Bill Bray is the latest arbitration-eligible Red to sign a contract with a team without the dreaded hearings. Bray signed a one-year contract for $645,000.

Bray may be best known for how he came to the Reds, as a piece of the infamous Trade that general manager Wayne Krivsky pulled in 2006. All the other players received have long since departed, leaving Bray with the dubious distinction as the last man standing.

Bray joins Jay Bruce (story), Jared Burton (story), and Joey Votto (story) as arbitration-eligible players the Cincinnati Reds have signed this off-season. That leaves just two players for the Reds to sign: Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez.

Numbers were to be exchanged today, so it’s likely we’ll be hearing how far apart the players and the teams are soon.

The MLB.com headline is “Reds reward MVP Votto with three-year deal.” Apparently the folks at MLB forgot that, though Votto sometimes plays like a seasoned veteran, due to the free agency rules, Votto was going to be in Cincinnati for the next three years regardless.

The only question left was how much he was going to make for those years, and that question has been answered:

The Reds on Sunday agreed to terms on a three-year, $38 million contract with first baseman and National League Most Valuable Player Joey Votto, baseball sources told MLB.com.

There is surely more analysis to come, such as whether the Reds or Votto got a bargain (the Red Hot Household is split on the issue) and whether the length of the deal is adequate (everyone but Votto probably would have liked another year).

Yesterday’s announcement of the signing of Edgar Renteria overshadowed the other free-agent signing by the Cincinnati Reds: Fred Lewis.

A busy January continued for the Reds on Monday as they checked another item off the wish list by signing outfielder Fred Lewis to a one-year contract worth $900,000.

Well, busy if you call doing three things in a month busy. Many of us have an occasional day when we do three things.

The signing of Lewis does fulfill two of the needs general manager Walt Jocketty had identified as goals: a left-handed hitting outfielder and someone who could lead off.

“We felt we had more upside with Lewis, both with his age and in having control over him for a longer period of time,” Jocketty said. “We liked his all-around game. We think he’ll fit in well with our club. He feels he’s capable of stealing more bases than he did. I’m anxious to see what he can do. He’ll be a fun guy to watch.”

Considering the other candidate was Scott Podsednik, Jocketty made an excellent choice here. Podsednik will be 35 for this next season, and I have a bad feeling about him. Lewis, at 30 for 2011, has more promise. He also has a bit more pop in his bat, which is something you definitely want from a bench guy.

This is probably the extent of the free agent signings by the Reds. Two rather small moves that help round out the club and patch some weaknesses, and all done without destroying the starting lineup. It sure is nice to have a competent general manager.

It’s finally official! The Cincinnati Reds finally got around to announcing the signing of Edgar Renteria.

Sure, it was all over the interwebs 4 days ago, but I guess the Reds had to make sure Renteria could pass a physical. I’d hate to have another Gary Majewski.

The terms of the deal are a little less than initially reported. Renteria could still make $3 million by reaching a certain number of plate appearances, but the base salary is $2.1 million.

As for my fear that Paul Janish was having the shortstop rug pulled out from under his feet, apparently, that was unfounded, despite Dusty Baker’s history as a manager. Walt Jocketty made that quite clear.

“Edgar addresses the need for veteran leadership,” Jocketty said. “He’s a veteran middle infielder that can play shortstop and help Paul Janish. It’s a good move. He still has a lot left in him.”

Since Renteria agreed to terms on a deal with the Reds on Thursday, there had been a lot of speculation about the status of Janish at shortstop. When the club gets to camp, he will still be the regular shortstop.

“I called Janish on Saturday to make sure he knew that,” Jocketty said.

Excellent. I agree with what RHM said. Renteria’s athletic ability will be quite useful as a backup around the infield. Plus, it gives more time for the prospects in the minors to get ready for next year.

And it’s always nice when a player wants to go to, as Renteria’s agent said, “a winning club”, and for once, it means the Reds.

Yesterday, at about the same time as news came out about the Reds signing veteran shortstop Edgar Renteria, the Cincinnati Reds also announced that they’d signed reliever Jared Burton to a contract and avoided arbitration.

This is the second player that the Reds have signed before the arbitration hearings, with Jay Bruce being the first. His long-term deal insures Bruce will never have to deal with arbitration.

The Reds have 4 remaining players facing arbitration. This includes Bill Bray, Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez, and Joey Votto. Considering that the last Reds player to reach the hearing stage was way back in 2004–Chris Reitsma, who the Reds destroyed in the hearing–I have a feeling that Cincinnati will avoid arbitration with everyone.