Joey's contract made it impossible for the team to be good for a long time.

For the last five years he has been a grossly overpaid often injured singles hitter who also lost range and reaction in the field.

They couldn't give him away.

His first ten years were great, but he is one of the guys that ALL of baseball uses as why to not to give a contract more than 4 years.

I loved watching him as a player, but he hasn't had a batting average over .270 or on base percentage over .400 in the last five seasons.

The Reds have a cheap owner, but this time he got it right.

After a stellar career with a .294 batting avg., Votto has missed a lot of games to injuries over the past couple of seasons. He only hit a paltry .202 in 2023 after mustering just .205 last year.

But the upside is that the Reds have arguably the most exciting young team in baseball. Oodles of talent. Only the Orioles rival them in that category at this point, IMO.