Generally you don't sign guys to be able to trade them.
Generally you don't sign guys to be able to trade them.
WHen CF's like Pierre get a 4 year deal worth $10M per season, I don't mind extending Freel at, what, $4M?
Freel is better than Pierre, I know that.
But he hasn't played well at a regular place, IMO.
He might lose his job to Hamilton before the end of the year.
I would've prefered to "Wait and see" on this one.
I don't think he has enough service time to be a free agent after this year anyhow.. but that is just a guess. If he's only arb eligible, I wait until after the season. If Freel plays well and burns us next year at arb, so be it.
I'm all for extending core players, but Freel is not a good risk, IMO.
[Phil ] Castellini celebrated the team's farm system and noted the team had promising prospects who would one day be great Reds -- and then joke then they'd be ex-Reds, saying "of course we're going to lose them". #SellTheTeamBob
Nov. 13, 2007: One of the greatest days in Reds history: John Allen gets the boot!
I am pessimistically optimistic about the underlying themes of this move. Either that or totally ambivilant.
Hugs, smiling, and interactive Twitter accounts, don't mean winning baseball. Until this community understands that we are cursed to relive the madness.
Extending Freel is a good deal. It gives the Reds someone who can play the OF or 2b at a moments notice and he is the teams only true leadoff hitter.
He's even the emergency catcher, and if Ross continues to hit at a subpar .100 pace, the emergency may be sooner than later.
Additionally, as I said last year, another good sign is that the Reds have finally got rid of the darn "we won't negotiate contracts in season" that was a hallmark of the Uncle Carl era.
Where we gonna go?
I wonder if they shoved him this pile of money so he won't start to moan about getting less and less playing time because of Hamilton? Like the rest of you, I am interested in the numbers. He's never been an everyday player and at his age I doubt he becomes one now, however I love him as a super sub who gets 450 ABs a year. Let's hope WK sees this and pays him appropriately.
As fans we have a right to be leery of big contracts because they force us to watch players who otherwise would have been cut or benched...not to mention any names...
4.5 million for a 4th OF seems too much (assuming we gave him 9 million over 2 years), even if he can play CF.
An outside observer would claim the Reds are jacking up the market again, and have a pretty good argument.
Freel has a decent OF glove, but if his OBP skills are vanishing, he's not worth much, since he has zero power. I really don't consider his value at 2b/3b either, since he is a weak glove there and Narron never uses him there.
My fear is that Freel has been showing a decline in OBP since the second half of last year (when he started playing more). Hopefully, he can reverse that trend.
[Phil ] Castellini celebrated the team's farm system and noted the team had promising prospects who would one day be great Reds -- and then joke then they'd be ex-Reds, saying "of course we're going to lose them". #SellTheTeamBob
Nov. 13, 2007: One of the greatest days in Reds history: John Allen gets the boot!
Insurance policy for Junior getting injured, Hamilton falling flat and reverting back to what he was: an old A-baller, or Chris Denorfia never getting back on the horse after his injury.
If either of those happen, then the Reds are short an OF -- with still probably 2 more years until the cavalry (Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs) come charging in from the minors.
Cincinnati Reds: Farm System Champions 2022
John Fay thinks it's a good signing, FWIW.
I think any time you can get a player of Ryan Freel's caliber locked up for a reasonable rate, it's a good deal. I think that's what happened here. I don't know the numbers yet, but he Reds wouldn't have signed him if they had to break the bank to do it. That said, I could see Freel going back to being a utility guy if Josh Hamilton is what they think he is. So, no, I don't think they signed him to trade him.
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