Jeff Shaw career stats

        Even with discounts and deferrals, free-agent reliever Jeff Shaw is too expensive for the Reds.

        The Reds informed Shaw's agent, Joe Bick, that they would not be making a counter-offer to the deal Bick proposed on Dec. 4.

        “It's disappointing,” Bick said. “We did everything we could to work this thing out.”

        Bick proposed a 1-year deal with $1.5 million in base salary and $4 million in deferred payments over 10 years after Shaw retired. Bick was expecting the Reds to come back with a proposal for a two-year deal.

        “We expected to hear something Friday,” Bick said. “But we didn't hear anything. Then they called (Monday) and said they couldn't make it work financially.”

        Reds assistant general manager Doc Rodgers confirmed that.

        The Reds tried and failed to trade Pokey Reese at the winter meetings in Boston last week. They must trade Reese, who made $3.1 million last year and is eligible for arbitration, to meet their payroll budget of $43 million.

        It was assumed that the Reds might pursue Shaw after trading Reese. But that won't likely happen. Asked whether the Reds may counter after they trim the payroll, Rodgers said, “I'd rather not comment on that.”

        Bick came away from Monday's conversation convinced that nothing would be worked out.

        “That's too bad, because Jeff really wanted to play for the Reds,” Bick said.

        Shaw, 35, saved 43 games for Los Angeles last year. The Dodgers exercised the buyout option in his contract, making him a free agent.

        Shaw was willing to accept much less from the Reds since he lives in Washington Court House. He commuted to and from there when he spent 1996-98 with the Reds.

        A closer with Shaw's resume is worth $8 million on the open market. If the Reds had signed Shaw, they likely would have moved closer Danny Graves to the starting rotation or tried to trade him.

        While the Reds were Shaw's first choice, Bick has also talked with Boston, Baltimore and Texas.

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