Smiley Signs With the Reds for Four Years, $18.4 Million

John Smiley became the first premier free agent to sign this off-season, agreeing to an $18.4-million, four-year contract with the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.

The 27-year-old left-hander returns to the National League after a season with the Minnesota Twins, for whom he went 16-9. Pittsburgh traded him to Minnesota on March 17 after he agreed to a $3.44-million, one-year deal with the Pirates.

In his new deal, Smiley gets a $1.5-million signing bonus, $3.1 million in 1993 and $4.6 million for the following three seasons.

“I feel real good about this. I’m glad things worked out,” Smiley said from his home in Pennsylvania. “I think we can bring a championship back to Cincinnati. We have all the tools right now.”

Smiley, who has pitched more than 200 innings in four of the last five seasons, joins left-hander Tom Browning and right-handers Tim Belcher and Jose Rijo in the Reds’ rotation. Smiley is 76-51 in seven seasons.

“We made it very clear that we wanted either to re-sign Greg Swindell, or our first choice out there was John Smiley,” Cincinnati General Manager Jim Bowden said. “Those were the only two; we wanted to have a left-handed pitcher.”

Bowden has reshaped the Reds since replacing Bob Quinn as general manager five weeks ago. He traded reliever Norm Charlton to the Seattle Mariners for Kevin Mitchell and sent Paul O’Neill to the New York Yankees for Roberto Kelly.