He did something good here and nary a positive word has been thrown his direction.

[TeamBoone]

So Aronchis... your solution is just to trade everyone?

Brilliant.

[pedro]

So where's the praise (or at least credit) for DanO on this and the Peña deals? He did something good here and nary a positive word has been thrown his direction.

Why should he get big praise? He signed two guys who really had no options and who were hurt a lot last year to contracts that represented big raises. So what? I'm glad they avoided arb, but I really don't see where he deserves any praise for it.

[KronoRed]

So Aronchis... your solution is just to trade everyone?

Brilliant.
It's not a bad idea, we need so many parts that the only wise action would be to trade everyone for prospects and start over, we'd lose 100 games for a few years but maybe a solid foundation would come from it.

We'd need a GM who can trade first though ;)

[KronoRed]

If only we could combine Kearns and Pena into one player....

We have the technology ;)

[kbrake]

My whole reason for trying to sign Pena and Kearns long term, is because right now the front office has all the leverage. Let them both go off this year and then we have two more Adam Dunn's on our hands. (I dont mean talent wise, I mean ability to sign to a LT deal.) WOY, dont you have to overpay for some of these guys if you want to get something started in Cincinnati? I would rather pay Kearns/Pena 5mil a season, then Eric Milton 8 mil. Then once we have several key offensive players locked up long term, it might be easier to get some free agent pitchers to come to Cincinnati.

[4256 Hits]

Personally i'd like to see that.. I think these 2 are what teams look to build a foundation around. I would at least lock em up for 3 years

Kearns 3 yrs 15 mil w/ incentives
Wily Mo 3 yrs 14 mil w/ incentives

Make those 4 yrs not 3 and I most likely would do it

[harangatang]

Make those 4 yrs not 3 and I most likely would do it

Wouldn't it be nice if MLB was like the NFL and not make the money guaranteed?

[lucky bugle boy]

Now we've got all the easy ones out of the way. I'm curious now what kind of raises we are going to have to give the remaining three, probably our 3 most valuable last year. I figured at the time that this is where the Casey money would go. Don't get me wrong, that was still a good move.

[TOBTTReds]

Personally i'd like to see that.. I think these 2 are what teams look to build a foundation around. I would at least lock em up for 3 years

Kearns 3 yrs 15 mil w/ incentives
Wily Mo 3 yrs 14 mil w/ incentives

If you are going to sign them for 5 mil a year, it better be longer than 3 years if you can. Most likely, neither will be worth 5 mil this season, possibly not next. Dunn made that money last year. Plus, these guys futures are still uncertain as to how they will play, both have potential out the roof, with basement pretty low

[westofyou]

WOY, dont you have to overpay for some of these guys if you want to get something started in Cincinnati?Don't they have to produce for a whole season before they merit 5 million dollar a year contracts?

[kbrake]

WOY, I get what your saying, I just have a fear that if they have years this year that make them think they deserve 5 million dollar contracts with Cincinnati, they will get the feeling that means much more out in a free agent market.

[Unassisted]

Why should he get big praise? He signed two guys who really had no options and who were hurt a lot last year to contracts that represented big raises. So what? I'm glad they avoided arb, but I really don't see where he deserves any praise for it.He gets criticized relentlessly for inaction, I just think he should get recognized for taking action. Granted, it's not an earth-shattering move, but it is a move he initiated and completed.

It's like he's the new Bob Boone, the default scapegoat. I'm just trying to make the point that not everything he does is bad.

If Kearns or Peña should go on the DL next season, it will probably be less than an hour before some RedsZone wiseacre blames that on DanO. After all, he signed the new deals with these guys.

[TOBTTReds]

He gets criticized relentlessly for inaction, I just think he should get recognized for taking action. Granted, it's not an earth-shattering move, but it is a move he initiated and completed.

It's like he's the new Bob Boone, the default scapegoat. I'm just trying to make the point that not everything he does is bad.

If Kearns or Peña should go on the DL next season, it will probably be less than an hour before some RedsZone wiseacre blames that on DanO. After all, he signed the new deals with these guys.

DanO probably walked out of the office for lunch and Kullman called Kearns and WMP and got it done during lunch.;)

[pedro]

He gets criticized relentlessly for inaction, I just think he should get recognized for taking action. Granted, it's not an earth-shattering move, but it is a move he initiated and completed.

It's like he's the new Bob Boone, the default scapegoat. I'm just trying to make the point that not everything he does is bad.

If Kearns or Peña should go on the DL next season, it will probably be less than an hour before some RedsZone wiseacre blames that on DanO. After all, he signed the new deals with these guys.

He's got to do something at work. And you're right, he is the default scapegoat, but that's what happens when your as bad at your job as DanO.

[KronoRed]

It's like he's the new Bob Boone
Blame Dan O will never replace Blame Boone :devil:

[kbrake]

DanO has earned the reputation he has and all the criticism that he gets with every move. I use to try to defend him some of the time, but he has dug his own grave, and now that he gets criticezed for every little move, it is his own fault.

[RedLegSuperStar]

I think you have to take the indians aproach and sign your youth to LTCs. Overpay now and save later. Lock up Kearns, Dunn, Mo, Claussen, Harang, Lopez

[Ron Madden]

We all knew that Dunn, Lopez and Harang would be the last three players signed due to their production last season.

I think the Lopez deal will be the most difficult to get done because of his agent.

[deltachi8]

I dont even think of offering Kearns a LTC until he proves he stays healthy, stays in shape and can produce for an entire season, in fact two would be better.

I havent seen evidence that Mr. Kearns can do that.

Pena, not yet, but I would be more inclined.

Sunn should have been done a while ago.

[wheels]

I just think he should get recognized for taking action.

Welcome to General Manager's Special Education, where we all cheer for everything.

Hooray for everything!

[Unassisted]

Welcome to General Manager's Special Education, where we all cheer for everything.

Hooray for everything!If you share my view that the Reds are keeping DanO through the '06 season, you need to look for bright spots wherever you can. ;)

[Ravenlord]

i think it should be noted Kearns actually was healthy all year last year...first time since he was 18 or so?

[M2]

If you share my view that the Reds are keeping DanO through the '06 season, you need to look for bright spots wherever you can. ;)

If you're right, then I guess we do have to clap when he doesn't impale himself on anything.

Though if the new ownership allows another nine months to go down the DanO rabbit hole then it deserves the cumulative wallop from allowing that man to fritter away three years without having made an important acquisition or retention.

[kbrake]

I wouldnt get to bent out of shape if new ownership does not can DanO on day 1, but the thought of all of 2006 with him is very scary. I dont want to have to go through another draft/ trade deadline.

[M2]

I wouldnt get to bent out of shape if new ownership does not can DanO on day 1, but the thought of all of 2006 with him is very scary. I dont want to have to go through another draft/ trade deadline.

Exactly. As long as he's gone by the start of ST I'll be happy.

[MartyFan]

I am wondering if the One Year Deal thing is more of a baseball wide thing...maybe they are getting ready for a player strike? I am not saying there have not been some multi-year deals but there have been a lot of one year signings.

[westofyou]

FYI

The Braves signed Marcus Giles to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration. He'll get 3.85 million for the year.

If he's getting under 4 then Kearns and Pena are no way near getting that much in this market with their questions.

[kbrake]

well then that is the kind of deal DanO should be using as leverage in LT talks with Pena and Kearns, I just threw 3yrs/15mil out there as something to get a deal done. If you could get it done for 5 4yrs/12 mil or whatever it is I would be fine with it, I just dont want to lose these two for nothing the way I fear that we will with Dunn.

[Jpup]

Dan O'brien never has leverage.