Reds president of baseball operations and general manager Dick Williams indicated today that his club’s “internal plan” is to boost MLB spending in 2019, as Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
“What we’ve said is that we’ve always tried to put as much of (the payroll) on the field as we can,” said Williams. “We now feel like the last couple of years, we’ve taken a lot of our resources and allocated them into the amateur draft, the international market. We hope that can shift back toward Major League payroll.”
While he did not commit to specifics, Williams certainly indicated that the organization is hoping to build off of some recent positive momentum on the field. He said that the club “believe[s] that we’re creating a good core to invest around.”
Though the Reds remain buried in the NL Central, the club has played much better of late. In addition to receiving solid contributions from much of the lineup, the pitching staff has shown some promise after years of struggles.
Among the organization’s building blocks are several players already signed to long-term deals, including star first baseman Joey Votto, third bagger Eugenio Suarez, and catcher Tucker Barnhart. In addition to some major strides from the bullpen, starters Tyler Mahle and Sal Romano have turned in improved results over the last month or so.
It’s interesting to note, of course, that the Reds remain in an obvious selling position at the trade deadline. That said, starter Matt Harvey is perhaps the team’s only truly marketable pending free agent. And the intended future course could counsel against significant moves involving controllable players, even those who aren’t under club control for the long haul. Second baseman Scooter Gennett, outfielder Billy Hamilton, and veteran relievers Raisel Iglesias, Jared Hughes, and David Hernandez are among the names that surely have or will come up in trade chatter. But none of those players will qualify for free agency at season’s end, and most of the rest of the roster comes with even lengthier control.
With half of the 2018 season still yet to be played, of course, the plans could still undergo some change. Williams cautioned that “it’s too early to know for sure” just what course the Reds will chart. He noted that “support we get from the fans” will play a role, perhaps hinting at the fact that attendance is down quite a bit in Cincinnati, as Nightengale explains.
The hope and expectation, though, seems to be that there’ll be added funds available for some additions. What types of players might be targeted will surely also be a function of how things shape up over the coming months, though pitching promises to be a focal point. As things stand, though, Williams foresees a “nice increase” in payroll. The club began the present season at just over $100MM after falling shy of that mark in the prior two campaigns. The team’s Opening Day record, of $115MM and change, came in 2015.
If I say, “Sell the team”, does that make me insensitive?
Just out of touch.
It’s insensitive if the only reason you want them to sell is so your favorite team can reap the rewards
For every 10 mins I spend on the site, I have 18 pop up scams offering me a free iPhone.
Interesting; I get zero pop-ups since joining the last 3-years…
That means you have a lot of Spyware on your machine.
I use the app and the website and while the app occasionally sends me somewhere else the website never does. And I use both Apple and PC devices.
I call it the Amazon pop-ups of death.
You must be using safari. If you don’t use the app, and use iOS, download another browser from app store like “Aloha Browser” which fixed the problem for me.
Changed my browser to DuckDuckGo and havent had issues since. Thanks for tip.
also firefox with ublock helps and i barley get pop ups on firefox for ios
I have been using this site for many years and have never had a single pop up. Firefox gets a lot of flak, but it suppresses pop ups better than anything.
Dick Williams: “Hey Jeff! How were my comments received on MLBTR last night?”
Jeff: “Uh, well, most of the comments concerned the pop-ups on the site, Firefox, and iOS, so……….”
XD
We gotta go with what we know…you know.
“Your comments drew rave reviews……..from scammers – they were so pleased they offered our users free iPhones.
I always get pop ups on my phone too kinda weird.
Taking all of Williams’ comments into account, it seems to me that the likelihood of Gennett being traded by the deadline is fairly remote because CIN still has a year of control, and there isn’t a replacement waiting in the wings unless they see Senzel at 2B for next year. It’s hard to gauge what exactly they’d get back for Gennett in a trade. Not sure if LAD would include Verdugo, but I’d be surprised. Of the current contenders LAD, BOS, and MIL are the only teams I can think of who need an upgrade at 2B.
Agreed. If they are adding payroll they might as well keep Gennett if they are looking to win next year.
Verdugo is exactly what the Reds need on paper, but moving Gennett would be a hard call considering the intangibles he brings to the club.
Looking at that lineup, I figure if Cinci can get some pitchers, they could very well compete for a playoff spot, especially if Riggleman is offered a contract for next year as Manager
Cincy thinking it can compete in the near future is like DC thinking another Jared Leto Joker movie is a good idea.
Cincy has been a very good team since Riggleman took over. That same thought pattern was mention when the Phils signed Carlos Santana and that seems to have worked out okay for them. I say good for the Reds for not just accepting mediocrity and hoping things work out better in 3 years.
Just curious…when Santana comes to bat, does the organist play “Black Magic Woman”?
Good question. Personally I prefer Smooth, but Black Magic Woman is a good song too.
Flagged 😉
Add 2 legit SP and where are the holes? 3/4 infielders are all stars, Winker and Schebler are above average bats, Barnhart is gold glove with an average bat, Peraza about the same
Weird, Someone who has zero idea what the Reds farm system looks like and how they have been progressing has an opinion and thinks he knows what he is talking about. How shocking!
This is true and a quick look at the reveals a lot. They are 4th in the NL in runs scored but they are 13th in ERA and last in WHIP this year. The starters especially have been bad. Of the 7 starters they have used only 1 has an ERA under 4.00. Honestly if they were to get 2 decent starters in the off season and Castillo bounces back to his 2017 form they could easily be in the wild card race next year with the offense in place already. If I was the Reds I would be willing to listen to offers only if I was getting near ready MLB pitchers in return unless it was a pending free agent.
starters era under 4 if you throw out April. they have 3 solid. they still need one more to develop for the plan to work.
