The Cincinnati Reds may have had a disappointing season on the field, but that doesn't mean ownership has lost faith in the work of general manager Walt Jocketty.
Per Major League Baseball's official Twitter account, Jocketty has agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep him in Cincinnati through 2016.
Jocketty talked about his extension to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com on Friday before it was officially announced, simply saying that he likes where he's at and stating his goals for the future:
I've got a great relationship with [Reds CEO] Bob [Castellini]. In my position, there are two things that are important. You have to have a great relationship with your owner and you have to have a great relationship with your manager. I have that here with both those guys.
I'm fully committed to trying to get this team back into the postseason because I think we're good enough to do that with a little bit of help here. I think our ownership certainly deserves it and our fans deserve it.
It hasn't been a pleasant year in Cincinnati though a lot of that has to do with the rash of injuries to key players more than anything Jocketty wasn't doing. It's hard to win games when Joey Votto misses 100 games, Jay Bruce posts a .656 OPS and two of your top three pitchers (Homer Bailey and Mat Latos) make a combined 39 starts.
Votto, in particular, was impossible to replace in Cincinnati's lineup. As Aaron Gleeman of NBC Sports noted in August, he's a rarity among left-handed hitters because he can actually hit left-handed pitching at close to the same level he does right-handers:
Jocketty, who has been with the Reds since 2008 and took over as general manager in April 2008 after the team fired Wayne Krivsky, is one of the most decorated executives in baseball. He built the Reds into one of the better teams in the National League, with three playoff appearances in four years from 2010-2013.
Before arriving in Cincinnati, Jocketty worked in St. Louis for 13 years and was a key part of helping that franchise win seven division titles, two National League championships and a World Series in 2006.
There's a lot of work facing Jocketty to get the Reds back in the playoff mix. They aren't exactly an old team, as five regulars and five starting pitchers all entered this season under the age of 30, but bad contracts and poor performances have left the future of this team cloudy.
Given his track record, Jocketty should be given the benefit of the doubt. Ownership believes in the direction he's got the team headed in, and they are just one year removed from winning 90 games and appearing in the NL Wild Card Game.
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