Joey Votto: Holding the Cincinnati Reds Hostage, and They Deserve It

The Cincinnati Reds should have realized that no one in their market wakes up in the morning and says, “Hey honey, what do you say we take the kids to watch Joey Votto play baseball today?” Unless your name is Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax or Mike Trout, fans go to watch their team play.

The Cincinnati Reds thought otherwise with Joey Votto, and now they can’t trade him because he keeps invoking the no-trade clause in his contract. When will they ever learn?

By now, the Reds are bound to have a love/hate relationship with Joey Votto. They love how he goes out there and plays every day, puts up good numbers, and generally earns the money they are paying him, with little or no fanfare or controversy. And that in a nutshell is the problem with Joey Votto.

Apparently, Joey Votto does not want to be a “star.” He only wants to carry his lunch pail to work every day, do his job well, and go home like most of the rest of us. This is a man who, for example, when asked to speak at the Reds extravaganza announcing his signing to a quarter of a billion (with a ‘b’) 10-year contract, left ESPN to describe the scene this way:

“Votto’s shy personality came across during a news conference broadcast live to announce the deal. He practiced reading a statement beforehand, but acknowledged he was nervous. When he stumbled over a word, he joked, “There was a typo right there.”

Joey Votto: The Throwback

Joey Votto has no interest in being “Broadway Joey” or bleeding Dodger blue. He’s a throwback and the Reds are probably wishing they had realized that before they took him on as a Reds “lifer.” Or at least a red flag should have been raised when Votto insisted on a full no-trade clause. Or even worse, did the Reds come up with the proposal as a way to induce him into accepting the contract, as if that was something Votto wasn’t even thinking about?

The Reds ran into the same situation last year with Brandon Phillips, when they were openly trying to trade him. But Phillips balked, stopping the trade, again within the rights of his contract with the Reds. Now, to add insult to the Reds’ injury, Phillips says, “Okay, deal me,” but the Reds can’t find a suitor who wants him.

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Apparently, the Reds know what they have to do; they just can’t do it. They know they’re in a division where they have a zero chance of competing with the Cubs and Cardinals, and a minuscule chance with the Pirates, which only leaves competing with the Brewers for the basement. And they’ve probably seen what the White Sox and Yankees are doing, and they say, “Hey, we can do that, too.”

Joey Votto probably wouldn’t command three top prospects like the White Sox did with Chris Sale, but he would count for two at least, and two mid-level prospects for Brandon Phillips, and you’ve got yourself something going toward a future for the franchise, as well as the fans in Cincinnati.

Joey Votto: When Will They Ever Learn?

What I’m doing is easy, right? It’s called “Monday morning quarterbacking.” But at the same time, it does get frustrating to see these mid-market teams paint themselves into a corner, when the baseball “experts” in the front office should have known better. Ryan Braun and the Brewers, Giancarlo Stanton and the Marlins, and the litany of examples goes on.

And maybe the real problem is that teams are still living in a world that doesn’t exist anymore. Where Ted Williams played his entire career with Boston, and more recently Derek Jeter with the Yankees. It’s an appealing idea, but so far away from the reality of baseball today.

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But maybe if Joey Votto is really the “hometown boy” who loves Cincinnati so much, perhaps he should consider a trade to another team that would yield a future for the Reds. Because right now, the Reds have none.

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