Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto is off to an awful start to the 2016 season, hitting .230/.330/.310 as of Monday. If those struggles continue, could Votto hang up his cleats? According to Votto himself, it’s a possibility.
When talking to Cincinnati Enquirer, the 2010 NL MVP was quite open about his struggles this season.
“It’s not something I’m OK with. I’d rather quit and leave all the money on the table than play at a poor level,” Votto said before Sunday’s game against the Pirates. “I’m here to play and be part of setting a standard. It’s something I’ve always taken pride in. I love to play at a really high level. So far this year, it’s not been that. I will not be a very satisfied, happy person if I don’t perform at the level that I expect.”
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“In the frame of mind I’m in right now, I don’t know… I just… All I’ve known is playing at a certain level. The way I played in April is unacceptable and embarrassing to me,” he said. “It’s not something that I would look forward to coming to the ballpark, coming to spring training to do, year-in and year-out, it just would leave me too unhappy, too unsatisfied. I’m probably speaking in… I don’t know if (the word would) be abstract, hypotheticals, but I’d have a really hard time — and maybe I’m full of (it), but I just don’t feel I’m at that point in my career where I can accept mediocrity.”
His 12.6% walk rate is his lowest since 2008, and his 24.3% strikeout rate is by far the highest of his career. Votto started May off by going 1/5 against the Pirates on Sunday with an RBI single, a run scored, and his first stolen base of the season.
Votto’s ten-year, $225 million contract with the Reds, signed in April of 2012, has been a controversial one over the years because of his skill set. Votto has never driven in a high number of runs over his career, maxing out at 113 RBI during that MVP season. And because of that lack of RBI and a lack of 30 homer seasons (just one over his career – again, during the 2010 MVP season), he’s been typecast as a guy who can’t carry a team and isn’t worth his contract, much like Joe Mauer in Minnesota.
But Votto has been a productive player for the Reds for nearly his entire career, barring the 2014 season in which he played just 62 games. He hit over .300 in every season (except again, 2014) and gotten on base at a .400 clip from 2009-2015. He’s homered 20 times in each season over that stretch except for 2012 (when he played just 111 games) and 2014. He’s even doubled 30 doubles in every season from 2009-2015 except 2014.
Cincinnati also hasn’t had much Postseason success during Votto’s tenure with the team. The Reds have won two NL Central titles and one NL Wild Card with Votto manning first base for them, but have claimed just two playoff wins – they were swept by the Phillies in the 2010 NLDS, blew a 2-0 series lead to the Giants in the 2012 NLDS, and lost to the Pirates in the 2013 NL Wild Card game. Votto has hit just .250/.324/.250 over 37 plate appearances in his nine Postseason games.
Including the $20 million owed to him in 2016, Votto is still owed a whopping $199 million through 2023 by the Reds (including a $7 million buyout on a 2024 club option for $20 million). He’s already 32. It’s not unreasonable to think Votto’s best days are behind him, despite his stellar 2015.
Could he walk away from that substantial amount of money? Of course he could – hell, we saw Michael Cuddyer and Adam LaRoche do that this offseason, though for drastically different reasons. However, neither of them walked away from multiple guaranteed years and triple digits owed to them – if Votto’s struggles do continue and he does continue to consider retirement, he’d truly be venturing into new territory for an MLB star.
