Loading ...From the AP:
The Cincinnati Reds on Monday avoided arbitration with David Ross, signing the catcher to a two-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
And from the “is anyone surprised” department…
The Reds on Monday also signed righthander Paul Wilson to a minor league contract.
Update from CincinnatiReds.com:
The Reds and catcher David Ross avoided arbitration Monday when they agreed to a two-year contract through 2008 with a club option for 2009.
Anyone taking any bets on how much Ross is going to make?
On the Daytan Daily News site, an AP story reports the following for how much Ross will be making:
The Cincinnati Reds avoided arbitration Monday with catcher David Ross, signing him to a two-year, $4.5 million contract with a club option in the third year.
Anyone taking bets on how long it will be until the Reds sign Pete Harnisch? Or Joey Hamilton? Or Steve Parris?
I just can’t understand that Wilson signing. LET HIM GO. If Brandon Claussen isn’t good enough, then neither is Paul Wilson. Wilson is DONE. Why the Reds continue to dork around with him is a mystery to me.
I hope he proves me wrong, but I just don’t see Paul Wilson ever pitching in the majors again. Of course, I never thought I’d see Jose Rijo back either. I’m thinking the Rijo was a once in a lifetime thing.
Let’s hope Ross can continue to put up the numbers he did last year. If Ross loses even the slightest bit of offensive production, the Reds lineup will be truly anemic…
Baseball Prospectus released its PECOTA projections today. They system is not high on Dave Ross. The “weighted mean” projection for Ross is .240/.324/.459. An OPS of 783 is still decent for a catcher, but it’s a significant falloff from 932. His closest comparables aren’t exciting, by any means: Ramon Castro, Tim Laudner, Sal Fasano, Dave Duncan.
PECOTA likes Javy Valentin even less: .242/.314/.403 – it has him losing 30 points of batting average and 40 of SLG.
The good news is it projects a monster comeback for Adam Dunn: .267/.390/.574 And only 151 strikeouts and 99 BBs, for those of you who prefer contact hitting.
Here’s Jason LaRue, to make you feel better: .233/.313/.367
David Ross, twice the hitter for half the cost. Though, really, nearly any of us were at least equal in the hitting department to Larue.
there’s no way that ross puts up numbers that could get him MVP votes in a full season (like he did last year) but he’s got the stroke and build to keep hitting, and i like the PECOTA projection.
If he can improve his defense this will be a good contract, and we’ll probably pick up the option.