Do we really want a 37 year old 3B?

im putting the over-under for games played by Rolen under this contract at 300

Still don’t like the trade for Rolen. Still like Rolen the player. Think its going to be very tough for him not to earn every penny of this contract if he can play 100 games a year. Good extension for the money.

I mean, on the one hand, it’s great that salary was freed up. On the other, he’s old and broken.

I think until we see what is done with the freed money, the jury’s out on this one.

Just twice in the last 8 seasons has Rolen not been productive enough to be worth double the base salaries and the signing bonus isn’t much more on top of that. He just needs to be worth 2 WAR a season and this deal is a win for the Reds. I think he’s a pretty good bet for that, even if he’s not playing 150 games.

Seriously though, why is it a signing bonus?

was Todd Frazier’s fist going through a wall … and the cat screeching after getting kicked to the top of the tree by END!

If the money freed up is spent wisely. Rolen, while he is old will definitely be worth that. especially with a lot of other large contracts coming off the books the next couple years. His defense will still be top of the line, and im sure he will hit well enough to earn his keep

is actually only a tad over 2.8MM. I’ll be very surprised if it isn’t directly turned over to Gomes.

Even if it is only a couple million, with the financial hole this team is in now, wouldn’t the savings go directly into that?

the more i like this deal. unless he completely breaks, he’ll easily be worth the money. im not as concerned about how it effects the prospects, as ive never really been a fan of END anyway and Frazier can play at least 2 other positions. i would LOVE to see the savings net Tejada on a 1-year deal. it’s been said that if he wants a deal he’ll have to move to 3B, so maybe the Reds could get him to come for 4-5 mil with the promise of a SS gig.

if this indeed leads to a good SS move (and at this point, i think only Tejada counts) then this is the kind of deal i could really love. but even if the savings are sunk, i still like it. nothing can change the past and magically make the trade a good deal, but this is at least a good salve for the wound.

The contract makes him a player/manager right?

I keep thinking how stupid it would be if they lost rolen in a year after giving up stewart/roenicke for him. I figured we see him extended, just didnt think it would be this soon. gives them some wiggle room for this year, and the bonus is basically what we knock off this yr’s salary spread out over three years, so even though it’s 8.1 mil a year its still not bad.

Sure, this shifts some of the costs, but that $5 million for next year just got spread over three years. No savings there. It’s just a two year/$13 million extension plus some creative accounting.

You figure age won’t negatively affect his defensive value at 3B much, and even if his power continues to sag he’ll still probably be able to get on base, which this team definitely needs, so he’s likely to be worth the money.

Doug’s point about END’s age is a good one, especially given the fast track he was seemingly put on by the Reds. This gives me a bit more confidence that they see him for what he is right now, and I don’t think anyone on the Reds thinks of Frazier as a 3B primarily anymore, considering he hasn’t played there in ages.

Now let’s see what Walt does with the money

The Rolen trade makes more sense now. He apparently really, really wants to be here, to be near his family, so perhaps there was an agreement before the trade was made.

I guess i don’t mind this. I was stumped as to why we got him to begin with, given our payroll limits and the direction I thought we were going. But since we have him now,
shifting some pay around and getting a decently affordable extension is smart, I guess, and if he plays most of those extended years without a huge decline, we’ve got an OK deal. But given his injury history, it’s hard not to be a little leery… How many games do you guess we can actually expect him to play through the end of this contract?

Spoiler alert! http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN197010100.shtml

Gookie Dawkins tested positive for a banned substance, according to Baseball America.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=7409