By Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024 & Jeff Kleiner (Org Depth + Payroll Expert – find his website here) Follow @prosportsroster

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The Reds have all shown up for Spring Training, and the team seems to be in jovial spirits for the most part – except for Brandon Phillips attitude towards the media.

Maybe  Follow @datdudebp is upset about the recent news of the Homer Bailey 6 YRs/$105 MIL extension.  Perhaps it grates him that Joey Votto starts his 10 YRs/$225 MIL deal in 2014.

Phillips is in the 3rd year of his 6 YRs/$72 MIL contract, he will make $48 MIL between 2014 – 2017, before he hits Free Agency in 2018.

The deal goes $11 MIL, $12 MIL, $13 MIL and $14 MIL for the next four campaigns.

Jay Bruce has won back to back Silver Slugger Awards in 2012 and 2013, and also consecutive top 10 finishes. At just 26 Years old, he is one of the premiere power hitters in all of the Nationals League. The team locked him up to a 6 year deal with an Option prior the 2011 season. Bruce is owed about $50 MIL over the next four years, and is a bargain for the 30+ HR and 100 RBIs he may put up every year going forward.  Bruce replaced Adam Dunn in the OF when he left, and now he is clobbering the same type of numbers as his predecessor.  Bruce carries a 3 Slash of .257/.330/.812 into 2014, with 164 HRs and 485 RBI in 3038 AB – spanning 6 seasons.

As of right now, the team’s payroll is just hovering over $105 MIL with the Bailey extension now factored in.  The dollar amount is pretty much set for the rest of the year.

I would think the Reds would fork out some cash for contracts via trade route in the summer if they are in contention.

With their money also spent for this year, you can now see how they did not have the cash to re-sign either Shin-Soo Choo (7 YRs/$130 MIL), or even Bronson Arroyo‘s 2 YR pact for $23.5 MIL.

The franchise should be in decent shape with the replacement guys for those positions, in ‘prospect speedster’ Billy Hamilton and SP Tony Cingrani.

Having Entry-Level team controllable players in your organization ready to fill the bill is paramount in the NL Central – when you have the nemesis Cardinals doing it the very best out of any of the MLB clubs.

Luckily for Cincinnati they do reside in the Division they do.  St. Louis and they have similar payrolls, but the Cards are not blowing any of the other clubs in the NL Central by many pesos.

There are no powerhouse payroll teams like Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, Rangers, Angels, Dodgers, Phillies – or even the Giants for that matter.

This is good news when the organization is already on the verge of their payroll maximum.

Joey Votto is one of 7 players to have received a contract north of $200 MIL, and his deal is the 5th richest in MLB History.  You are talking about a world class player, and a perennial MVP candidate though.

The money just put out for Bailey will have ramifications for the team in going forward.  The franchise has roughly $100 MIL on the books for the 2015 year, and also 9 new Arbitration Eligible players.  More changes are coming….

Mat Latos and Aroldis Chapman are among the Arbitration Eligible players.

For saving some beans at the count, the club will likely not exercise their portion of OF Ryan Ludwick‘s $9 MIL deal.  That is unless, he has a renaissance year.

Billy Hamilton could really help the franchise with a breakout year out of the CF position.  For the very reason, it would be easier to let go of Ludwick (should he struggle).

You also must consider trading Brandon Phillips now more than ever.  If the result is freeing up so more cash to sign other players, and possibly bring back several young prospects, you must consider it at least.

Jay Bruce has also been trending up on his numbers (could be a NL MVP candidate himself) and doesn’t  get paid a king’s ransom over the next four year – where he will make about $50 MIL.

Competing in a Division with the Cardinals, the Reds will have to replenish outgoing players with their own talent, so that they can keep salaries down.

Contract Outlook From 2014 – 2016

The Cincinnati Reds are coming off of a heartbreaking season, losing in the one game playoff to the Pittsburgh Pirates. They finished third in the National League Central after winning the division in 2012. Manager Dusty Baker has been fired so Brian Price is next guy to take this team to the promise land. The Reds will most lost Shin-Soo Choo and Bronson Arroyo to free agency, and will use Billy Hamilton in center field and Tony Cingrani for the spot in rotation 2014. The next two years the team is mostly going to remain intact, before team salaries escalate to the point where they start losing players in 2016.

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Other Authors for this post:

Jeff Kleiner:  “I have been a sports fan since the first Baseball game I went to at Comisky Park in Chicago in 1959, when baseball for me turned from black and white to color.

I have attended or watched thousands of games, always paying attention to statistics, rosters and salaries of all professional sports.

Luckily I had the advantage of watching WGN TV and seeing hundreds of games in the 60’s. Collecting Baseball Cards and then later dealing them gave me an extra sense of the sport, both good and bad.”

For all of your Salaries, Roster and Depth Charts for all 4 Major Sports (entire organization – Minors and Majors) click here or Follow Me on twitter  Follow @prosportsroster

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