Cincinnati Reds Arbitration Deals

Aug 26, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Mike Leake (44) throws to a St. Louis Cardinals batter during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

The Cincinnati Reds entered Friday with six players available for arbitration. Pitchers Mike Leake, Homer Bailey, Aroldis Chapman, Sam LeCure and Alfredo Simon are available for arbitration. In addition to the pitchers outfield Chris Heisey was also up for arbitration.

Chris Heisey and the Reds were able to agree on a one year $1.76M deal Thursday. In addition to Heisey the Reds were also able to complete deals for LeCure, Simon, and Leake as well on Friday. LeCure signed a two year $3.05M deal with one year of arbitration left, in 2014 he will earn $1.2M and $1.5M in 2015. Simon got a one year $1.5M deal. Mike Leake a vital part to the Reds starting rotation received a one year $5.925M deal, with incentives for performance.

Those deals leave the Reds with only two players left to work out deals with. Pitchers Aroldis Chapman and Homer Bailey remain the only two left. Homer Bailey and his agents submitted for a $11.6M deal for one season, the Reds countered with $8.7M thats a $2.9M difference. General Manager Walt Jocketty has said the Reds want to sign Bailey to a long term deal, that could still happen but the likely outcome will be a one year deal in the $10M range.

As for the cuban missile Aroldis Chapman he filed for $5.4M and the Reds countered with $4.6M thats an $800K difference. Cincinnati controls the rights to Chapman for another two years, he will remain a Red for around $5M.

Cincinnati has had a relatively easy arbitration season. The Bailey deal will be the hardest to complete. Reds VP Bob Miller made comments to the Cincinnati Enquire’s C.Trent Rosencrans earlier in the week stating that arbitration is essentially a waste.

"“It works poorly.Someone once said that it’s such a good idea that no other sports league adopted it, so that tells you how good of an idea it is.”"

As you can see the Reds are not particularly fond of the idea of arbitration but the manage. Good news Bob, it is almost over and you get 363 days to not worry about it.