The Reds have failed to add an established shortstop since last season ended, leaving them with Kyle Farmer and Jose Garcia as the leading in-house candidates to handle the position at the beginning of 2021. Third baseman Eugenio Suarez played a significant amount of short at the start of his career, so perhaps he’d be able to emerge as the Reds’ solution there now, though manager David Bell said the club is not considering the 29-year-old for the spot, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com relays. While the Reds “know” Suarez is cut out for the position, they have not had “any serious discussions about it yet,” per Bell. Putting Suarez at short could enable the Reds to move Mike Moustakas from second to third, where he has played for the majority of his career, or open up the keystone for Nick Senzel.
- Free-agent right-hander Anibal Sanchez has rejected “multiple” major league offers since he held a showcase a month ago, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Sanchez is holding off on signing for the time being over concerns centering on COVID-19 and the protocols that accompany it, though he’s not opting out of the season as of now, per Heyman. The soon-to-be 37-year-old struggled last season as a member of the Nationals, with whom he logged a 6.62 ERA/5.03 SIERA in 53 innings.
- Blue Jays free-agent pickup Tyler Chatwood revealed that he will work as a late-inning reliever in 2021, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet relays. Chatwood, who joined the Jays for a $3MM guarantee, has started in 143 of 197 career appearances, but the righty mostly had a rough time out of the Cubs’ rotation from 2018-20. Historically, though, there hasn’t much difference between Chatwood’s work in either role. The sample size is much larger as a starter, but he has a 4.38 ERA/.337 weighted on-base average allowed in that job versus a 4.53 ERA/.332 wOBA as a reliever.
- Outfielder/designated hitter Shin-Soo Choo returned to his native Korea on Monday, signing a one-year, $2.4MM contract. But Choo indicated that he heard from up to eight major league teams that offered him more money than he’ll make in Korea, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In explaining why he chose to go to the Korea Baseball Organization, Choo said, “I want to play in Korea because I want to play in front of my parents and I want to give back to Korean fans.” As Wilson notes, the 38-year-old Choo’s parents have never seen him play pro ball in person. They’ll now get that opportunity.
Firsties
Stop baby talking. Nobody thinks that it’s cute.
Choo chooooooo gonna miss him
wow, that’s surprising! with all the money Choo made you would think his parents would have come to the US and see him play. wonder if they were afraid to fly.
I agree but I am sure there is a good reason for it. His parents were probably young children during the Korean War and one of them might have had a bad experience with an American soldier. Also, the Koreans are very superstitious people. They might have booked a flight and then something happened or someone warned them not to go. I have no doubt Choo tried to get them here for at least a small vacation but for whatever reason they declined. He seems to be a nice guy and very well adjusted so he probably has really good parents.
You may be the dumbest SOB on this site. And that is quite an accomplishment.
Dude, what? LOL
Cool story about Choo I didn’t know about. Had a great career.
Reds should sign Ehire Adrianza in the event farmer and Garcia struggle.
There a little late, Braves beat them to it.
Adrianza is probably not going to make the Braves so the Reds may still have a chance later
Not with Lamb and Kipnis your probably right.
I don’t think they feel confident with Camargo as SS backup and Adrianza looks better than Jack Mayfield.
Adrianza might be better than carmargo
Putting Suarez at SS is like something you did on Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball on N64 because it didn’t matter. I don’t know how it would go in real life but I’d love to see the Reds do it.
Suarez Is well past his ss time heck if not for votto I’d say he’s past his 3b time as well. Like you said only works in video games.
At first I scoffed at the idea, Suarez is listed at 215 lbs. but I think the last couple years it’s been closer to 225-230. So clearly he’d need to drop some weight to perform the constant heel turns at SS.. However, looking at the pictures coming in from Goodyear he looks considerably skinnier if not svelte. So, who knows what the Reds might have up their sleeve.
Reds should trade Gray and Castillo to the Blue Jays for VGJR and a C (either Reese or Jansen)
Lol
Maybe Groshans, Woods Richardson, and Maile
Sonny Gray was god awful in the AL East. Don’t think the Jays would have any interest there. They’d have interest in Castillo, but Vlad Jr. wouldn’t be part of any deal
@ericl why not? It’s not like Vlad Jr. set the world ablaze. He’s still young so there’s hope but I don’t think he’s gonna be the player everyone thought. They have two better looking youngsters in Biggio and Bichette already performing at a higher level and more coming up so if it takes a guy like Guerrero to get quality arms then they should do it.
