Reds willing to listen to any and all offers

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Walt Jocketty has stopped short of imitating Jack McKeon and setting up a table with an "Open for business" sign in the lobby of the Boca Raton Resort and Club at the General Managers Meetings, but that message is clear.

The Reds, losers of 98 games in 2015, are rebuilding and an offseason that Jocketty says everyone knows they Reds are open for trades.

"We've made that pretty explicit," Jocketty said on Tuesday.

Jocketty, the president of baseball operations, and newly appointed general manager Dick Williams expect to continue the team's overhaul that began a year ago at the Winter Meetings when they traded Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon and continued at the non-waiver trade deadline with the trades of Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake. There will be more trades this offseason, Jocketty said, and he joked that only Williams was "untouchable."

"I don't know if we're in a position to say there's any untouchables," Jocketty said. "There's certainly guys who would be much more difficult to move, but we have to be open minded to whatever we can do to improve the club for the long term."

The biggest name on the trade block is closer Aroldis Chapman. Perhaps the most feared pitcher in the game, Chapman finished 15th in Major League Baseball in saves, not because he was the 15th-best closer, but because his 36 save opportunities were tied for 30th in MLB.

Chapman is entering his final year of arbitration in 2016 and will be a free agent after the season. The Reds had offers on the table for him at the non-waiver trade deadline, but didn't pull the trigger.

With no marquee closers on the free agent market, Chapman will certainly garner interest, but Jocketty wouldn't comment on any specific players that the team could dangle in a trade discussion, including Chapman.

Right fielder Jay Bruce was also a popular name at the non-waiver trade deadline, with the Reds reportedly close to a deal with the Mets, but that didn't pan out.

"We still wanted to be somewhat protective of our club last year and we had some offers on certain guys we just didn't want to move because we still wanted to be… It didn't play out as good (as we'd hoped)," Jocketty said. "But I think we really started at the deadline knowing that '16 was going to be a transition year and '17 and '18 will be the timeframe we think will be able to be stronger and more competitive."

When asked if that transition year could include trading Chapman or Bruce, Jocketty declined to discuss specifics.

"You know how I am about that stuff," he said. "You can speculate all you want."

So we will.

It'd be an upset if Chapman started the season in Cincinnati, and a mild surprise if Bruce did. Third baseman Todd Frazier could also garner interest.

Those three are the team's biggest trade assets, with Frazier in his second of three arbitration years and Bruce signed through next season with a club option for 2017.

Then there's the team's two big contracts – first baseman Joey Votto and second baseman Brandon Phillips. Votto still has eight years and $199 million left on his contract and full no-trade rights. Votto looked untradeable last offseason after missing 100 games because of a knee injury. A 31-year-old coming off knee surgery owed more than $200 million wasn't garnering much interest then, but Votto responded in 2015 by playing in 158 games and finishing in the top three in Most Valuable Player voting.

Phillips has a more modest two years and $27 million left on his deal, but he had a bounce-back season, hitting .294. However, because he has 10 years of MLB service time with at least the last five with the same team, he has full no-trade protection. The Reds tried to trade him after the 2013 season, but his limited no-trade clause made that difficult, and it won't be any easier with full no-trade protection.

There are teams that could have interest in both, but it's not as easy as matching up with another team, both Votto and Phillips have to sign off on any deal, and both have shown a desire to stay in Cincinnati.

"Those guys would be tough – they're all going to be tough," Jocketty said. "We'll just have to wait and see how serious people are."