It went down to the wire, but the Cincinnati Reds avoided arbitration with their final player, homegrown starting pitcher Homer Bailey.

Bailey has agreed to a six-year, $105 million deal. Since this season was Bailey’s final one before becoming a free agent, this is effectively a five year extension. He will be 34 once the contract is up, and assuming he spends the entire time with the Reds, will have spent 13 years with one club. That sounds fitting for the first starting pitcher the team drafted and developed since Tom Browning.

As for the deal’s details, ABC News has that.

Bailey gets salaries of $9 million this year, $10 million in 2015, $18 million in 2016, $19 million in 2017, $21 million in 2018 and $23 million in 2019. In an unusual twist, much of the annual salary will be deferred until the November after each season.

Bailey will be paid in-season amounts of $3 million this year, $4 million next year, $11 million in 2016, $12 million in 2017, $14 million in 2018 and $15 million in 2019.

If he is traded, his new team would have to pay all of the salary amounts during the season. Also, the $5 million buyout would be paid when either side decides not to exercise the option rather than having it deferred until November 2020.

The November deferment is something I’ve never heard of a team doing before. Whatever makes it easiest for the team.

Overall, this seems like a good, fair-market deal. Bailey has improved every year in the majors, and he’s entering the prime years of his athletic career. With two no-hitters already behind him, I’m optimistic he can accomplish more. Plus, it’s nice to see the Reds actually do something, even if it is sign a player they already had.

Going into this off-season, the Cincinnati Reds had 6 players eligible for the arbitration process: Homer Bailey, Aroldis Chapman, Chris Heisey, Mike Leake, Sam LeCure, and Alfredo Simon. Currently, the club has reached agreements with everyone except Bailey and Chapman.

LeCure and Chapman are both in their first year of the process. LeCure, though, signed a two-year deal with the club that will not have him dealing with arbitration again until his final team-controlled year. His deal is worth $3.05 million.

Chapman and the club have exchanged salary figures, with the Reds offering $4.6 million and Chapman requesting $5.4 million. With as close as those numbers are, it’s likely the two sides will reach at least a one-year deal before the arbitration hearing arrives.

Heisey, Leake, and Simon were all in their second year of arbitration eligibility, and all have signed one-year deals. Heisey will be earning $1.76 million, Leake will be earning $5.925 million, and Simon will be earning $1.5 million.

That leaves Bailey, in his final year with the Reds before he’s eligible for free agency, is asking for a lot more than the Reds are offering: $11.6 million to $8.7 million. At the very least, I’m confident the Reds will sign Bailey to a one-year deal. General manager Walt Jocketty is working on getting a longer-term contract, but Bailey seems quite interested in testing the free agent market. He is a guy who’s thrown two no-hitters already and has improved each of his years in the big leagues. I can’t blame him for getting as much money as he can get.

There have been rumblings of trading Bailey this year if the team can’t sign him to a long-term deal, but I think that’s unlikely, at least at the beginning of the season. Of course, once it becomes obvious to Jocketty that he’s assembled another third-place team, maybe he’ll see what kind of prospects he can get for Bailey.

The Cincinnati Reds annual caravan across the Midwest begins next Thursday. Two new stops were added this year: Evansville, IN and Nashville, TN.

The caravan is divided into four different tours: North, South, East, and West.  The North tour will go through the Cincinnati area, the South tour travels through Kentucky and Tennessee, the East tour goes to West Virginia, and the West tour visits Indiana.

The RHM crew will likely stop by one or two of the Indiana stops, although the star power is noticeably lacking this year. At the original announcement, catchers Brayan Pena and Tucker Barnhart were the only players on the schedule. That’s right. A backup catcher and a minor league prospect. Nothing like a lackluster caravan to drum up interest in a lackluster team’s offseason. Thankfully, former Red great Eric Davis was added later to make it a little less empty.

Details of all the tours are listed below.

North Tour Bus Fan Stops (Free and open to the public)

The North Tour includes broadcaster Jim Kelch, broadcaster and former pitcher Jeff Brantley, outfielder Billy Hamilton, Reds Hall of Famer Tom Browning, minor league outfielder Jesse Winker, VP of Baseball Operations Dick Williams and mascot Rosie Red.

Date	Location	Time (EST)
Thursday, Jan. 23	Columbus, Ohio (Polaris Fashion Place)	6:00 – 8:30pm
Friday, Jan. 24	Lima, Ohio (Lima Mall)	4:00-7:30pm
Saturday, Jan. 25	Dayton, Ohio (National Museum of the U.S. Air Force)	11:00am – 2:00pm
	Hamilton, Ohio (Parrish Auditorium/Miami-Hamilton University)	3:00-6:00pm
Sunday, Jan. 26	Cincinnati, Ohio (Select-A-Seat at Great American Ball Park)	12:00pm – 2:00pm

South Tour Bus Fan Stops (Free and open to the public)

The South Tour includes broadcaster Thom Brennaman, broadcaster Jim Day, GM Walt Jocketty, pitcher Mat Latos (Thursday & Sunday only), Sam LeCure (Friday, Saturday & Sunday), catcher Corky Miller, minor league outfielder Ryan LaMarre, COO Phil Castellini and mascot Mr. Redlegs.

Date	Location	Time (EST)
Thursday, Jan. 23	Louisville, KY (Slugger Field)	5:30 – 8:30pm
Friday, Jan. 24	Bowling Green, KY (Greenwood Mall)	4:30 – 7:30pm
Saturday, Jan. 25	Nashville, TN (RiverGate Mall)	10:00am – 12:30pm
	Lexington, KY (Alltech Arena @ Kentucky Horse Park)	4:00pm – 7:00pm
Sunday, Jan. 26	Cincinnati, Ohio (Select-A-Seat at Great American Ball Park)	12:00pm – 2:00pm

East Tour Bus Fan Stops (Free and open to the public)

The East Tour includes broadcaster Jeff Piecoro, broadcaster and former pitcher Chris Welsh, manager Bryan Price, pitcher Logan Ondrusek (Thursday only), pitcher Homer Bailey (Friday, Saturday & Sunday), 2013 Minor League Player of the Year Seth Mejias-Brean, Director of Player Development Jeff Graupe and mascot Mr. Red.

Date	Location	Time (EST)
Thursday, Jan. 23	Athens, OH (The Market on State)	5:15 – 7:45pm
Friday, Jan. 24	Charleston, WV (Charleston Town Center)	6:30 – 9:00pm
Saturday, Jan. 25	Vienna, WV (Grand Central Mall)	11:00am – 1:30pm
	Ashland, KY (Fannin Motors)	4:00 – 7:00pm
Sunday, Jan. 26	Cincinnati, Ohio (Select-A-Seat at Great American Ball Park)	12:00pm – 2:00pm

West Tour Bus Fan Stops (Free and open to the public)

The West Tour includes broadcaster Marty Brennaman, catcher Brayan Pena, Reds Hall of Famer Eric Davis, broadcaster and former player Doug Flynn, Assistant GM Bob Miller, minor league catcher Tucker Barnhart and mascot Gapper.

Date	Location	Time (EST)
Thursday, Jan. 23	Muncie, Ind. (Stoops Automotive)	5:30 – 8:00pm
Friday, Jan. 24	Evansville, IN (Eastland Mall)	5:00 – 7:30pm
Saturday, Jan. 25	Bloomington, IN (College Mall)	10:30am – 1:30pm
	Indianapolis, IN (Castleton Square Mall)	3:00 – 6:00pm
Sunday, Jan. 26	Cincinnati, Ohio (Select-A-Seat at Great American Ball Park)	12:00pm – 2:00pm