The Cincinnati Reds were never going to pay Joey Votto $20 million to play baseball for them in 2024, even though his contract had a team option for said price. The Cincinnati Reds were always going to pay Joey Votto at least $7 million for the 2024 season, however, as that was the set buyout of said option.
The question was this - would they find some middle ground for less than the extra $13 million to have him stick around for one final season?
That answer came in a pretty evident way on Saturday morning, as the Reds not only declined the option in administrative fashion, but also released a statement that effectively called time on him playing for the Reds at all in 2024.