They need to be in on Jacob Degrom. He has 2 full years of control after this season at an affordable price. They have senzel who has scooter in front of him and India behind him and would be one of the best prospects any team would offer for Degrom. With Degrom and a commitment to increased spending, they could really contend next season especially if somebody like Garrett Richards is out there to get.
Degrom
Richards
Castillo
Disco
Mahle
A more than formidable rotation.
Can’t disagree with that. They need 1-2 starters and another bullpen arm and I think they will be in good shape.
I feel like Hughes can take some of the load off Iglesias and give the manager some versatility. Iglesias is still the closer but if you need him to get the team through the 6th or 7th inning against a good line-up he can do that too.
Mahle, DeSclafani, and Castillo (if he can recapture his 2017 form) are all key parts of this rotation for 2019. If they can fill those other spots, probably at least one of which needs to be filled outside the organization, this could be a very good team in 2019
I would again like to suggest that the Reds should target Shane Bieber and/or Mike Clevinger from Cleveland in potential trades this summer for Gennett or Iglesias because that would immediately fill that hole.
I’ll believe it when I see it
If the Braves call and offer, Luis Gohara, Colby Allard, & Austin Riley for Eugenio Suarez do you say no. Two MLB ready pitchers, & 3 top 100 prospects
Hmm, I think Cincinnati would theoretically hold Suarez – who’s legitimately a star now – considering his contract, etc, but it would probably take a deal like that to make them even consider the notion. I think that a more attractive #1 piece would be needed, but the overall depth of your package seems about right.
they will have some serious money to add in the best 2 years if they don’t screw it up and hold scooter. they only way he should get a deal as if its short and cheap. they need a arm or 3. even 5 quality arms is not enough. payroll for 2020 should be around 130 with the new TV loot
If they can get 2 – 3 solid to great starters they will for sure compete next season. Honestly if they didn’t start out 3 – 100 to start the season they actually would be in the wild card hunt this year.
No way they can compete without adding way more pitchers and they don’t really have anybody that can pitch in the minors either.
“We now feel like the last couple of years, we’ve taken a lot of our resources and allocated them into the amateur draft, the international market. We hope that can shift back toward Major League payroll.”
Does that mean they won’t keep spending on the amateur draft/international market? Not spending to the max in those cases is a huge detriment to the team. Any money “reallocated” wouldn’t make a dent in terms of MLB payroll, and would completely ruin their future. Would be more honest if he admitted “we didn’t spend money because we weren’t going anywhere, anyway.” He’s reallocating it from his pocket.
Of course, he didn’t estimate how much they’d be increasing payroll. Could be by $1.00 and he’s not lying.
It about time the Reds spent some money.
Unfortunately, winning a few games lately could hurt the Reds more than help. Now foolish fans think they might be able to compete sooner then they should & complain loudly when they trade Gennett, Hamilton (who has looked great for the last month), Iglesias and Harvey. They have decent replacements for each one & should be able to net more young pitching to help in the next 2-5 years, while at the same time compete for a wild card next year. Best thing that could happen now is that the Brewers, Cards, and Cubs spend valuable prospects at the deadline this year thus weakening them for the big Reds move in ’20. Scooter at $10M next year is a waste. Dilson Herrera could be a good place holder for Senzel/India.
So you think they should just be okay with mediocrity this year and next year just to hope that the rest of the division might be bad enough in two years for you to hope to compete? I just don’t understand some people’s lack of desire to compete. It’s just sad.
Senzel/India are nothing but prospects. Yes they have a lot of potential, but so did a lot of other former top 5 picks that flopped. And Dilson Herrera has not even proven he could start in the minors, let alone take the place of an All Star at the big league level. I think the Reds should trade Senzel+ for Syndergaard. He would be the veteran ace they are missing and come with enough control to be worth losing even a top prospect. Worst case scenario, it doesn’t work, they will lose and end up with another pick that will turn into a prospect like Senzel. Better than not trying at all.
If the Reds keep Riggleman as manager and get some pitching help, the NL Central will be the best in baseball. It wasn’t that long ago when people used to call it the Comedy Central. Now look
Um, both the amateur draft & international market have strict (and very low) monetary caps. How were the Reds allocating “a lot of [their] resources” there in a manner that would keep them from FA spending that they’ll now do? Either this is BS cover rationale or codespeak for “we’ve spent the last few years pocketing a bunch of dough,” or their “resources” don’t really deserve that name. A team can quite easily max both without having to say “well, it was that or spend in free agency, so….”
thank you, you pretty much articulated what crossed my mind when I read that
I think they should trade Billy Hamilton. He could fetch a couple decent pieces in trade to be a bench player on a contender. However, let’s be honest: He’s never going to be a quality regular on a contending team. If the Reds think they’ll contend as soon as next year, then they really have no use for him, at least not at the salary he’ll make on his last trip through arbitration.
Go get Snell and Syndagaard! You have the prospects and can’t develop a bowl movement after a whole day Mexican buffet! Controllable through the end of Joey Votto contract and 2 aces immediately make us a contender… Sign scooter, schebler long term and you have a good enough lineup in Votto, Scooter, Suarez, Schebler, and the rest of the minor leaguers… no way Scooter doesn’t sign a 4 year 50/60 million right now!!!
Bowel hahah