It has been an eventful offseason from start to finish for the Reds. GM Nick Krall indicated the club is likely finished with major additions, as C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic covers on Twitter.
“I would say that for right now, there’s nothing on the horizon,” Krall says. That obviously doesn’t rule anything out. And the executive also noted that the team will continue to keep seeking opportunities to improve. But it seems a fair indication that the Cincinnati outfit isn’t actively engaged in any significant pursuits.
Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams already made clear recently that the team doesn’t expect to make a move involving top young talent Nick Senzel, who is perhaps the organization’s most intriguing potential trade chip. Instead, the intention seems to be to take advantage of Senzel’s positional adaptability and hope he taps into his upside.
The question remains: is this the right stopping point? By some accounts, the Reds are now the team to beat in the NL Central. On paper, there’s good reason to believe they’ll at least be in the thick of things. But the competition remains stout and the Reds have now dedicated enough resources that it arguably makes sense to push yet further to maximize the chances of winning in the next few seasons. It’s a quality roster, but shortstop and catcher remain areas susceptible of improvement.
Finding the right balance is always tough. The Reds previously parted with significant young talent to get to this stage — including young big leaguer Shed Long (for Sonny Gray) and top-100 prospects Taylor Trammell (for Trevor Bauer), Jeter Downs & Josiah Gray (for Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, and Kyle Farmer). Entering this winter, Williams explained, the “preference all along was to spend money and add to the club without touching our prospects.”
I get they are trying to find the right balance without depleting their farm, but the window is always small in the central if you aren’t the cubs or cards. Maybe you get away with hiding Galvis in the order and scoring enough it doesn’t matter. But if they stay still until the deadline, injuries could pop up and lower players value. Glad I’m in my chair and not in his!
What’s the rush ? You trade senzel for lindor or story you are Potentially creating another hole in your lineup See how the start of the season plays out and then adjust accordingly
if anyone is angry they didnt do more, who else are they gonna get, the kitchen sink?
So much for “don’t touch our farm system”…
DD – DW was talking about this offseason, and they didn’t touch the farm system.
Yes they did, they gave away Louisville Player of the Year Brian O’Grady for a PTBNL.
Krall was one of the best Klingon captains.
Krall looks like a Klingon even
The Reds aren’t making trades and giving up more of their competitive future for the present. There are no shortstops who present a clear upgrade from Galvis left on the market. As far as catchers go, there are 3-4 left on the market, but again- no clear upgrade. Unless they’re looking for an older version of what they already have, which also doesn’t make sense. Reds stand pat until the waiver wire or injury bug tell them otherwise.
No reason to go out and spend money or trade prospects on a catcher when we got 2 very viable options with Tucker and Casali, not only that and depending on the spring Tyler Stephenson has he may very well up with the team sooner than we expect. You will be hearing about him very soon!
They added some bling and still have OF trade chips to use if a good opportunity arises. I would be done at this point as well. Want to see the finished product on the field before pulling the trigger on anything else.
Nick Kroll has gone from fantasy sports to managing an actual team. Kudos to him.
Forever uncleeeaaaannnnnn!!!!!!
Chalupa Batman
Actually, I think he’s still playing fantasy sports.
Makes sense giving Galvis a chance to start the season the way everything played out. If you don’t like what u have in 3 months there’s story lindor and others out there.
I think they are going to need a catcher instead. Realmuto may eventually be available and Pérez from KC is a bounce back guy to keep an eye on.
Cleveland should contend. Lindor likely not out there at the deadline.
Cincinnati refused to give Marlins any prospects for Realmuto last offseason.
actually marlins took sanchez over home town hero india. Reds where players.
Nick’s sister Diana has a song about this. It’s called “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You”.
She sings it specifically about this coming season, but it’s a timeless song, really. Could be about any of the Reds’ seasons.
She also does a wonderful version of “Cry Me A River”, which works as well.
When Diana Krall song titles are your focus, you know your team did squat during the offseason.
They’d be foolish not to move some of their outfield depth to shore up the infield…Going into the season with Farmer and Vanmeter as your primary depth options at all 4 infield positions is a recipe for disaster…Not much out there on the SS market, but maybe the Royals would be willing to move Adalberto Mondesí?
Lol no
Trade Castellanos to the Cubs for Contreras. At least the Cubs fans would like it.
