Reds Not a ‘Farm Team’

Recently I viewed a couple of comments where the comment authors referenced the Reds as a farm system for other teams. I will assume two things here: one is the Votto situation (which I sort of addressed yesterday) and the other assumption is that it’s the “big market” teams that reap the benefits. I’m confident in my assumptions.

If you’re one of those Reds fans that truly feel that way, you must turn away from the dark side. Those statements are hardly true. Not even close if you think about it.

Here’s the deal. If you truly believe that the Reds are a farm team for big market teams, cite me the last time the Reds lost a big named player who defected via free agency.

The Reds have lost players to free agency. It happens every year. Ramon Hernandez, Dontrelle Willis, Edgar Renteria and Francisco Cordero were not re-signed after last season. (If you want to classify Cordero as a big free agent, go ahead. Even, I, a big Coco fan, will dispute that.) And the Reds did attempt to re-sign Cordero, but greed got in the way.

So, who was the last Reds player to bolt for the “greener” pastures of a big money deal? And where did he go? Got to do some digging, huh? (Do you classify Jeremy Affeldt as one? Not for two years at $8 million total.) That is one reason the Reds are not a “farm system”.

I’ll go a little easier. Who was the last Red traded due to impending free agency? If you said Adam Dunn, I’ll give it to you. Dunn was dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks back in August, 2008. Dunn had pretty much run his course as a Red. For 2008, he was making $13 million. The Reds most likely figured he would want more. Dunn didn’t get it. He signed with the Washington Nationals, two years for $20 million.

Did you see that? 2008. That would be reason number two. The Reds simply do not have to trade high-priced “talent”.

According to Baseball Reference, the Reds currently show a projected Opening Day payroll of $93.1 million. That’s a lot of coin, but it is in the bottom half as far as payroll is concerned. Well, 14 teams have a projected payroll of over $100 million. Of those 14, 6 go over $125 million: Yankees, Phillies, Angels, Red Sox, Giants and Tigers. All six teams are located in a big market as all are within the top 15 markets. Detroit is the “smallest” of these.

If not for the Prince Fielder signing, the Tigers might not be a member of this club as they are projected at $133.9 million.

So, I look at the roster of these six teams. I do not see one former Reds player on those rosters that I would classify as “banking”, do you? The aforementioned Affeldt would be the lone player.

Farm team? Hardly.

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