Skip Schumaker signs minor league deal with San Diego Padres

It appears that the Skip Schumaker Era in Cincinnati is officially over as of Monday evening, as the the former Reds infielder has reportedly signed a minor league deal to continue his career with the San Diego Padres, according to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.

Source: Free-agent infielder Skip Schumaker to #Padres on minor-league deal.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 9, 2016

Skip was inked by the Reds as the centerpiece free agent signing of the 2013-2014 offseason (read: pretty much the only free agent signing of that offseason), as the two sides agreed to a 2-year, $5 million deal that included a would-be team option for the 2016 season should the Reds still be in need of grit, veteraniness, and experienceatude at that point in time.  Things quickly went down hill for both the Reds and the then 34 year old, as he screwed his shoulder in Spring Training and never regained the kind of offensive mehformance that had carried him to that point in his career.

He hit just .235/.287/.308 in 271 PA in his first year with the Reds, though his bat regained a bit of its previous stability with a .242/.306/.336 line in 244 PA in 2015.  That 2015 line was buoyed by an MLB-best 19 pinch hits, though it's probably worth noting that his 78 AB as a pinch hitter in 2015 was far and away the most in all of baseball (with Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Alex Guerrero second with a miniscule 51 AB in comparison).

In all, Skip's time in Cincinnati was called after at .238/.297/.322 mark in 491 PA, in which time he was valued at a cumulatively awful -1.9 bWAR and -2.4 fWAR.  His clubhouse presence is impossible to quantify, of course, but it did coincide with a 144-184 overall team record during his tenure, which certainly wasn't entirely his fault.

Thus endeth the ongoing notarumor that the Reds would bring Skip back once again for the 2016 season.  For now, at least.