Building A Winner in Ohio

The long-suffering fans of Ohio baseball have seen four significant resignings for their MLB ballclubs over the past week. The Reds extended Joey Votto last week (10 years, $225M) and today added second baseman Brandon Phillips to the fold over the next six years at $72.5M. Meanwhile, Cleveland has quietly made two shrewd moves, extending All-Star SS Asdrubal Cabrera last week (2 years, $16.5M) and Carlos Santana this morning (5 years, $21M).

These moves show opposing strategies for Cincinnati and Cleveland as they move towards contending in the future. What they may bring in long-term championship potential for these teams is up for debate.




Reds management has built a division contender over the previous 3+ seasons and felt that they needed to pay significant years and dollars to keep their main cogs in place in a less-desirable Cincinnati market. As one of the few stars potentially available on the open market next summer, Votto was set up to capitalize on a bidding war amongst big-money contenders including San Francisco, Washington, and hometown Toronto. He instead took the long-term deal at a slight per-year discount in favor of the long term protection $225M guarantees. Similarly, 30 year old Phillips took what will likely be the final multiyear contract of his career to play Robin to Votto's Batman in the Queen City.

With these deals, GM Walt Jocketty has finalized a contending core to team with Jay Bruce (signed through 2016), Johnny Cueto (2015), and Mat Latos (team control through 2015) over the next four years. In a wide-open NL Central, the Reds will likely be an annual contender for the division crown or, at worst, one of the now two Wild Card spots. However, the Reds have limited their ability to add any other major pieces to a payroll already nearing $90M. The Reds will depend on young guns Devin Mesoraco, Drew Stubbs, and Aroldis Chapman to push this borderline NLCS team over the top to World Series contention.

Meanwhile, the Indians have chosen to lock up young talent early in their career. Shin-Soo Choo, Justin Masterson, and Michael Brantley are likely next up in long-term extension negotiations, but President Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti have done well over the past few seasons blending expensive acquisitions (Derek Lowe, Ubaldo Jimenez), aging cogs (Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore) and young talent (Cabrera, Santana, Choo).

Like their NL Central brethren, AL Central spenders Detroit and Chicago have not been able to spend-to-success against smaller-market clubs like Cleveland and Minnesota over the past decade. However, with Detroit upping the ante with Prince Fielder and finally seeing some return on the pitching they've been been waiting on for years, the division title has suddenly become much more difficult to obtain. Mistakes (such as the Jimenez-for-Pomeranz et al deal last summer) are more easily magnified in organizations with payroll limitations, but chances at the playoffs (and their potential financial windfall) aren't annual occurrences for small-market teams (see Cincinnati) and management has to take advantage of windows when they come open. It appears budget-conscious Cleveland and Kansas City hope to utilize Andrew Friedman's Rays model of buying low on young stars, continually churning through young pitching and outfield talent, and using the Wild Card spot to take a seven-game shot at the spenders in a playoff series.

Time will tell if the Reds' expensive moves will pay off for Jocketty in the search of Cincinnati's first title since 1990. To their north, the Tribe will take a more measured (and inexpensive) approach at their first championship since 1948.