Joey Votto not worried about finding new home in free agency

Longtime Reds first baseman Joey Votto likely saw his 22-year tenure as a member of the organization come to a close back in November when the team declined their club option on his services for the 2024 season. Votto has made clear that he plans to continue playing in 2024 whether in a Reds uniform or not, however, and as such has entered free agency for the first time in his 17-year big league career. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, three teams are currently expressing interest in the services of the veteran slugger. It’s a noteworthy development in Votto’s market, seeing as prior to Saturday the only club that had been connected to the 40-year-old this winter was his hometown Blue Jays.

A potential future Hall of Famer, Votto slashed an eye-popping .315/.436/.545 across nine seasons from 2009 to 2017, good for a wRC+ of 162. During that peak, he represented the Reds at the All Star game five times, won the NL MVP award in 2010, finished as a finalist in both 2015 and 2017, and received votes for the award in every season except 2014, when he was limited to just 62 games by injuries. Since entering his mid-thirties, however, Votto has begun to decline at the plate. From 2018 to 2020, Votto slashed an uncharacteristic .265/.382/.400 (114 wRC+) with just 38 home runs in 341 games, a far cry from his career .313/.428/.541 slash line entering the 2018 campaign.

While the 2021 season saw Votto rebound at the age of 37 with a strong .266/.375/.563 slash line (140 wRC+) as he slugged 36 home runs in just 129 games, the veteran has been dogged by injury woes ever since. He’s been limited to just 156 games over the past two seasons by shoulder surgery and when healthy enough to take the mound has slashed a paltry .204/.317/.394 that clocks in just below league average with a wRC+ of 95. Votto saw flashes of success as he managed a solid .219/.323/.533 slash line with 13 home runs in just 41 games through August 9 this past season, but ultimately ran out of gas down the stretch and slashed just .169/.298/.239 the rest of the way.

Despite the inauspicious end to his 2023 season, Votto told C. Trent Rosencrans of The Athletic during a recent interview that he isn’t concerned about finding a job with a big league club this winter, noting that “this is a good place to be” so long as he continues to feel healthy.

“I’ve said this over the last couple of years — if I’m healthy, I can play for basically everyone,” Votto told Rosencrans. “I said it in ’21, it was easy again, my game had evolved…it just so happened that the last couple of years, I’ve been working through a pretty serious injury. I thought I competed well. I’d like to enter the season fully healthy and play with confidence, knowing that my instincts were correct and that when healthy, I was still able to compete.”

As Votto notes, it’s impossible to ignore the significant injury woes he’s dealt with the past two seasons. Given how successful he was in his last fully healthy season, it’s far from impossible to imagine the veteran bouncing back to produce at a solid level in the Majors next year. While gets more and more difficult to maintain in a player’s late 30s and 40s, it’s far from impossible for a player to find success even at that advanced age. Nelson Cruz slashed .265/.334/.497 in his age-40 campaign back in 2021, while 2022 saw 42-year-old Albert Pujols post an incredible .270/.345/.550 slash line with 24 home runs in just 350 plate appearances during his farewell season. While a season that strong from a quadragenarian is quite rare, Votto wouldn’t have to replicate those fantastic efforts to be a productive major leaguer.

Nightengale did not name the three teams with interest in Votto’s services headed into 2024, but it’s not hard to identify teams he could be a speculative fit for. The aforementioned Blue Jays are an obvious pick for the Toronto native given his ties to the city and the club’s need to find a replacement for Brandon Belt as a lefty-swinging DH. Looking beyond Votto’s homeland, the Nationals are reportedly in the market for a left-handed power bat who could serve as a complement to Joey Meneses at first base and DH.

Meanwhile, the Padres have a hole at DH and have traded away lefty bats Juan Soto, Trent Grisham and Matt Carpenter in an attempt to clear salary this winter. Votto could provide San Diego with a relatively inexpensive lefty bat who could be parked at DH or play first base in the event Jake Cronenworth is moved back to the keystone in 2024. The Mariners, Astros, and Angels are among other clubs who could stand to benefit from adding a lefty-swinging veteran to their first base/DH mix, though Votto would likely be relegated to a bench role with any of those clubs.