Which is precisely why no one is going to trade for him... His peak is over, he is over 30 and owed almost $200,000,00.... They aren't moving him.
Three names for bats that will likely come at little cost, possibly a single B- prospect and lottery ticket at most. I was scanning veteran bats on bad teams with minimal long term contract commitments. Aramis Ramirez - If the Astros do not believe Lowrie can do the job at 3B when he returns. I do not think the team can stick with Valbuena in any more than a platoon going forward. Not that the team needs another DH, but some may consider more reliable in that spot than current options. Rental, last year of contract. Adam Lind - Power bat at first. Defensive liability (but not much more so than current options). Good contact, OBP numbers (when healthy). 2 years remaining on contract at reasonable price tag, $7M in '15 and $7.5M in '16. Adam LaRoche - Of the three, like this option the least, mostly b/c still owed $13M in '16. Slightly below average defensively and has gotten worse with age...yet again, still better than Carter by a margin. Older and not as productive, but OBP, AVG, SLG still better than what the Astros are currently getting at 1B. Likely will cost less in prospects than Lind. P.S. Can't edit, so apologies for Votto's name misspelling in earlier salary post.
Two additional 1B options: Mike Napoli - Strictly a rental as contract expires this year. Adequate AVG, though struggling this year. Good OBP. K's a fair amount. Passable defensively. Yonder Alonso - Likely will cost more in prospects. 2 more years of arbitration eligibility. Very good contact hitter and hits for AVG. Good defensively, has played some at 3B as well, which would be a bonus for Astros (though LH bat, so redundant with Valbuena in that regard). Little power, and has had injury history.
i was hoping they'd pick most of it up, like we did with carlos lee. next option then, someone anyone who bats over .220
The fact that Votto is 30 and owed 200MM--coupled with the fact that CIN isn't competing for the next couple years--is precisely why it makes sense for CIN to move him. What good does keeping Votto do for CIN? Nothing. They are not contenders with him. If he stays, he may be 35 by the time CIN is relevant. Nor will CIN be able to dump his salary. No team is taking on that entire contract. CIN is on the verge on rebuilding, and with a poor farm system no less. From an organizational standpoint, it makes sense for CIN to eat a substantial portion of that contract if it means revamping their farm system. What good does having 30 year old, 200MM Votto do for them otherwise? Perhaps they hold onto Votto and rebuild with pieces collected from Cueto and Chapman. But it's not crazy for them to consider the Votto contract a sunk cost and eat a substantial portion of it if it means completely rebuilding with a revamped farm system. I would gladly trade them Singleton, Kemp, and another piece if they ate 100MM of Votto's deal. Votto may be 30, but he's the type of hitter that ages well. He would immediately be the most advanced hitter in our lineup, and he would provide direly needed stability.
The Reds ownership is not inclined to dump players..... can they change their tune? Sure but so far no indication of that. I do not think they are on the verge of accepting that they will need to move Votto AND drop north of one hundred million dollars to get any decent return for Votto. They are far more likely to keep Votto for the time being. Let me make it clear, I would love to have Votto in the lineup, he would be close to perfect; but the Astros are not paying two hundred million for him and the Reds are not eating one hundred million.
I was gonna come on here an suggest a similar trade. Lind is under contract for next season as well, so it's not just a one year rental. His problem is that he can't hit lefties. I would say add him, keep Carter and play him against lefties, with occasional starts at DH against righties with the hope that good Carter comes out to play. Lind is also a defensive upgrade at 1st. It would hurt to give up a prospect like Feliz, but adding a guy that can help us for 2 years is the reason you build up this depth. Giving up on Singleton is also a bit of a risk.
I would not keep Carter just to play vs LHP, instead i would use Lowrie in that spot. Lind would be a great addition to the team, our number 3 hitter for sure. Singleton and Feliz is an interesting trade, it cost the Brewers Marco Estrada to get him. I would try to add Blazek in the trade.
Correa to the 2nd spot. Once he has experience, then to the third spot, but right now, Lind is a better hitter
Is Feliz still projected as a MLB starter? I thought he was struggling to get a decent 3rd pitch. Would have liked to see him get that start instead of seeing Strailey for a 2nd time (even though he was slightly better 2nd time around...).
Lind is no Pujols, but has a career OPS over .800. Altuve, for instance has a career .743 Carter .758 Gattis .768 RAsmus .753 Should we go on???? The only hitter that has an OPS that high is Springer, and we all know he is the best player in our team, with Correa. So RIGHT NOW, Lind would be a great addition to our team. And by the way, Pujols right now has more homers, but Lind has better average and better OBP, plus more doubles. And by the way, he has 15 homers.
Lind only plays against Righties. If he played against both, his OPS would be much lower. He's also a 1B/DH.
