Reds re-sign Mike Leake for 1 year

CINCINNATI - The Reds have avoided arbitration with starting pitcher Mike Leake, signing him to a 1-year extension.

Leake and the Reds announced Wednesday that they had agreed to a 1-year, $3.06 million deal to keep Leake in a Reds uniform.

This re-signing appears to put to rest the debate of whether or not Aroldis Chapman will be groomed for the starting lineup this year, but the Reds have yet to make an official announcement of their plans. With Leake in place, and left-handed middle-reliever Manny Parra recently signed, the Reds appear to have all the pieces of their rotation in place to comfortably keep Chapman as the closer and Jonathan Broxton as the set-up man, but Leake could be moved into a sixth-starter-when-needed role, and a long-reliever in the interim should the team go forward with moving Chapman into the starting rotation.

Leake, 25, was 8-9 with a 4.58 ERA in 2012 as the Reds' fifth starter. He made a career-high 30 starts and threw 179 innings.

With Leake settled, the Reds have three arbitration-eligible players remaining in Mat Latos, Homer Bailey and Shin-Soo Choo.

The eighth overall Draft pick in 2009, Leake became only the 21st drafted player to bypass the Minors and go directly to the Major Leagues. In his three seasons since debuting in 2010, he is 28-22 with a 4.23 ERA in 83 games, including 78 starts.

But 2012 was an inconsistent year, with Leake starting at 0-5 and a 7.71 ERA over his first six starts before turning things around to go 4-1 with a 3.02 ERA over the next 13 starts. He threw the first complete game of his career during a 5-1 win over the Giants on June 29.