The Cincinnati Reds today officially announced what they’d been working on for most of the off-season: a contract extension for Brandon Phillips.

Phillips, who was in the final year of his contract, renegotiated that into a new, 6-year contract worth $72.5 million.

“We originally had a certain number of years in mind that we were going to do the deal,” Jocketty said. “Then we realized that we’d probably have to extend another year, and that’s what we did. We went another year on the contract. We were able to get the deal done rather quick after that.”

The new deal adds salaries of $10 million for next year, $11 million in 2014, $12 million in 2015, $13 million in 2016 and $14 million in 2017.

Phillips is now signed with the team through 2017. Joey Votto is signed through 2023. Jay Bruce is signed through 2016. And Johnny Cueto, Aroldis Chapman, and Sean Marshall all have multi-year deals. The team has decided on a core group of players to build some winning teams around, but that’s not the most important thing. How does this compare to Yadier Molina’s off-season contract?

The good news is that Phillips and Molina are both signed with their respective teams through 2017. Moline added 5 years to his current contract and will be getting $75 million during that time. His annual average is $15 million. During those same 5 years, Phillips annual average is $12 million. Clearly, Yadi has a more lucrative contract, but there’s no doubt that Phillips’ will take up a higher percentage of his team’s payroll than Yadi.

I’m hoping we get more fireworks between the two.

There’s been a loud buzz emanating from Cincinnati since the rumor of a contract extension for Cincinnati Reds’ slugger Joey Votto broke at the beginning of the week. And now the Reds have made it official with a press release and a press conference.

CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty today announced the signing of All-Star 1B Joey Votto to a 10-year contract extension through the 2023 season with a club option for 2024. Votto had been signed through 2013 as part of a 3-year contract he received in January 2011, when he avoided arbitration.

“We recognize the historical significance of this signing. Ownership has committed to Joey, and we anticipate that he will continue to be one of the best players in baseball for the next decade or so,” Jocketty said. “He wants to stay here, and we want him here. We have shown we are committed to building a solid foundation from within the organization.”

Added team President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Castellini, “Joey not only is one of the game’s best players, but on the field and in the community he represents himself, the organization and our city with extraordinary professionalism and dignity. We certainly are proud to be able to keep him in Cincinnati for 12 more years.”

Selected by the Reds in the second round of the June 2002 first-year player draft, since his 2007 debut the National League’s 2010 Most Valuable Player ranks among Major League Baseball’s offensive leaders in almost every statistical category. Votto, 28, is a 2-time NL All-Star (2010, 2011), a Sporting News NL All-Star (2010) and the only Reds first baseman ever to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award (2011). In the Sporting News’ 2011 poll of baseball executives was rated the fourth-best player in baseball behind Albert Pujols, Troy Tulowitzki and Felix Hernandez.

Three times in the last 4 seasons Votto was voted by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America the Ernie Lombardi Award as the Reds’ Most Valuable Player (2008, 2010, 2011).

Since the rumor of a mega-long extension of Joey Votto’s contract was confirmed on Monday, the internet tubes have been clogged full of trucks carrying people’s responses, opinions, and analysis of the proposed deal.

The Cincinnati Reds have yet to announce the deal, but a press conference to address it has been announced for Wednesday. How are Reds’ bloggers handling the unexpected, wonderful news?

Chris Sabo’s Goggles

I’m not prepared to—nor do I want to—consider the sheer magnitude of this deal or how its ramifications could affect a small-market team like the Reds and their signings down the road. Let’s not do that, okay? You guys (myself included) wanted the Reds to pay Joey Votto and keep him in Cincinnati for a long time. The Reds did that. We’re not allowed to complain.

Blockbuster deals like this don’t happen to the Cincinnati Reds—ever—so enjoy it.

Redleg Nation

The Votto contract is roughly in line with comparable signings. The most remarkable aspect was that the agreement was reached two seasons before Votto’s free agency, which is virtually unique among the comparison contracts. Only the much-shorter Howard deal was equal in that regard. Votto negotiated only with the Reds; he was not engaged in a bidding war like those exploited by Fielder and Pujols. The Reds must have felt these terms were better than ones they could have reached a year or two from now.

Red Reporter

The numbers can project what Joey Votto is going to be worth over the life of this contract, and how much every dollar paid to him is worth in free market wins available, but in this rare instance they utterly fail at fully understanding the real value of Joey Votto the Red. This has been one of the league’s most moribund, dysfunctional, impotent, and inconsequential franchises for a number of years. Most will shake their fists at past ownership groups and management teams who failed to develop resources and squandered what few were available. Most will also point fingers at a league that allows for such unbalanced distribution of resources. Not only did the Yankees develop a rare talent like Derek Jeter, but when he approached free agency there was never a question that he would be re-signed. This winter, with two years before scheduled free agency, Votto was one of the most talked-about impending free agents. The Reds could never afford a talent like his, not in a market like this.

