Reds Outright Seven Players

Here are the day’s outright assignments:

• The Reds have announced that seven players were outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster (h/t to C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer, on Twitter). On the chopping block were pitchers Nate Adcock, Collin Balester, David Holmberg, and Josh Smith, outfielders Brennan Boesch and Jason Bourgeois, and infielder/outfielder Kris Negron. Adcock, Balester, Boesch, and Bourgeois have all seen reasonably frequent MLB action but have bounced around quite a bit in recent years. Negron has appeared in each of the last three seasons in Cincinnati, compiling a .220/.296/.353 batting line over 270 plate appearances. Holmberg was acquired as part of the pre-2014, three-team deal that sent Heath Bell (from the Diamondbacks) and Ryan Hanigan to the Rays. He’s functioned as a depth starter, walking nearly as many batters as he’s retired via strikeout over his 58 1/3 MLB innings with Cincinnati. Smith made his MLB debut last year, allowing 25 earned runs in 32 2/3 innings of work, but found himself squeezed out by Cincinnati’s recent influx of young, upper-level pitches.