He would have been up last year if he didn’t tear a ligament in his finger in June. The fact of the matter is that service time manipulation probably made the decision easier, but he never played a real life regular season game in the outfield. It doesn’t hurt to have him down for a few weeks to accomplish that. Plus, who cares about service time manipulation? The Reds have proven that if the player is a quality player, they will receive an extension before arbitration that will buy out their arbitration years before they even hit arbitration. Players that immediately come to mind are Votto, Bruce, Suarez, Barnhart, Cueto, Iglesias and Mesoraco. The dude will get paid anyways if he proves it after the next two seasons. It’s in the Reds’ track record.