Right-hander Nate Jones has been told he will make the Reds’ 30-man roster on Opening Day, as reported by multiple sources (including The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans). Once Jones’ minor league contract is officially selected by the team, he will lock in the prorated portion of a $1.5MM salary for the season. Another $1MM in incentives was originally available in Jones’ deal, and he’ll now aim for the prorated version of those bonuses as well.
Simply staying on the field for the entire season (even an abbreviated season) might count as enough of a bonus for Jones, given all of the injury problems he had faced throughout his career. Apart from a season of 70 2/3 innings in 2016, Jones hasn’t cracked even the 30-inning threshold since 2013, including a campaign of just 10 1/3 frames for the White Sox in 2019 before forearm surgery prematurely ended his year.
However, Jones has shown excellent form when healthy, with a career 3.12 ERA, 2.89 K/BB rate, and 9.8 K/9 over 291 1/3 innings. All of that work has come in a White Sox uniform, though Jones was dealt to Texas last summer as part of a trade that also saw the Rangers acquire $1MM in international spending funds. Now in his age-34 season, Jones is hoping to contribute to an intriguing Reds bullpen that also includes such names as Raisel Iglesias, Michael Lorenzen, Amir Garrett, and Robert Stephenson.
Hope he can stay healthy would be a great story
that’s a nice story
And to think that we could’ve kept him early last winter. Now we are searching for pieces in our pen while Nate Jones is making the Reds pen. Good on Jones for putting in the work, bad on the Rangers for just… being the Rangers. We are the Mets of the A.L.
Come back at the end of the season and let us know if you’re still of the same opinion..Anyone counting on Jones to be a key piece of a bullpen is delusional based upon his injury history,
I’m not saying he would be the end all be all of bullpen pieces, (and I do know of his injury history), but the Rangers don’t have a lot of depth in the pen, and even if we got an average Nate Jones, it would still help the depth in the pen. Him being injured wouldn’t help, but if we had Nate Jones right now (with the condition he’s in), it wouldn’t hurt.
He’s gonna be DFA by the first week of august
I sure wouldn’t regret not having him on my roster. This guys fastball has always been straight as a string and his head, never been exactly screwed on, too tight.
So I have found my AL Comeback Player of the Year candidate to root for in Nate Jones. I‘m really pulling for Daniel Bard (COL) to win it for the NL. Would be two great stories if these guys can come back and become major contributors for their respective teams.
Um.. Nate is on a NL team?
Haha, thanks for pointing that out! I had the Rangers on my mind when I wrote that.
Okay, so I want Nate Jones to be runner up to Daniel Bard in the NL Comeback Player of the Year ;-)
CYYRRRILLL FIGGGGIIISSSS… sorry had to get that out. Thanks for the posts as usual correct me if I’m wrong wasn’t Nate Jones a late inning reliever for team USA in the last WBC. I think I remember watching him and his little fist pump thing at the beginning of his motion and lighting opposing hitters up! Hope this young man has more good fortune!
I love this guy in Chicago. Hopefully for the Reds he can stay on the field.
He’s been great when healthy… so assuming he is now… this might be a great opportunity (shortened season) for him to prove he’s healthy enough to keep playing. Granted he isn’t young, but if he can pitch like he has in the past – and stay on the field – he could definitely wind up getting a solid major League offer this off-season, who knows maybe even a 2+ year contract. Talent and results wise… he’s worth it… it’s just a matter of actually staying on the field.
He’s been OK in Spring 2.0. Served up a bomb to Aquino a couple days ago.