Just too soon to give up on a 22-year old who tore apart the minor leagues. The hope is Vlad keeps the weight off and excels as he continues to mature. Also too soon to suggest Bo and Biggio have surpassed him on the spectrum.
But the Jays should be exploring the idea of trading for Gray. He’d be slotted as the #2 on this current squad.
Pro leagues are “what have you done for me lately?” leagues. Bichette has easily surpassed VGJR, in trade value, importance to franchise, and as a player. Biggio, probably not.
Bichette hasn’t easily surpassed Vlad. Not yet. If this is a “what have you done for me lately” league then durability and small sample sizes prove Bo is not the cut above you claim as east.
Yankees had gray pitching differently. Wasn’t ALE it was because of that.
Castillo would cost a ton young. Very good. Cost controlled. Three or four years. He won’t be had for scraps and would only be dealt for someone that could play today. Which wouldn’t be vlad
Put the Budlight down, Selig…..
What is it about having a two-time gold glove Award winner behind the plate that tells you the Reds need a new catcher?
You do realize Barnhart just won his second gold glove?
Typically teams try to trade from a strength for a need. your scenario does not do that.
And where would Vlad play? He’s not going to displace Bottom, and Suarez isn’t moving to SS. Fever dream proposal from a Blue Jays fan, it seems.
No because Vladdy is still young and fits on this impressive young team… I don’t think the Jays would give him up. I believe it’s more realistic if they just went after Sonny Gray. I really like him and he would fit amazing on this team
Why not Jonathan India at short?
no need to rush him
He’s 24 and been a pro for 3 years. Hardly a rush for a top 5 pick w 3 years of college ball on his resume. He won’t cut it at short though
Why not just try Senzel at SS?
Idk what’s wrong w Garcia ? He was a 21 year old rookie last season. I thought all along it’s his job to loose and then the last article said he’s starting in minors. Fa graphs has him as reds top prospect
Probably the 67 ABS with 26 k’s last year. Good for a 7 OPS+ which is 93% below major league average.
That’s about as good as Bartolo Colon. Now, we’ll give him a break because he was young and it was a weird year but he needs to improve exponentially. There’s some hope he can based on a pretty solid 2019 in the minors.
Why didn’t Choo fly his folks to the States for a couple of games? Seems kinda odd that they haven’t seen him play.
Equally odd is that 8 Mlb teams were interested.
That part isn’t odd at all. Choo is still a good hitter. He’d be a solid DH at this point in his career, and would be even better as a platoon DH.
Exactly, he made enough money every year to move them to the States, why couldn’t he bring them for a game or series?
Maybe his folks didn’t want to come to this God forsaken land lol.
I was wondering the same thing, so I read the linked article. It doesn’t give any insight as to why he didn’t fly his parents out earlier in his career, but it does say that he had planned to bring them out at start of the season, but Covid ruined that plan. He tried again late in the season, but travel was still restricted.
Or sign with one of the “eight MLB teams” (doing major air quotes – he’s a Boras client after all), finish off your MLB career properly and then have your parents attend one of your Korean beer league games in the coming years.
I know. The guy is a total idiot, right? Being nice to his parents instead of taking more money? Loser!!!
/s
Gotta love the American exceptionalism …
Glad Choo made this decision on his terms. You don’t have to get it to respect it.
And of course MLB teams were interested in Choo. Last year was only 1/3 of a season. Which means he’s only a third of a season removed from being an OBP machine.
Someone’s mad that no one attended their beer league games, by the looks.
He joins a long list of players going home. Never been anything like this in mlb history as far as I can remember. Maybe they all see the writing on the wall that it’s time to get the hell out why u still got a chance :-/
Bot, I don’t disagree, but I think the “writing on the wall” is actually that Korean and Japanese Pro Ball are totally viable alternatives to MLB and have rapidly become MLB’s competitors instead of pipelines. I think it says more positive about these leagues than it does negative of MLB.
Or maybe he has just “lived his dream” and wants to be closer to his family? I’d give about anything to get more time with my parents. Once their gone, you can’t get ‘em back. Maybe not everyone values the almighty $$ as others? Choo was nothing but class while playing in this country, cut him some slack.
His parents are much more traditional.
