Headlines

  • Yankees Sign Matt Carpenter To Major League Contract
  • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings
  • Alex Reyes To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
  • Counsell: Freddy Peralta To Miss “Significant” Time
  • Dodgers Extend Blake Treinen
  • Brewers To Place Freddy Peralta On Injured List Due To Shoulder Tightness
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2022
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Arbitration Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Dick Williams On The Reds’ Deadline Approach

By Ty Bradley | June 15, 2019 at 4:00pm CDT

The 30-37 Reds sit tied for last in the talent-rich NL Central, but the team’s white flag still hangs far from full mast, as Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer explores. President of Baseball Ops Dick Williams, who embarked on a full-scale rental shopping spree last offseason, acquiring Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, the now-departed Matt Kemp, and Tanner Roark in win-now moves intended to revitalize a listless fanbase, explained his reasoning in a series of quotes for the piece.

“Our only focus right now is to get the most out of these guys, win and improve the roster where we can,” Williams said. “Right now, we’ve got Wood and Gennett as planned additions to the team. That’s two pretty good boosts. We still feel like this is very much an upwards trajectory. The potential is there for this team, this group of guys.”

Though it’s certainly conceivable that Scooter Gennett and Alex Wood, each still at least two weeks away from returning, with the latter perhaps closer to a month or more, could be the catalysts to jumpstart a sputtering Cincinnati club into gear and overcome the team’s long playoff odds (3.5%, per FanGraphs’ latest estimate), the rational outlook has the team entering preparations to sell, a fact of which Williams is surely aware. “There will be decisions to be made,” Williams noted, with the hard-to-ignore subtext hovering.

Puig, Wood, and Gennett entered the season as the team’s three most obvious trade chips, should the team’s course head south, though none of the trio now figures to net the return Cincy was surely banking on. Puig has endured easily the worst season of his career to this point, slashing just .222/.264/.393 (66 wRC+) while flashing little of his trademark ball-hawking in right field. Though Wood’s injury isn’t of the elbow, forearm, or shoulder variety, his history in that area is checkered, and contenders are unlikely to offer much for a rental mid-rotation starter just a week or so back from a three-month stint on the IL. Gennett’s value suffers from the same malaise as does Wood’s, though second-base offense around the league has slumped a bit this year, and his left-side thump may be just the plug a team with a gaping hole at the keystone needs.

Roark has thus far been excellent for the club, striking out batters at a career-best rate en route to a sterling 1.6 fWAR in 13 early-season starts. Deeper peripheral marks are unconvinced, though, as Roark’s 7.0% HR/FB is easily the lowest of his career, and his typically-high grounder rate has plummeted to far below league-average depths at 33.5%. His mid-to-back-end track record, too, likely won’t have teams champing at the bit to get a piece, especially with just two-plus months remaining on his deal at the time of a prospective deal.

The best course of action, then, may be for the Reds to consider perhaps-discounted extensions with at least a few of their free-agents-to-be. “We’re getting to that point where at least you want to put it on the table and start to see if there is mutual interest,” Williams said, while taking care to note that there’s “no urgency” on that front. Cincinnati did gift another offseason acquisition, Sonny Gray, with a longer-team deal of his own after he’d just finished the worst season of his career, so it’s possible this back-hatch pivot was a part of the Reds’ blueprint all along.

Share 0 Retweet 2 Send via email0

Cincinnati Reds Dick Williams

Indians Claim Jordan Stephens
Main
MLB Draft Signings: 6/15/19
View Comments (8)

Comments

  1. batty

    3 years ago

    It was an ill-conceived plan from the start. Believing you could rely on Kemp was just silly. Puig has skills, but he’s as erratic as they come.

    Reply
    • hiflew

      3 years ago

      I doubt very seriously anyone with the Reds thought Kemp was the key to that deal. Puig has disappointed on the stat sheet, but he has quickly become a fan favorite in Cincy. His work in the community with sick kids is unparalleled. I never liked Puig as a Dodger mainly due to the uniform he wore and his antics could get a little annoying at times, but I have changed my mind about him. And I am not even a Reds fan.

      Reply
      • batty

        3 years ago

        I said nothing of Kemp being the key. But they had to expect him to be more reliable. I don’t get into anyone’s charitable contributions, because that’s a very different subject.

        Reply
        • ksoze

          3 years ago

          Kemp was always just a necessary piece to get Wood and Puig, but we’ve seen how that worked out.

        • Kevin

          3 years ago

          Kemp was only in the deal as a salary dump.

    • johnrealtime

      3 years ago

      I thought it was laudable that a rebuilding team actually made some moves to try and compete without mortgaging the future. Making more moves than they did would have thrown off the rebuild, doing less would have been tanking.

      Didn’t work out but definitely injected some excitement into the team going into the season. Can’t please everyone tho

      Reply
  2. Show Me Your Tatis

    3 years ago

    Knowing the Reds they’ll hold all of them at the deadline, miss they playoffs and then those players will all move onto other teams.

    Reply
  3. imgman09

    3 years ago

    …..They tried,didn’t work,like there the only one ever?Get over it!!!There are Teams that never try!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register

ad: 300x250_1_MLB

    Top Stories

    Yankees Sign Matt Carpenter To Major League Contract

    2022-23 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings

    Alex Reyes To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

    Counsell: Freddy Peralta To Miss “Significant” Time

    Dodgers Extend Blake Treinen

    Brewers To Place Freddy Peralta On Injured List Due To Shoulder Tightness

    Mariners Sign Justin Upton

    Chad Green To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Orioles Promote Adley Rutschman

    Luis Gil To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Carter Kieboom To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Cardinals To Promote Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore; Tyler O’Neill To IL

    Max Scherzer Likely Out Six To Eight Weeks Due To Oblique Strain

    Chris Paddack Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

    Brandon Lowe Diagnosed With Stress Reaction, Shut Down For At Least Three Weeks

    Recent

    Yankees Sign Matt Carpenter To Major League Contract

    Yankees Sign Shane Greene To Minors Deal

    Diamondbacks Reinstate Cooper Hummel

    Marlins Announce Series Of Roster Moves

    MLB, MLBPA Agree To Extend 14-Pitcher Limit Through June 19

    Angels Select Juan Lagares, Designate Mike Mayers

    White Sox Place Joe Kelly On IL With Hamstring Strain

    Ildemaro Vargas Elects Free Agency

    Cardinals Place Jordan Hicks On IL With Forearm Strain

    Guardians Designate Yu Chang, Select Oscar Gonzalez

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Trevor Story Rumors
    • Frankie Montas Rumors
    • Michael Conforto Rumors
    • Arbitration Tracker
    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Go Ad-Free
    • MLB Player Chats
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent Tracker
    • 2021-22 MLB Free Agent List
    • Top 50 Free Agents
    • 2022-23 MLB Free Agent List
    • Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2022
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    ad: 160x600_MLB

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • Feeds by Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top
    Close

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version