Deadline for Reds comes Monday

On Monday, teams must decide whether to offer their free agents arbitration. If receiving the offer by midnight ET, players would have until next Sunday to accept or decline.

If a player accepts, he is automatically retained by his team for one more year at a salary to be determined by an arbiter.

The deadline is especially critical for Type-A or Type-B free agents and any clubs interested in signing them. If those players are offered arbitration, their former teams would receive compensation Draft picks in return if they sign elsewhere.

The Reds have eight remaining free agents, but only reliever David Weathers was ranked under the Elias statistical ratings as a Type-B free agent.

Conditions appear favorable that Weathers will be offered arbitration. According to his agent, Weathers has attracted interest from at least six other clubs, and the Reds would receive a sandwich-round Draft pick if he departed.

There seems to be a lower level of risk should Weathers accept arbitration. He is not a high-salaried player (he made $2.75 million in 2008) and the Reds wouldn't become bound to the 39-year-old by a long-term commitment.

Reliever Jeremy Affeldt, who was already signed to a two-year contract by the Giants on Nov. 17, was also a Type-B player. Cincinnati will receive a sandwich pick as compensation for losing Affeldt.

Remaining Reds free agents Jerry Hairston Jr., Mike Lincoln, Javier Valentin, Josh Fogg, Paul Bako, Kent Mercker and Corey Patterson were not ranked Type-A or Type-B free agents and would yield no compensation in return, so there is no compensation incentive to the club to offer them arbitration.

The Reds remain in talks with the agents for Hairston and Lincoln to bring them back, but the players do not have to be offered arbitration to stay in Cincinnati. Under recently changed rules, players not offered arbitration can still return to their old clubs.