They will only travel by Choo Choo train.
The Jays have Yates, Dolis & Romano in their late inning roles. I don’t see where Chatwood fits there as a late inning reliever
Same. I view him as kind of a mop-up man, long reliever type who can start on occasion if need be. I feel like the Jays could have added a better reliever than him for a similar price.
Chatwood pitches to ensure none of those guys pitch 3 days in a row. There is your fit.
I trust Chatwood to pitch in the late innings of any games where the Jays are behind or ahead by 5+ runs.
What a great story about Choo! So happy he gets to finish his career in his homeland and play in front of his parents for the first time. He’s already set for life based on how much he made in MLB but it is refreshing to hear that he turned down larger salaries to fulfill his dreams. If his parents lived in Pittsburg and he took less to play there, the MLBPA would crucify him!
I’ve always liked Choo, and what he did for the Rangers minor leaguers this past season really won me over on him. I hope he continues to succeed in South Korea.
Chatwood is likely going to pretty good out of the pen. When the Cubs moved him there in 2019, his velocity spiked and he’s always had good stuff that probably plays better out of the pen. Of course, I’ve never seen a pitcher spike as many fastballs as Chatwood so who knows?
There are direct flights to LA and a huge Korean population, Korean shopping area, restaurants, etc here in OC.
Why not fly the folks out for a series? T
After Apolo Anton Ohno? No thanks.
Choo’s parents never visited him in the US and took the time to see him play in person????
So there will be no more
big league choo?
Put the Budlight down, Selig…..
What is it about having a two-time gold glove Award winner behind the plate that tells you the Reds need a new catcher?
You do realize Barnhart just won his second gold glove?
Typically teams try to trade from a strength for a need. your scenario does not do that.
Reds leadership – “we haven’t had any serious discussions about short”
Yeah that’s obvious! It’s the deepest position in baseball and the most difficult to play yet reds haven’t had a decent short stop since Barry Larkin. So why start now ?? They have a reputation to uphold and need to figure out how to dethrone Rockies as worst franchise in baseball. Trading away Castillo gray and Suarez for terrible returns should do it !
I don’t know for sure but for those of you who don’t understand why Choo’s parents never made it to the US to watch him play, the flight from Seoul to US is like 12-14 hrs. Whether you take the first class or not it is very long and stressful flight. Choo’s parents might have some underlying health conditions or some family situations that prevented them from visiting.
It seems impossible to imagine why Choo’s parents have never seen him play. And yet totally understandable at the same time. I guess it’s a matter of perspective. It says something about you if you don’t get it and it says something about you if you do get it. Whichever the case, at least you can be happy for him.
Then there’s the fact that the US per capita death rate for COVID is 50 times as great as the South Korea per capita death rate for COVID. Maybe he’s going home to make South Korea great again. Sorry for the off topic sarcasm, but we (the US) have earned it.
Choo played ten seasons before the pandamit hit. Perhaps not being the first born has something to do with it. In his Auto Choo talks about being a roust about and a worry to his aggrieved parents. They just do not like him. And yeah he is an OB machine.
Maybe they don’t like to fly? Maybe they don’t speak English or aren’t comfortable traveling across the planet to a foreign (to them) country when they can watch him play every night on tv and can talk to him every day? It’s HIS life, let’s let him live it how he wants. Geez.
Cards have sosa who is out of options and may not make the team. Wonder if the red’s would be interested in a swap. Can play short, second or third. Any outfielders you guys gave who are similarly out of options maybe. Or low level lottery ticket?
Anibal may be done.
I’m thinking the same. 37 years old, probably offered little in guaranteed money by non-contending teams to be an innings place holder. He had a decent career and got a ring so maybe its time to walk away
Sanchez worried about covid .. that’s BS .. 4500 tests of MLB Guys this spring.. 9 positive .. this is about a guy didn’t like the 1M he was prob offered..
Fare thee well Mr. Choo. Very good ballplayer and even better human being.
Choo’s parents sat right behind us for a game in Cincinnati. Choo hit a GW home run to win the game. So Wilson is incorrect on the parent comment.
Just rotate Garcia, Farmer and Blandino for awhile until the best one emerges. This team is going nowhere anyway.. Garcia had all off season to work on his hitting. Need Suarez or Moose to take over 1B when the DH starts in the NL. That’s when 2B opens for Senzel.