It’s a little known fact among baseball enthusiasts, online betting fans and even pundits, but the Cincinnati Reds haven’t been in arbitration since 2004.

As the 2011 season approaches, they are doing best to keep that streak alive.

At the beginning of the offseason, the Reds had a slew of arbitration-eligible candidates and slowly, one by one, they have been chipping away.

Joey Votto agreed to a three-year extension worth $38 million, which takes him through his last three years of arbitration eligibility. The Reds also agreed to contract extensions with Johnny Cueto, Bill Bray and Jay Bruce as well.

Cueto received a four-year $27 million extension, Bray earned a one-year, $645,000 contract and Bruce picked up a six-year, $51 million extension.

That leaves Edinson Volquez as the final piece of the puzzle. It’s reported that Volquez is asking for about $2 million in arbitration while the Reds are countering with $1.3 million.

Aside from their major moves to keep their core intact, the Reds also signed a couple of free agents. They signed World Series star Edgar Renteria from the San Francisco Giants and outfield Fred Lewis from the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Reds led the National League in virtually every major hitting category and will return virtually their entire core intact. The funny thing is that it’s actually their young pitching staff that is projected to be the franchise backbone in the future, so the Reds should not only be playoff contenders again in 2011 but they should rise up to be serious World Series contenders as well.

Today, the Reds announced that the PTBNL in the Jeff Keppinger trade is Drew Sutton and infield prospect who will be assigned to AAA Lousiville. There was a rumor last week that Sutton was the player the Reds were going to get but I thought no way…. this kid is too good! Boy, glad I was wrong!

Drew Sutton=Stud

At only 25, Drew Sutton still has alot of life in him to become a Major Leaguer. He hit an outstanding .317 in AA Corpus Christi last year with the Astros. He had a .408 OBP and drove in 68 runs!

We got him for a guy we didn’t have any room for. I know J-kepp is tearing it up right now, but reality will sink in and soon Astros fans will realize he is not an everyday player.

PS. Check out the Astros message board if you have time.. they are PISSED that Sutton was the PTBNL.

Jeff Keppinger was traded to the Astros yesterday for a PTBNL. The PTBNL will be made soon. I think it wasn’t a bad plan for the Reds and was definitly a good thing for Jkepp. Jkep hasn’t been the same since he broke his kneecap and seemed last year to prove that he wasn’t anything but a player off the bench. Bench players are something the Reds have an abundance of and Jkepp is someone they could trade to get somebody in return. Jkeep benefits because he will probably get a chance to play everyday, probably at his best position- 3B. I wish Jkepp my best and I’m sure all Reds fans will do the same.

I’m not sure if this is completly accurate but the average height of a Major League pitcher is 6’2.

The Reds Pitcher Danny Herrera is 5’6.

With Danny Herrera, I have had nothing but positive things to say about him ever since he got a chance to pitch last year. Dude is a stud and I really hope he makes the team. He is a long shot but man, he is such a great story! He is 5’6, 140 pounds and has an 86 MPH fastball. He apparently has 12 different pictches in his arsenal and is a screwball pitcher. How sweet is that!

Today the Reds avoided arbitration with 3B Edwin Encarnacion by agreeing to a 2 year contract. According to the reds home page the details of the agreement haven’t been made available but Hal Mccoy said the 2 year deal is believed to be worth about $5 million.

I think the deal is pretty fair for both sides and is a safe deal for the reds. The reds are telling Edwin he better “paint the town red” or he is gone in 2 years. Edwin better step up this year or a long term contract seems definently out of the question.

I just have a short and quick update for everyone today as the Cincinnati Reds have signed former Chicago Cub players Daryle Ward and Jacque Jones. Yep, it sure seems like Dusty will take any player that once put on a Cub uniform lol. Both contracts are minor league contracts with invitations to spring training.

It will be interesting to see if Jones does much after sitting out the second half of last season after being cut by the Tigers and Marlins. He did go down and play winter ball in Mexico this off season and batted .314 (37-for-118) with three homers, 15 RBIs and a .349 on-base percentage in 29 games.

Spring Training is just around the corner so keep checking back! We are also interested in having one or two more Reds bloggers help out on the site this weekend. If you are interested please click the contact us link at the top of the site and send us an email!

The Cincinnati Reds have probably found their shortstop for the 2009 season as they have came to terms on a one year deal worth a guranteed $2 million with utility player Jerry Hairston Jr. Hairston will fill the stop at shortstop since Alex Gonzalez will not be ready to go by opening day. Hairston has the opporitnuty to raise his pay all the way up to $4 million if he hits all of his incentives.

The Reds have also invited 11 players to spring training which kicks off next month. Laynce Nix, Aaron Fultz, Ryan Jorgensen, Darnell McDonald, Ron Flores, Jeff Kennard, Adam Pettyjohn, Chris Kroski, Wes Bankston, Kevin Barker and Luis Bolivar were the 11 player that received invites.

Reds Blog

The Cincinnati Reds have signed speedy center fielder Willy Taveras to a two-year contract the team is reporting. Taveras has played the last two years with the Colorado Rockies and led the majors with 207 infield hits and as also stolen atleast 33 bases in each of his four seasons in the big leagues.

He will play pretty good defense in centerfield and has the speed to catch those balls that would normally get through the gaps and roll all the way to the wall. We can probably expect Taveras to be the new lead off hitter for the Reds as well.

Tavaras choose the Reds because he has heard good things about manager Dusty Baker and that he is a players manager. He wanted to give it a shot since the team is young and he feels like he could blend in and help this team in the Central Division.

Reds Blog

Finally something to blog about here on the blog! On Tuesday, the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles worked out a four player trade. Ryan Freel and two minor league infieldrs will be going to the Orioles and the Reds will be getting catcher Ramon Hernandez.

The two minor league players are Justin Turner and Brandon Waring.

As part of the deal, Baltimore will give Cincinnati cash to offset part of Hernandez’s contract. He is owed $8.5 million next year.

I personally do not like this deal for the Reds. Freel is a nice player to have in the outfield and he gives it his all on every play. The risk of injury is always there, and I expect that played into the decision a little bit.

What are your thoughts?

Edinson Volquez suffered through his first subpar outing of the year, giving up seven Blue Jay runs (five earned) in four and one-third innings, while Jesse Litsch stymied the Reds batters, giving up only one run in eight innings pitched.  Scott Rolen homered and drove in three runs for the Jays, while Brandon Phillips drove in the only Reds run with a sacrifice fly.

Jerry Hairston Jr. was activated before the game and led off for the Reds.  To make room on the roster for Hairston, Paul Janish was optioned to Louisville.

Bluzer runs RedlegStats.com, the home of Absolute Average, a better alternative to OPS.

Johnny Cueto duelled Andy Pettite for five innings, but did not come back out after an hour-long rain delay, and the Yankees found the offerings of the Reds bullpen more to their liking, scoring three in the sixth off Gary Majewski and Jeremy Affeldt.  Jason Giambi was 3-for-3 with two RBI for the Yankees.  Ken Griffey Jr. hit a solo homer for the Reds’ only run.  Mariano Rivera pitched the final inning and a third to earn his 21st save of the year.

A bearded Jeff Keppinger, activated before the game, started the game at shortstop, but briefly moved to third when Edwin Encarnacion developed back spasms.  Andy Phillips was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Keppinger.

Bluzer runs RedlegStats.com, the home of Absolute Average, a better alternative to OPS.