The Reds and Dodgers have announced a swap that will send starter Zach Neal and first baseman Ibandel Isabel to Cincinnati. In return, the Los Angeles organization acquires recently designated reliever Ariel Hernandez.
Neal had already cleared waivers after being designated in the first week of April, so he won’t require a 40-man spot. He briefly appeared with the Dodgers after signing a minors deal in the offseason. Neal carries a 4.94 ERA with just 3.9 K/9 and 0.7 BB/9 in his 85 2/3 total MLB innings. The 29-year-old will presumably represent a depth option for the Cincinnati staff.
The Reds also pick up Isabel, a 22-year-old who has yet to move past the High-A level. He has produced some solid numbers in the low minors, though, including a .259/.327/.489 slash with 28 home runs over 492 plate appearances last year at Rancho Cucamonga. That showing did come with a rather unhealthy tally of 172 strikeouts, and the Dodgers obviously did not see cause to move him up the chain since he was back at the same level to open the 2018 season.
It’s certainly arguable that Hernandez is the most interesting player involved in this swap. He has huge stuff but hasn’t yet shown he can harness it at the game’s highest level. The Dodgers obviously are willing to place a bet that they can straighten him out. Hernandez worked to a 5.18 ERA with 29 strikeouts and 22 walks in 24 1/3 MLB innings in 2017.
The Dodgers will find a way to get the most out of a guy with an 80 FB and CB. Hernandez was fun to watch last year in mop up duty.
I mean, whatever, Hernandez isn’t anything special but he certainly has more upside than Neal.
Neal is good trade capital
Terrible trade for the Reds
They fixed Cingrani. Time to work on this former Red
Meh
Lmao the dodgers making blockbusters like this all year, hard to be suprised with the results thus far lol
Because 14 games means everything.
Dork!
Oh great now Aireal Hernandenez will be just like Brandon Morrow was. I bet he will finish the season 65 IP 2.03 ERA 42 SV, just because the Dodgers used their voodoo magic.
These type of moves byReds are reason the rebuild is unsuccessful. Why would you give away a promising pitching prospect for low level dodger prospects,? Nonsense move buy Williams; fleeced again.
Williams and Jockety are the worst gm’s in baseball… trade Cueto in prime, jay Bruce, Frazier in prime, Chapman, and don’t get one position player on the 40 man worth anything… came out that Seattle was going to trade Luiz Gohara for cozart and reds bulked at his medicals… how do they have a job?!
The Reds got Schebler for Frazier (not to mention Suárez for Simon and Castillo for Straily)
The Reds didn’t balk at Gohara’s medicals. They ran out of time before the trade deadline because they spent too much time on the Jay Bruce trade which didn’t get done until a half hour before the deadline. The GM didn’t have enough time to get the Cozart trade completed. Or so the story goes.
Exactly. And…that entire delay was for Dilson Herrera and Max Wottell. Herrera was DFA’d, no team claimed him, and now he is in High-A, presumably for split 2B and DH duties until his shoulder shows well enough for everyday play, and then, he would go to AAA – no DH. Wotell. Beats me. Still pounding ass in high Rookie ball, I guess.
you’re kidding right. They got Desclafani from Miami for Mat Latos then fleeced them again getting Luis Castillo for Dan Straily. I see your Walt Jocketty and raise you with Mike Hill.
Hernandez is 26 and one of the best arms in baseball… good move cincy to not keep him on your horrible roster and instead move him at his lowest… Jockety and Williams couldn’t find their a$$ with both hands!
This is not a rebuild. The Reds are the Castellinis cash cow. They push a relatively inexpensive (for them) product and pocket the competitive balance $$ while turning GABP into a gimmicky shopping mall. I’m sure they saw a way to save money with this deal. The returns for the core trades over the last few years were factored not in how they’ll help build the team, but in how much they would cost in the long run. They don’t deserve a major league franchise and I’m sure the player’s union hates them, while other owners are losing their patience. They could’ve signed any of a number of FAs this offseason for far less than what they would normally cost, and they come away with a retread like Pennington? Whom btw they kept on the roster and keep starting instead of young players. Don’t give me excuses like injuries etc. I swear I don’t understand fans who are making excuses for them (I’m not saying you are, I’m ranting with you) Wake up Reds fans you should be pissed
I couldn’t agree more. Reds seem satisfied to occupy the transitional gray area between rebuilding and retooling. The offense is capable of scoring just enough runs to keep fans’ attention, and the young pitchers SEEM promising if they can ever stay healthy (a vague dream that has faded into a mirage). Senzel and Greene are on the horizon, but what will this team look like when they arrive? Even if everything breaks just right in the coming years, and the youth develop into solid major leaguers, I don’t see the Reds signing any significant free agents (a la PIT) to get them to the next level. The only thing that will change the status quo in the front office is the next CBA if the league and union stop incentivizing mediocrity.
Rather a lot of excitement over a perfectly meaningless trade for both teams.
When this guy closes game 7 of the world series in the 14th inning it wont be meaningless
Oh.
Double-O.
Hernandez has a huge fastball but his control is just horrible. 6 BB/9 in the minors?
Yea, lots of potential but I, personally like Isabel’s power. 28 home runs in 122 games last year in high A.
I liked Hernandez early last season. He pitched well and the next day was sent down.. It didn’t make sense then and trading him now makes less sense.
6th year in minors and hit 250 in A ball… sounds like a stud… maybe in 6 more years the reds will have another stud 30 year old prospect like schebler and billy Hamilton!
There a lot to like about his massive power. Not much else to like though. This is sort of a trade of one dimensional players, power arm/massive pop. The Dodgers depth at 1st leads isabel and his inability to make adjustments high K guy expandable. Hernandez has a huge arm, but not really sure what the dodgers can do with him if anything. So it’s a meh trade until Hernandez miraculously gains some semblance of control.
One thing we’ve certainly found about this FO is they love hard throwers. I suppose their theory must be that velocity can’t be learned but control can.
They like guys with big spin rates too. His fastball, even though he can top out at 100+, gets hammered. His curve however, seems untouchable. Small sample, but opposing hitters hit just .071 against the curve last season in the majors. Opposing hitters hit just .222 off of the fastball, but slugged .569 against it. He drops a little over 9 mph on his change up from his fastball though. If they can fix the fastball command, they may just have something.
We’ve seen them stick with relievers throwing upper-90s cement mixer fastballs well beyond their sell-by dates. Took a long time before they finally gave up on Hatcher, and they still are trying to fix Baez. Hernandez feels like another long shot. Age 26 and yet to crack the upper minors doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
Other than a few games last year at the end of the season, Baez was pretty good. He’s off to a pretty good start this year, struck out all 4 batters that he faced last night. I don’t think there’s much that needs fixing there. I agree that they stuck with Hatcher too long, but they’ve had success with guys like Morrow, Cingrani, Watson, Fields etc. They got Chargois for nothing, and he looks pretty good after a few changes to his delivery too. Hernandez does seem like a longshot, but he’s a good guy to take a flyer on, and the guys they gave up for him had no clear spot on the roster. The way the Dodgers work, he could be gone before I even finish this comment. We’ll see..
Baez did benefit by throwing more off-speed pitches and picking up his pace. He’s always had stretches of effectiveness but they’ve never really compensated for the stretches when he isn’t. In addition to their love of hard throwers I also see this FO as thinking of relievers as so many interchangeable and dispensable arms, rather than pieces of any sort of stable bullpen. Like you said, we would not be half surprised to find tomorrow morning that Hernandez has been flipped for somebody else we’ve hardly heard of before.