Reds Tab Ryan Madson as Closer

Well, I suppose it’s goodbye to Francisco Cordero.

The Cincinnati Reds have agreed to terms with former Phillies closer Ryan Madson. According to John Fay, the deal won’t be announced for a few days. Fay also states the deal is one year with $8.5 million guaranteed. This deal could also include incentives and an option year. All Madson has to do is pass a physical.

At one time, it appeared that Madson was going to remain in Philadelphia. We had heard and read reports that Madson and the Phillies were looking at a deal of four years, $44 million…or were they? In early November, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. disputed reports regarding these numbers and disputed that any type of deal had been reached. In fact, a source within Madson’s camp told Jim Salisbury of CSN that a deal was not completed, and that talks were still in the process. In the end, Philly elected to go with Johnathan Papelbon. Why? Madson was offered three years and the Phillies would not budge according to Jen Royle. You can then draw a conclusion that Madson would go elsewhere as he wanted that fourth year (or it might have been Boras).

So are we to look at this as Madson settled on signing with the Reds?

Not quite.

There were many other teams that were linked to Madson. The Angels and Red Sox had been viewed as the most likely of landing places. The Angels were linked possibly due to Jordan Walden and his 10 blown saves in 2011. The Red Sox due to the loss of Papelbon…and they are the Red Sox. The Reds were on the back of the Madson stove. Another point could be Madson’s agent, Scott Boras. Some GM’s just rather avoid him. Obviously, Walt is not one.

Well, Madson and the Angels weren’t viewed as a match by Angels GM Jerry Dipoto. In a piece by Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times, Dipoto felt the Angels didn’t need a closer.

"“What I’ll say with some degree of certainty is that our most significant acquisitions have already been made,” Dipoto said, alluding to the signings of slugger Albert Pujols (10 years, $250 million) and pitcher C.J. Wilson (five years, $77.5 million).“We’re trying to add depth, and in a perfect world, we’d like to find another guy to join Jordan Walden, Scott Downs and LaTroy Hawkins to help with those last nine outs. But closer has never been the real priority.”"

Not an endorsement. So what about the Red Sox? They withdrew from the Madson Madness by aqcruiring Andrew Bailey from the A’s and Mark Melancon from the Astros both via trades.

Yesterday, the burner became hotter. Up to that point, Madson could have been viewed as the “losing closer” of the off-season (HT to Eric Seidman of FanGraphs). Now, Madson could be seen as a winner as the reported deal is considered an overpay by the Reds (HT to Jim Breen…yep, FanGraphs). Ultimately, this signing could result in the Reds being winners, too.

Until the terms of this deal are announced, there can only be speculative chatter about this. Even with an option, does this make the deal worth a max of two years? This does provide Madson an out in case things do not work out for him.

Let’s hope it does work out for him. One and done is a scary thought.

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