Cincinnati Reds sign IF Donovan Solano to $4.5 million deal

Donovan Solano is a decent player. He was the perfect utility piece for the San Francisco Giants just last year, serving as a do-it-all infielder on a club that needed that alongside Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt en route to a brilliant, 107 win regular season.

He’s the kind of piece that complements everything about a club that’s built to win games. So, naturally that’s who the Cincinnati Reds have signed to a $4.5 million deal, as relayed by Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

You purge Jesse Winker, Sonny Gray, Wade Miley, Eugenio Suarez, and Tucker Barnhart, and backfill with a $4.5 million guarantee on a 34 year old utility man?

The Reds, I mean...not you.

I am so confused.

Anyway, with the health of Mike Moustakas always in question and the DH now in the National League, there’s a chance that Solano could end up getting regular reps at 3B, and I guess that’s not the worst thing on the planet despite the fact that, at 34, his skillset could wane at any moment. It’s been in limited action each year, for the record, but he has hit .308/.354/.435 in 775 PA across the last trio of seasons, and does do damage against LHP in particular, even if it’s without much power.

Frankly, adding a Donovan Solano would’ve just been a pretty nice offseason for the Reds five months ago, as he would’ve been an upgrade on the Asdrubal Cabrera disaster of last fall, especially if Jose Barrero is now destined for the outfield. Instead, he’s being given reps on a defunct roster that could’ve otherwise been given to a younger player, and again I am so incredibly confused.