With only three outfielders on their 40-man roster - Jay Bruce, Chris Dickerson and Norris Hopper - the Cincinnati Reds are in search of a few good outfielders.
On Monday, Dec. 15, they signed one to a minorleague contract, 28-year-old Laynce Nix. He has agreed to a minor-league contract that is worth $600,000 if he makes the team out of spring training with bonus clauses that could push it to $1.1 million. The Reds hope to re-sign free agent Jerry Hairston Jr., but he is negotiating with two other teams. GM Walt Jocketty said talks with Hairston "are slow, but now that the winter meetings are over maybe they'll pick up."
Hairston attended the winter meetings in Las Vegas last week, but did not sign with any team.
Nix was a top prospect with the Texas Rangers at one time before sustaining a severe shoulder injury when he ran into a wall in 2003. In 2004, Nix hit .248 with 14 home runs in 371 at-bats for the Rangers.
Nix was traded to Milwaukee as part of the Carlos Lee deal in July 2006.
The last two years, playing at Class AAA Nashville in the Brewers' system, he hit 48 homers and drove in 140 RBIs while playing all three outfield positions. During that time, he had only 24 at-bats in the majors.
Quick hits
* Jocketty continues the search for a righthanded-hitting outfielder. Why righthanded when he has only two lefthanded hitters (Jay Bruce, Joey Votto), while as of now he has four righthanders (Brandon Phillips, Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Gonzalez, Ramon Hernandez)?
"We're trying to find the right bat to put between Bruce and Votto," he said. Jocketty said of free agent Pat Burrell: "His market might be beyond our reach, but we're looking a some non-tendered players, a few free agents or maybe a trade."
* How about the Jermaine Dye deal?
"Right now, we're thinking more long-term (Dye is 34) and he's on the final year of his contract ($11.5 million in 2009). We have to fill out our outfield and some bench spots and it may or may not happen right away, but we're working on it," he said.
* For a brief period, the Reds had only two outfielders. They did not offer a contract to Hopper. Nor did they offer contracts to pitcher Gary Majewski and Matt Belisle. All three were free to sign with another team.
The Reds, though, quickly signed Hopper to a one-year contract.
* Jocketty's take on the garish spending by the New York Yankees: "They money they spent on two pitchers ($321 million to CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett) is enough to buy a whole franchise.
"It's really hard for us (the Reds) to put into perspective because the money is so outrageous," he added. "They are in a position to do it, but that doesn't always equal success or a championship. Hey, as long as the rest of us aren't expected to compete with that ..."
* Asked if the man who missed all of last season, Alex Gonzalez, is the team's shortstop going into spring training, Jocketty said, "Reports are that he should be ready for spring training. If he's not, we still have Jeff Keppinger and Paul Janish and Hairston, if we can sign him."
