The Reds avoided arbitration for the third straight year when
Willie Greene, the last unsigned arbitration-eligible player, agreed to a one-year contract Saturday.
''It's good to get it done,'' Reds General Manager Jim Bowden said. ''You really don't want to ever go to arbitration because you can never project your cost.''
Sources said Greene signed for $1.75 million. If the case had gone to arbitration, the Reds would have offered $1.6 million, Greene would have countered with $2.2 to $2.3 million.
''If he went to arbitration, we could have very well lost,'' Bowden said.
Greene, 26, was coming off a good year, power-wise at least. He hit .253 last season and led the club with 26 home runs and 91 RBI, both career highs.
Greene's power numbers last season were similar to those of Detroit outfielder Bobby Higginson. Higginson signed a four-year, $16-million contract Thursday.
Atlanta signed Ryan Klesko to a four-year, $20.5 million deal Thursday.
''Higginson is three-plus (years of major-league service time) guy like Willie,'' Bowden said, ''and Klesko is just above them in the four class.''
Higginson hit .299 with 27 home runs and 101 RBI last year and his 20 assists led major-league outfielders.
Higginson's contract gives him a $100,000 signing bonus and will pay him $2.4 million this year, $3.8 million in 1999, $4.4 million in 2000 and $5.3 million in 2001.
Catch-22
Eddie Taubensee says the Reds' starting catcher's spot should be his.
When Joe Oliver rejected the Reds' $2.4 million, two-year offer and signed for $600,000 plus incentives with Detroit, it left Taubensee and Brook Fordyce clear to fight it out for the No. 1 job.
Taubensee said Friday he believes if he has a good spring, he should win the job.
''If it's just myself and Fordyce, I think I should get most of the playing time,'' he said. ''Even if they bring somebody in, I think I should win the job. But I'm not a Barry Larkin or a Reggie Sanders where my job is secure. I've still got to work hard.''
In the past Taubensee has watched as the Reds signed other catchers (Oliver and Benito Santiago) before spring training, but that appears unlikely this year because of the team's payroll constraints. Bowden said the left-handed hitting Taubensee, 30, has an edge in experience, but there will be competition for the job from Fordyce, a righty.
''We may end up platooning them,'' Bowden said. ''Eddie can hit 20 homers and drive in 80 runs.''
Manager Jack McKeon said Taubensee probably has the advantage right now because of his five-plus years in the major leagues. Last year he hit .268 with 10 home runs in limited action.
Fordyce, 27, played winter league ball in Puerto Rico and hit .274. It was reported he had sustained an injury while there, but Bowden said Friday that's not true.
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