Time for Reds, Votto to weigh options

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: It’s time for the Reds to seriously think about trading Joey Votto. For real, this time.

If that sounds familiar, that’s because it should. It comes up pretty much every single offseason and non-waiver Trade Deadline, because Votto continues to be an elite performer (.326/.434/.550, 158 wRC+ in 2016), and because the Reds are well into a rebuilding phase as they attempt to construct the next great Cincinnati team. Over the past 18 months, important Reds veterans like Aroldis Chapman, Johnny Cueto, Todd Frazier, Mike Leake and Jay Bruce have been shipped out — and Brandon Phillips would have been if he’d accepted a trade to Washington. There have even been rumors about trading Billy Hamilton. Votto, however, remains.

So what’s different this time? Mostly that it hasn’t happened yet. Sure, both player and team say the right things. Votto has often spoken of his fondness for Cincinnati and his desire to be wearing a Reds uniform when the team competes again; the front office speaks highly of his leadership and, obviously, his production. No one doubts the honesty of either side’s statements, and with Votto’s no-trade clause, he has full control over his future.

“Full control,” of course, also includes the ability to accept a trade if one is presented to him (too often, a no-trade clause is misconstrued as preventing any deal), and there’s increasing evidence that one ought to be. While the Reds have made progress in that rebuild, they still don’t have a prospect in MLBpipeline.com’s Top 40. After a third straight losing season, they’re currently projected by FanGraphs as being a 70-92 team in 2017, and as great as Votto is, he did turn 33 in September. There’s a lot of time left in the rebuild.

In what’s become an increasingly brutal National League Central as the Cubs and Pirates have returned to prominence, it’s quite difficult to see the Reds being serious contenders before Votto is in his decline phase. So that’s the question, really: Does he benefit the team more by being the anchor of a lineup unlikely to contend for the next few years or by becoming a trade piece that could help reinvigorate that farm system, lighten the payroll and kick-start this rebuild? The Reds arguably waited too long to deal Frazier, and they can’t make the same mistake again.

So let’s have some fun with the Winter Meetings upon us. …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com