Affeldt signs with Giants

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Affeldt signs two-year deal with Giants
Reds lose important piece at back end of bullpen
By Mark Sheldon

CINCINNATI -- Late-inning bullpen help appears to be a need that keeps increasing as the Reds' offseason moves along.
On Monday afternoon after he passed a physical, free-agent left-handed setup man Jeremy Affeldt signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the Giants.

Assuming right-hander David Weathers makes good on the pledge he made last week to not return, Cincinnati has already lost two of its three free-agent relievers. Right-hander Mike Lincoln also remains unsigned.

It didn't appear that the Reds and general manager Walt Jocketty were close to retaining Affeldt.

"Walt called us on Thursday right before the opening of the market. It was the only conversation I knew of my agent having with him," Affeldt told MLB.com by phone from Maui, where he's on vacation. "Nothing serious came out of it, and we went from there."

A phone message was left with Jocketty, who was in Arizona on Monday for the groundbreaking of the Reds' new Spring Training complex in Goodyear.

Affeldt, a key part of manager Dusty Baker's bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings, was 1-1 with a 3.33 ERA for the Reds last season. He pitched 78 1/3 innings over a team-high 74 games. Of his 36 inherited runners, 12 scored.

Over his final 34 appearances, the 29-year-old Affeldt posted a 2.23 ERA. He was signed by Cincinnati in January to a one-year, $3 million contract as a free agent and originally given a chance to compete for a rotation spot. That didn't work out, but he returned to his niche as a setup man and was successful.

"I wasn't opposed to coming back," Affeldt said. "They made a decision last season on which direction they wanted to go from the young-player aspect. Obviously, there were other teams out there, and some of them were teams out west closer to my hometown (Spokane, Wash.) I was open to everything."
The Reds still have left-hander Bill Bray and right-hander Jared Burton for the late-innings to set up closer Francisco Cordero. Reliever Daniel Ray Herrera, who made his big league debut in 2008, is another lefty still on the 40-man roster.

Joe Beimel, Arthur Rhodes and Will Ohman are among the veteran left-handed relievers left on the free-agent market should the Reds decide to look outside the organization.

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