But they signed him.

The established, traditional media weighed in, too.

Hal McCoy

When they said the Cincinnati Reds couldn’t sign Joey Votto, they came up with millions of reason to say they can get it done.

225 million reasons.

That’s the figure being thrown around that the Reds are offering Votto — $225 million for 10 years.

And Reds CEO Bob Castellini can light up one of his Liga Privada No. 9s and take a deep, deep bow. If this doesn’t show fans that the Reds are dedicated to putting the best possible team on the field for now and for the future, then nothing will.

John Fay

You can read several things into Joey Votto’s mega-millions deal with Reds:

–The club is convinced its revenue stream will increase. A Reds insider told me as much. Part of that comes from national television, part of MLB other new media revenue sources.

–The club is convinced that it will be to get a new local deal with Fox Sports Ohio before the current one expires in 2016. The Reds won’t be getting anywhere near with the Angels and Rangers got. But, say they get a $10 million a year bump, that covers the difference between Votto’s salary this year ($11 million) and what he’s getting when the 10-year, $225 million extension kicks in.

Was it risky to agree to such a huge deal? Certainly. Votto isn’t likely to be the same player at 38 as he is at 28. But he takes great care of himself. He plays a position that is less taxing than outfield or the middle infield.

But it would have been just as risky to let Votto walk. The current ownership is trying to rebuild credibility with the long-suffering fan base. It’s hard to do that when you let your best player walk.

Overall, the reaction has been very positive. Once the final numbers are released, there will be time for in-depth examination of who got the better end of the deal, but right now, it feels like the Reds fans did. I’m confident the Castellini ownership group is not going to make the mistakes of the past. Votto is going to take up a large percentage of the team’s payroll, like Ken Griffey Jr once did, but Castellini has demonstrated he’s smart enough to realize it takes more than one slugger to win. The Reds now have an exciting young core locked up for several years to come–more than just Joey Votto–and I am even more excited about wearing my Votto jersey to games than I’ve ever been before.

Whoa! This is big, giant, wonderful news that’s come entirely out of nowhere!

Joey Votto and the Reds are close to a long-term contract extension. Votto confirmed a report by mlbtraderumors.com.

“I can’t comment till it’s done,” he said. “You’ll have to ask Walt (Jocketty). It’s a gray area. I’ll be much more forthcoming later.”

So the MLB trade rumor site broke the story, but honest-to-goodness, legitimate journalists and Joey Votto have confirmed that the deal is in the works.

This and Opening Day is on Thursday? It’s shaping up to be an excellent start to the season.

The Cincinnati Reds today made a roster cut of sorts when they traded third baseman and slugger Juan Francisco to the Atlanta Braves for right-handed pitcher J. J. Hoover.

Francisco has always had prodigious power, but had a Wily Mo Peña air about him. Tons of power and talent with almost no way of ever achieving it.

In his report on the trade, John Fay also touched on how he didn’t exactly impress the Reds in Spring Training this year.

Francisco was out of options and the Reds were out of patience with him. He came to camp overweight and had not rehabbed from a calf injury to the club’s satisfaction.

“Some of the things weren’t working out the way you want them to,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “Hopefully, he’ll find happiness and get it together in Atlanta. If things go right and go in the proper direction, he could be a force.”

Hoover gives the Reds more pitching depth, as he’s a player with options and both starting and relieving experience. John Sickels wrote a profile on him last year that rated his ceiling as a third or fourth starter.

Hoover has the four classic pitches: fastball, curveball, slider, changeup. His heater is a tick above average in the low 90s, but works well due to the contrast with his secondary pitches. All three of his non-fastball offerings are rated as solid major league average. Although he doesn’t have a genuine plus pitch, none of them are weak, arsenal is diverse, he mixes them well, throws strikes, and has been extremely durable in his career.

That reminds me a lot of Sam LeCure.

For most teams, Hoover would profile as a solid number three or four starter, chewing up innings at a good clip with consistent performance. But the Braves see Hoover’s path to the majors as clearing more quickly in the bullpen, and it is hard to argue with the results so far: he’s been outstanding in that role in Triple-A.

Hoover will be reporting to the Reds’ AAA affiliate, Louisville, but there was no word on what role the Reds will use him in. Regardless, he adds to the team’s depth in the pitching department, which is something you can never have enough of. If you doubt that, just look at the 2011 Reds.

As for Francisco, it’ll be interesting to see if his change of scenery helps at all. He should have some opportunity’s with the Braves’ third basemen out for a little while with injury. Of course, that change of scenery thing never really helped Wily Mo.