Red Reposter - BP, Walt, & Choo

As Mark Sheldon noted at Reds.com, today - Tuesday - is the day that Brandon Phillips officially earns his 10/5 rights, and that's just one more reason why he'll probably be a Red for the life of his current contract.  Phillips has three years and some $36 million left on the deal he signed at the start of the 2012 season, and while that's not exactly the kind of money that is enough to cripple a franchise, it's probably enough to keep an aging middle infielder's trade value pretty low.  Now that he'll be able to veto any trade thanks to being officially veteranny, Sheldon thinks that Phillips won't be going anywhere via trade any time soon regardless of what kind of rebuilding project the Reds put together.  That's not necessarily a huge issue though, since Phillips would only have to provide about 6 WAR over the 3 seasons to be worth the money, and while that's not terribly likely (he's been worth 1.3 fWAR and 1.4 bWAR this year despite the thumb injury) it is at least fathomable.  It's not the best contract in the world, but there are plenty out there that are worse.

Remember when we hadn't heard anything from Walt Jocketty in forever?  Well, the Enquirer's John Fay caught up with the current Cincinnati Reds GM yesterday and spoke to him about a number of things.  In particular, Fay asked Walt about his status with the Reds given that his existing contract runs out at the end of the season, and he got a predictably coy response.  All accounts indicate that Walt will remain with the Reds, which means he'll be in charge of the major personnel decisions that are looming this offseason.  Of note in this article is Walt mentioning that one of the players the team was targeting at the recently passed non-waiver trade deadline "got hurt," which certainly narrows down the search if you've been trying to figure out what he was looking for.  David DeJesus?  Carlos Gonzalez?  Michael Cuddyer?  Shane Victorino?  Troy Tulowitzki?!  THE TEXAS RANGERS?!

The Chicago Cubs roll into Great American Ball Park to begin a three game series later today, and it appears they'll have yet another shiny new prospect in their dugout.  They've called up OF Jorge Soler, a 22 year old masher with super powers like "hitting baseballs ridiculously far" and "not winning a World Series since 1908."  He'll join Arismendy Alcantara and Javier Baez in the first wave of ridiculously talented call-ups the Cubs have at their disposal, and you can read a bit more about his talents thanks to Baseball America's Vince Lara-Cinisomo.  The gist:  he's basically what every Reds fan had hoped Yorman Rodriguez would be by now.

Dallas and Mat Latos had a baby! Landon Marshall Latos was born on Monday, and I'm sure that in no time he'll get omitted from the US World Cup squad before being traded for Travis Wood's son and signed to a lucrative 3 year extension with the Reds.  Now they need to have another son so we can all laugh and crack bad breath jokes in a few years at whomever gets to swing by and pick them up for carpool.  (It's a "haul Latoses" joke, people.  I need more coffee.)  Congrats, Dallas and Mat!

Finally, it appears that former Red Shin-Soo Choo will spend the rest of his 2014 season on the DL, unfortunately.  Choo's been dealing with bone spurs in his elbow, and will undergo surgery to have them removed and effectively end the what has been a disappointing first year with the Rangers.  Choo signed a 7 year, $130 million contract after a stellar 2013 in Cincinnati, but has struggled to just a .714 OPS this season and has more CS (4) than SB (3).  Oddly, he also joins Bronson Arroyo as players who left the Reds in FA last winter and whose seasons have been cut short by elbow surgery.