The Reds announced a series of roster moves Thursday, most notably selecting the contract of left-handed reliever Kyle Crockett and optioning fellow southpaw Wandy Peralta to Triple-A Louisville in his place. Cincinnati opened a spot on the 40-man roster for Crockett by releasing Triple-A catcher Tony Cruz. Additionally, the Reds placed Scott Schebler on the bereavement list and recalled outfielder Phil Ervin from Louisville.
[Related: Updated Cincinnati Reds depth chart]
The decision to option Peralta was likely a disheartening one for the organization. The hard-throwing 26-year-old looked to be on the path to establishing himself as a quality big league reliever last season when he tossed 64 2/3 innings with a 3.76 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9 and a 54.2 percent ground-ball rate. Most encouragingly, Peralta showed minimal platoon splits (.287 wOBA vs. lefties, .298 vs. righties).
Unfortunately for Peralta, the 2018 campaign has been nothing short of a nightmare. He has more walks (25) than strikeouts (21) in 29 1/3 innings so far in 2018, and he’s hit a pair of batters as well. He’s allowed just one homer on the season, but his awful control in 2018 has resulted in a 6.14 ERA. Things have been particularly bad of late, as Peralta has surrendered 11 runs over his past five innings of work; he was charged with five earned runs without recording an out in his final appearance before being optioned.
Cincinnati will hope that Crockett, 26, can step into the role they’d set aside for Peralta. The 2013 Indians fourth-rounder was somewhat improbably the first player from his draft class to reach the Majors, and he did so in impressive fashion, posting a 1.80 ERA with a 28-to-8 K/BB ratio in 30 innings for Cleveland as a rookie in 2014. Since that time, however, he’s managed just a 4.84 ERA in 38 MLB innings. Crockett pitched well for Cleveland’s Triple-A club in 2017 and has a 4.00 ERA with a 23-to-5 K/BB ratio in 27 Triple-A innings this season.
Cruz, 31, hit .154/.154/.308 in 26 plate appearances this season while serving in a backup capacity for the Reds. However, the Reds picked up Curt Casali in a minor trade with the Rays, displacing Cruz as the backup to Tucker Barnhart. In 73 plate appearances with Louisville this year, Cruz has batted .188/.260/.344.
How’s the manager search going for CIN? When Price was fired 2 months ago, the GM stated they’d begin searching for a new Mgr later in the season? Is it still too early?
They’ll go with whoever is the cheapest
The roster is a lot more competitive than it was to start the season. Not sure if that was Price’s or Williams’ doing.
Williams is still in charge
How long until Crockett is back in Cleveland?
Riggleman isn’t a sexy pic, but he’s done a fine job managing this team after that dismal start. He deserves at least some consideration for manager
Since the first week of May, I believe they are 3 games over 500.
Maybe Riggleman’s found his groove. It’s nothing short of miraculous they’ve had that kind of success over the past month and a half.
Their offense is middle of the pack. Bullpen is solid. Well, really, the mainstays are very good – Iglesias, Hughes, Hernandez, Garrett and Lorenzen. As everyone knows, their starting pitching sucks. However, recently, they have come around. Bailey, Finnegan are gone. Replaced by Desclafani and Harvey (better than Bailey and Finnegan).
As of June 23 they are 22-23 since May 1. Not 3 over 500
No , your crazy , this is happen before with him he is not a good manager , to good mangers out there , that know what it takes to win