Almost exactly a year ago, I previewed the what a winter of contract extensions from the Cincinnati Reds might hold. After all, this is a club that once built itself on the backs of those, from Joey Votto to Jay Bruce, Homer Bailey to Eugenio Suarez and Tucker Barnhart.
They had varying rates of success, admittedly. The Votto deal has been brilliant, as has the one for Tucker, mostly. Eugenio’s got off to a wonderful start before his shoulder injury and subsequent sputters, while the deals for Homer Bailey and Devin Mesoraco crashed immediately and often. Those for Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, once upon a time, turned out to be pretty much just fine.