Cubs can’t hang up fast enough. Good catchers are hard to find and if the Cubs really wanted Castellanos, all they’d have had to pay was a small luxury tax penalty.
Senzel can play 2B or 3B just fine, so the Reds are OK there. SS is a big issue if Galvis goes down for any extended period. Suarez can play SS, but it isn’t pretty. Senzel probably could, too, but he’s never done it before.
Now if the Reds could only sign a Korean pitcher, then they could say their off season was a success.
It seems everyone is down on Galvis, but he is one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball. He also hit over 20 hrs last season. I would not finish off depleting the farm system to prove I’m all in. Freddy is good, please move on.
Freddy is just fine starting and batting at the bottom of the order on this team….. The problem is that they have zero depth at SS. No one else on the major league roster is even passable at the position, outside of an emergency start here or there, and no one in the minors is ready to for the jump up in the event of injury.
If Galvis goes down, they will certainly struggle. Suarez can play SS (for those who think he no longer can, 3B are SSs in the modern game vs most LH batters), but it wouldn’t be pretty. VanMeter can, too, but he’s not great defensively there, and that’s a significant drop-off. Blandino is next to worthless.
They have Alfredo Rodriguez who will be at AAA this season after hitting .286 at AA.. He is not a hitter, but his defense is elite. That would be my fall back in case of injury to Galvis( barring a trade).
In addition, they have a top SS prospect who will be at AA this season(Garcia). You have to think that he will be the Red’s SS in a couple of years. The same goes for catcher with Stephenson. at AAA this season.
Garcia and TySteve play in Dodgers or Yanks organization- they would be top 100 prospects no doubt.
The Reds obviously see what everyone else sees. They will add Brock Holt or another player to back up SS.
Wild card , they are still one to two players away from a great team
I still think the reds should use their outfield depth to acquire a Joe Jimenez or a ken Giles to secure the back end of the pen
Not surprised they’re keeping Senzel. They’ve improved as much as any team with the possible exception of the White Sox and their moves put them pretty much even with the Cards in the NL Central. That should be a fun division this year. With them beating up on each other, 94 wins could be enough to take it.
I see both arguments. It would be nice to see them add maybe Brock Holt for depth. But I get the wait and see option as well, Gotta be honest – I would have loved to see them go get Trevor Story. Especially after seeing the Dodgers get Mookie Betts.
Maybe this will be where Addison Russell finds a home…
I don’t blame them for trading prospects at this point. But, I was really hoping my Tigs would strike a deal for Senzel!
Naturally, a lot of teams were hoping to score Senzel. At least he isn’t going to the division-rival Indians (I say this as a White Sox fan).
Shortstop and Catcher are constantly mentioned as upgrades for the Reds. But where do they find those? The only possible upgrades would be via trade and most of the true upgrades are on contending clubs. It seems like their best option is to stand pat and possibly look to the trade deadline when clubs are no longer in contention.
“The Reds previously parted with significant young talent to get to this stage — including young big leaguer Shed Long”
Not really true: they actually parted with prospect Shed Long, who eventually became young big-leaguer Shed Long. Might seem like unimportant distinction but as written it creates a false narrative that they trade away young big league players which they don’t, they trade prospects (and vets like Bauer.)
It might seem like an unimportant distinction, but as written you create a false narrative that the Reds traded away Bauer, which they didn’t.
No reason to go out and spend money or trade prospects on a catcher when we got 2 very viable options with Tucker and Casali, not only that and depending on the spring Tyler Stephenson has he may very well up with the team sooner than we expect. You will be hearing about him very soon!
The bottom line is the Reds should be better in 2020. Some of the keys are Suarez returning to health, Senzel taking another step. JV, Castellanos, staying healthy.
Why is Taylor Trammell so highly rated? He’s been young for his levels, but his stats, particularly last year, aren’t overwhelming.
Other than Holt or Puig, not sure there’s much of value left on free agent market, though I wouldn’t mind if the Reds picked up one or both of those players. Not convinced Winker/Senzel will give them enough healthy games or offense as a third outfielder, and Holt would be a great fit with his versatility. This team cannot win if Votto gives them nothing – like he has the past two seasons – or if Bell continues to run Igelasias out there night after night when he’s failed so spectacularly so often. Will be hard to take them seriously if they just hand the closer job to Igelasias.
I am kind of surprised they did not offer a minor league deal to Zack Cozart.