If there is one thing that the Cincinnati Reds should be known for it’s loving any player who has ever had any sort of link to the city itself. And that includes Kyle Schwarber, who is from Middletown, Ohio – just a short drive up the highway from Great American Ball Park. He is currently a free agent, coming off of a season in which he led the National League with 56 home runs and all of Major League Baseball with 132 runs batted in.
Jeff Passan of ESPN is reporting that the Philadelphia Phillies are still the favorite to land him (where he’s played four the last four seasons), but that the Cincinnati Reds are still among the teams “in the mix”. What that means, exactly, can be taken a lot of ways. The Reds, who are perpetually trying to piece-meal together 3-player platoons at most positions because they “can’t afford” one actual good player in free agency, still being in the mix for a guy project to sign for over $100,000,000 can be taken as a potential sign that maybe the team has either figured out a way to add a little money to the payroll or perhaps has a trade or two lined up that would free up more money to make the signing possible.
Or perhaps one could take it simply as the team hasn’t given up the idea that maybe he would be willing to take less than market rate to play for the team he grew up rooting for, which may fit into their budget quite a bit easier.
What is interesting, though, is that a national writer with connections that allow him to break signings more often than anyone else in the sport has the Reds in the mix, but the team’s official beat writer published an article this morning specifically looking at players other than Schwarber because he is expected to get a contract that Cincinnati won’t pay up for.
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