Reds already making offers

The Cincinnati Reds have quite a few potential free agents on their rosters, and there are a couple they don’t plan giving up easily. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that General Manager Walt Jocketty confirmed today that the team has already made offers to relief pitcher David Weathers and outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. Both players were pretty productive for the team and definitely warrant another chance to help the team win. While the team has made an offer, neither players’ agent has responded to the offer. Regardless good move on the Reds part to be proactive.

“We’ve talked to them, and the ball is in their court right now,” Jocketty told MLB.com Tuesday morning from Arizona, where he is scouting the Fall League. “I haven’t heard back from them in about a week.”

Let’s first take a look at Jerry Hairston Jr. Hairston had maybe his best year in the majors in 2008, batting .326 with 6 homers, 36 rbis, and 15 stolen bases. The Reds were at their best when he was in the lineup and batting leadoff. The problem? He missed most of June, July and August. He suffered from numerous nagging injuries, believe me I know he was on my fantasy team and drove me crazy. Without those who knows what kind of numbers he could of put up this year. On the flipside thou, who knows he may of been exposed and put up numbers more in line with his career. Regardless he deserves the chance to show what he can do if he stays healthy and it looks like the Reds want to give him the chance. I’d expect Hairston was offered a one year contract, worth anywhere from $1 to 4 million.

David Weathers has been another timeless wonder at the pitching position. He’s now 38 years old but still pitching like he was 28. Last season he went 4-6 with a 3.25 era in 72 appearances. He’s been pretty solid actually for the past decade or so ever since becoming a permanent reliever, and has never looked better. He looks like he could probably pitch for another 2 or 3 seasons. Weathers is probably going to be the tougher one to sign as there are always teams needing relief help. He’d be a very value 6th and 7th inning commodity for any contender.

Regardless, what happens its good to see the Reds are wasting no time trying to keep their productive players. The team is also considering making an offer to Jeremy Affeldt. “He’s a guy we’re still considering,” Jocketty said. “It’s hard to find good left-handed pitching.” For you Reds fans I really hope these guys resign and Walt does something good this year (i.e. bringing in some more talent). You guys need something to cheer for after those Bengals turned out to be a dud.

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Tags: Cincinnati Reds, MLB