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.

The Reds broke the hearts of another eight up-and-comers this morning as they continued the brutal march to a 25-man roster that actually includes only 25 men.

From the story on Reds.com:

Right-handed reliever Andrew Brackman, infielder Chris Valaika and outfielder Denis Phipps were optioned to Triple-A Louisville. Right-handed relievers Carlos Fisher and Kanekoa Texeira, and left-handed relievers Ron Mahay, Clay Zavada and Clayton Tanner were reassigned to Minor League camp.

No surprises here, really. They’re just keeping these guys in cold storage until a spot opens up. Eight more guys to go before the big day in Cincinnati next week.

Apparently, while in the process of punching Reds fans in the gut, closer Ryan Madson tore his elbow ligament.

Following an examination in Cincinnati Saturday morning, the club said that Madson’s elbow ligament had torn off of the bone. He will need season-ending Tommy John surgery.

“Off of the bone”? Eww. The only time that’s a description that can be used favorably is when referring to slow-roasted barbecue. And this definitely has nothing to do with that.

This hurts. This hurts a lot.

General manager Walt Jocketty tried to be positive about it.

“We told the team and said to stay positive. We have good alternatives we can turn to. Others clubs have done it in the past. I did it in St. Louis. When Izzy went down, Wainwright stepped in and we won the World Series. Madson got the job because Lidge got hurt [with the Phillies]. Is it the ideal thing? No. But you have to stay positive.”

That will be easier said than done. Now the team will have to determine how to shuffle bullpen roles, with Sean Marshall the leading contender to take over closing duties. We’ll have to stay tuned to see how this affects Aroldis Chapman’s conversion to starting.

No matter what, though, this is will be a hard blow to overcome.

It’s been a month since Spring Training started, and the Cincinnati Reds finally got around to making their first round of cuts. In all, 16 players had to pack their bags and leave big league camp. None of the decisions were surprising.

IF Kristopher Negron, IF Neftali Soto, RHP Josh Judy; IF Didi Gregorius, IF Henry Rodriguez, RHP Pedro Villarreal; IF/OF Donald Lutz and RHP Kyle Lotzkar were optioned.

C Tucker Barnhart, RHP Nick Christiani, RHP Daniel Corcino, C Brian Esposito, RHP Sean Gallagher, LHP Donnie Joseph, RHP Chad Reineke and RHP Brett Tomko were re-assigned to the minor league camp.

Some of those guys are very likely to be contributing in the Major Leagues sooner than later. But this is not their year. The hardest decisions likely won’t be made until the last minute.