Jocketty says Reds won't trade Todd Frazier

Reds general manager Walt Jocketty is deliberately vague when he talks about trades. "We're always trying to make the club better" is his standard line.

But Jocketty was very specific about one thing Thursday: Todd Frazier is not going to be traded.

"No, I wouldn't trade him," he said. "I think all that talk is coming from the New York media."

Frazier is having a terrific year — .283, 25 home runs, 54 RBI. He's second in the majors in homers and third in the National League in slugging (.603). He's also relatively cheap. He makes $3.75 million this year, $8.25 million next year and is arbitration-eligible in 2017.

So his trade value is high.

The fact that Jocketty said the Reds will not trade him is an indication the Reds are not looking at a long-term rebuild. Still, the Reds have to be seen as sellers at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.

The most likely players to be traded are free-agents-to-be Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake. Aroldis Chapman, who is a free agent after 2016, is seen as another trade chip. Marlon Byrd, Brayan Pena and Manny Parra are other veterans likely to provoke interest.

Jocketty said the Reds are not in serious trade talks with any teams.

"It's pretty quiet," Jocketty said. "We're not really engaged in any talks yet."

Jocketty said it's unlikely that the Reds would make a trade before the All-Star Break.

"I don't anticipate anything happening," he said. "But you never know."

Thursday was the first day international players could be signed. Jesse Sanchez of mlb.com reported that the Reds signed Dominican outfielder Cristian Olivo, the 23rd best prospect available, for $1 million.

Jocketty would not confirm.

"We're still working on some things," he said. "But we're pretty close with the guy."

The Reds have become small players on the market under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Sanchez reported that the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Cuban right-hander Yadier Alvarez, rated by some as the No. 1 player available, for $16 million and two other players for $4.6 million more.

Under the new CBA, teams are allotted so much to sign international players. In the Dodgers' case, it was $2 million. Teams that exceed their pool by more than 10 percent pay a 100 percent penalty and are not allowed to sign players for more than $300,000 for the next two years.

"It's made it tough on us," Jocketty said. "We're not in a position to pay the penalties. It's one thing to pay the signing bonuses."

There's been talk of a world-wide draft. The Reds would favor that.

"Everybody would be on a equal basis then," he said. "If we don't do a draft, we have to develop some kind of system that keeps bigger-market clubs from signing players smaller-market clubs can't."