Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto recently said he would rather choose retirement than make what is left on his contract if his poor play continues.
The Cincinnati Reds are having a rough start to the 2016 MLB season. After finishing with a 64-98 record in 2015, the Reds are off to a 10-15 start to this season. A 6-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday ended a six-game losing streak.
The team has been struggling as a whole, and its star player is a part of that trend.
Joey Votto is currently hitting .230 to start the season and only has two home runs as the MLB season heads into its second month.
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While even the best players in the league go through struggles, fans in Cincinnati cannot be happy about how Votto has played.
Not only is he supposed to be the top performer, he is being paid like one.
Votto signed a 10-year, $225 million extension in 2012, and is set to make $20 million in 2016 alone. He joins a long list of players who struggled after receiving a massive contract, but Votto is aware that he is not earning the money thus far this season.
He spoke with the Cincinnati Enquirer on Sunday and had some strong words to say about his struggles this year:
"Joey Votto’s April was so bad that he said he’d rather walk away from the game and give up the remaining years on his contract than play that way. “It’s not something I’m OK with. I’d rather quit and leave all the money on the table than play at a poor level,” Votto said before Sunday’s game against the Pirates."
Votto did finish Sunday’s game with one hit and an RBI, but he knows he is being relied on for much more.
He is 32 years old and still has eight years remaining on his contract, which begs the question of why baseball teams continue to offer large, long-term contracts to players in the latter half of their respective careers.
Players like Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Albert Pujols were able to land 10-year contracts. Based on how they played in the first half of their respective careers, they were due to receive lucrative deals.
But committing hundreds of millions to any player for 10 years can hamper a team’s ability to acquire other top talents. This may not be true for a team like the New York Yankees but it is for the Reds, who committed to a rebuild in 2016.
Now they have to deal with Votto underperforming, and his recent comments show his mind may not be in the best place.
But history may be on Votto’s side. He is a career .309 hitter and has never batted below .297 in a season in which he has played at least 111 games.
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Star players are expected to overcome struggles, so it remains to be seen if Votto can do just that.