Still has 3 years left on his deal after 2020 - 75 Mill, Then a 4th year club option w/ 7M buyout.
So, the club is still into him for 82 Million sunk and 3 years of contracted service remaining.
He does not do one thing well on the baseball field anymore.
He can not field, run or throw
He can not hit. He does not create runs. Hit for power or average and is a giant black hole in the lineup.
His OPS is declining 4 years running. His SLG% over his last 300+ Games is .408! FOUR ZERO EIGHT
His SLG .394 so far this year, with 5 xbh in 20 games.
We have all seen how the Reds mis-handle legacy and long terms players, so this situation is going to be an unmitigated disaster. I understand this is a likely controversial take, but the Reds need to DFA him and move on after this season.
He is losing them more games than helping win, and it's going to only get worse. Time to say goodbye, sorry for wasting 5 of his best years in a never-ending rebuild, but that was the reds choice to bungle.
He has to go, ive watched a lot of baseball in 32 years - Joey Votto is a really bad baseball player now.