Yes, Sooo Close, I can smell it!

Yes! Another step closer. I just need to start figuring out how to spend the entire month of March in AZ instead of just one week.

On a side note, isn't this Griffey's last year with the Reds. I know there's an option year, but in all practical purposes this should be it for Jr. (If the Reds even think about re-signing Jr., i.e Larkin's 3-yr deal, you got to question their sanity.)

$9m saved from Sarasota, another $9m from Jr. equals a couple starters.

Reds move closer to Arizona
BY JOHN FAY | JFAY@ENQUIRER.COM

The Reds are one step closer to moving their spring training operation from Sarasota, Fla., to Goodyear, Ariz.

Goodyear officials will meet in a closed session on Monday and consider an agreement that would allow them to negotiate exclusively with the Reds over a 90-day period and bring the team West for spring training.

“Subject to council approving this, we will enter into the agreement,” Reds consultant John Allen said Friday evening.

The 90-day exclusivity period would begin within days.

Allen, the team’s former chief operating officer, is leading the search for a new spring training facility.

“There are three parts of the deal that have to be worked out,” he said. “We have to work out a lease, get the financing in place and make plans for the facility.”

The Reds currently spend spring training in Sarasota, Fla., but the complex there needs repairs.

On Tuesday, Sarasota city and county officials considered a $41.3 million plan that would refurbish Ed Smith Stadium.

Sarasota city commissioners agreed to contribute $6.8 million toward the plan, and the Reds would contribute $9 million. But the county is being asked to contribute $17.6 million, and on Wednesday commissioners decided to table the discussion for two weeks.

By then, it may be too late. If, as expected, the Reds enter into negotiations with Goodyear officials, they cannot talk to any other cities, and Goodyear can’t contact any other teams.

That’s crucial to the Reds, who are worried other clubs in Arizona and Florida want to relocate to Goodyear.

Goodyear is 20 miles west of Phoenix, and will be the spring training home for the Cleveland Indians starting in 2009. City officials want a second team to share the complex, which includes a new 8,500-seat stadium.

If the Reds relocate to Goodyear, they will have separate practice fields, clubhouses and offices.

A second team will not move into Goodyear until 2010, at the earliest. The Reds can renew their lease for Ed Smith Stadium one year at a time through 2011.