3:17pm: Reds GM Dick Williams tells Fay that the team would only have interest in Arroyo if he can first demonstrate that he’s back to full health after Tommy John surgery (Twitter link).
2:48pm: Righty Bronson Arroyo was in Cincinnati today to meet with Reds manager Bryan Price and discuss a possible return, John Fay of WCPO Cincinnati reports. The veteran free agent said that he’d “love to come back” to the club.
Arroyo, 38, enjoyed a solid eight-year run with the Reds before departing for the D’backs via free agency after the 2013 campaign. He contributed nearly 1700 innings in that stretch, carrying a 4.05 ERA with 5.9 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9.
It’s been a while since Arroyo took the hill, as he missed about half of 2014 and all of 2015 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He bounced between organizations as part of the salary-swapping elements of a pair of trades, but is now formally a free agent.
Arroyo indicated that he expects to be ready to go for the spring. “My elbow finally started feeling 100 percent five days ago,” he said. “There was a little spot in there. The scar tissue finally broke up or something.”
It’s somewhat unclear at present exactly how much interest the club has in a reunion. Cincinnati is, after all, entering a rebuilding phase and may not want to beat the market. But there is both need and opportunity in the rotation, too, as MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth explained in breaking down the club’s offseason. The Reds relied very heavily on young arms down the stretch and could certainly stand to add the innings and presence of a veteran such as Arroyo to an inexperienced staff.
Well, why don’t the Orioles reach out to Arroyo.
He would be a great fit as our 5th starter.
We sign Cueto, the O’s would have a mini Reds’ rotation reunion.
That would work for me.
Really? You would want Arroyo on your team? I would rather have Kip Wells than that guy.
Or scurvy
Let’s hope the Reds aren’t interested. Makes no sense.
Couldn’t disagree more.
If he’s healthy, Arroyo would provide a much appreciated veteran, innings-eater presence for a Reds pitching staff that ran exclusively rookies to the mound last year
Reds resigning Arroyo would be a huge PR boost and could offset the negative PR that’s inevitably coming with off season trades.
At the end of the day though, the move will or won’t be made because of baseball reasons, not to please fans.
With Homer Bailey out for the first couple of months Anthony DeSclafani would be the Reds’ most experienced starter. That article by Fay stresses how highly the organization thinks of Arroyo as a potential mentor, regardless of how he actually performs. Hopefully his ability to succeed with mediocre ‘stuff’ and stay healthy for year after year (until recently) would rub off on the young guys.
Arroyo’s apparent interest in the Reds seemingly suggests that the Reds wouldn’t need to ‘beat the market’. If his goal is to return to the Reds, where he had his best years and was happiest, the Reds are his market.
Offer him a couple million dollars plus incentive (he’s already making $4.5m in his buyout of his previous contract). It will be a positive PR boost that really helps the young pitchers, both those who make the team and those who get more time in the minors. Arroyo is a fun guy to watch pitch.
I would compare the Reds signing Bronson Arroyo to the Phillies recently adding veteran Jeremy Hellickson – a veteran mentor and inning eater for an otherwise young and unpredictable rotation.
Hellickson is about 10 years younger and still has some rebound potential. He hasn’t quite fallen into the veteran innings eater category yet. This is more akin to when the Phillies signed Aaron Harang last season.
Rebound to or from what? Hellickson has put up a FIP between 4.15 and 4.60 each of the past 5 seasons, regardless of big fluctuations in his ERA. He’s younger, I’ll give you that. He’s also getting paid a lot more than Arroyo is likely to make.
Harang, Hellickson, Arroyo, all the same general idea, despite their ages. Some experienced pitcher to fill out an otherwise young rotation.
Acquiring someone with some upside – like, say, Fister, Masterson, or whoever – sounds good, but hitters-haven Great American Ballpark is a very unattractive place for free agent pitching even during good times. After Coors Field it’s probably about the last place a pitcher hoping to reestablish himself should choose to go.
I doubt the Reds want to spend a lot on a free agent starter, either. Unless the player is cheap they might as well stick with younger guys. Which again brings me to Arroyo, who’s missed over a year. Yet he wants to pitch in Cincinnati.
Arroyo is going to be significantly cheaper than the two you mentioned for that very reason
Guess the Music Career isnt working out.
That would be a great addition. Fun to watch!
If hes healthy and we can have him for a couple million bucks, id love to have Arroyo back.
Translation: “I’d love to come back to any club that would have me.”
You’re not wrong…
That leg kick though
Exactly what’s wrong here in Cincinnati. You have arms on top of arms, and they can’t resist signing some old veteran. The truth is he knows the reds will over pay for a has been. This is the same guy who said he wouldn’t take a dollar less to stay with the reds. No discount at all. Now he squirms back here with his hand out? I think we still owe Bronson.
The reds front office is a joke. A running joke. Because of jocketty , we have have so much dead money it should be shown on ESPN’s 30 for 30. Any other owner would have fired this clown.
Calling all washed up pitchers. Arm trouble? No problem! Come see Walt! I’ll sign you long time no matter the cost!
Don’t love Williams’ comments. Yes, it’s common sense to make sure he’s healthy, but Arroyo deserves more than that flippant response after his years on the team. Not a great way to convey that to the media.