CINCINNATI (AP) -Yonder Alonso had three options right at his fingertips as the deadline for signing a contract with Cincinnati approached.
If he didn’t accept the Reds’ offer worth $4.55 million, the first baseman could have gone back to the University of Miami for his senior year or headed to New York to live in Alex Rodriguez’s apartment and play in an independent league, biding his time until next June’s amateur draft.
“I’ll tell you what: I had my fall (college) schedule and my (independent league) contract next to me,” Alonso said Saturday evening. “So I had both in my hands yesterday. I was definitely prepared.”
$500,000 in 2010, $600,000 in 2011 and $1 million in 2012. If he is eligible for salary arbitration after 2011, he can void the 2012 salary.
There was a lot of give-and-take as the deadline approached late Friday.
“I had no idea I was going to sign,” Alonso said on a conference call. “We were kind of in-between things. At the end of the day, we actually came into things and I felt very, very happy with the deal.”
If he didn’t reach an agreement with the Reds, the seventh overall pick was planning to go back to school or play for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. Alonso is close friends with Alex Rodriguez – they worked out together in Florida – and could have stayed at his New York apartment while playing for the Ducks.
“I could actually have stayed with him and he’d help me through the whole thing,” said Alonso, who has known the Yankees star for years. “He’s a very cool guy.”
Alonso said Rodriguez encouraged him to sign with the Reds if possible.
“He wanted me to play baseball,” Alonso said. “But he wanted me to do it the right way. If it wasn’t going to work and it wasn’t there for me, it wasn’t going to happen.”
On the day he was drafted in June, Alonso was eager to get to Cincinnati so he could meet Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn, two of his favorite players. Both are gone now – Griffey was traded to the White Sox, Dunn to Arizona.
“But I can see Jay Bruce and Joey Votto, so that would be pretty cool, too,” Alonso said.
Alonso will go to the Reds’ spring training facility in Sarasota, Fla., on Monday to get a physical and start working out. The Reds are considering moving him from first base – Votto’s position – to third base. Edwin Encarnacion is having another wildly inconsistent season at third, where he has a team-high 18 errors. Alonso could give the Reds another option there in years to come.
“We think he could play third base,” said Chris Buckley, the club’s senior director of scouting. “He can definitely play first. He plays first very well.”
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