5:59pm: The Reds have also released Biddle, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Biddle saw almost no action with the Reds last season, throwing two-thirds of an inning, but he did toss nine frames of three-run ball and post 12 strikeouts against two walks this spring.
12:19pm: The Reds announced Friday that they’ve released veteran infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon. They also reassigned lefty Jesse Biddle, lefty Brandon Finnegan and catcher Rocky Gale to minor league camp.
Strange-Gordon, 32, at one point looked to be a candidate to land the shortstop job in Cincinnati. However, over the past several weeks the club has taken a long look at returning Eugenio Suarez to that position. A strong spring showing by infield prospect Jonathan India, who has spent time at second base and third base, has made that outcome more likely.
While Strange-Gordon could’ve still been in line for a bench role, it seems the Reds prefer to go with in-house options like Kyle Farmer, Kyle Holder and perhaps Mike Freeman as utility men off the bench. That’ll send the fleet-footed Strange-Gordon back to the open market on the heels of a solid .281/.361/.313 showing in 36 spring plate appearances. Obviously, the slugging percentage is a bit problematic, but Strange-Gordon also swiped four bases without being caught and walked four times against just five strikeouts. He turned in a disappointing .200/.268/.213 showing with the 2020 Mariners, albeit in just 82 plate appearances.
Strange decision by the reds
Reds showed “Strange” to the Doors.
People are strange when you’re a stranger
Faces look ugly when you’re alone
Women seem wicked when you’re unwanted
Streets are uneven when you’re down
When you’re strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
People are strange when you’re a stranger
Faces look ugly when you’re alone
Women seem wicked when you’re unwanted
Streets are uneven when you’re down
When you’re strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
When you’re strange
Dee Gordon’s wife is strange
Very “Strange” move
he’ll get picked up by someone else
Indeed
He is nearing the end of his time in the bigs. Been an awful hitter for years now. Andrew Friedman was on it 6 years ago so the rest of the league is finally catching on.
Orioles can use him, nothing special but a decent first half might get them a low level prospect
No one is trading anything for a guy they didn’t want when they could’ve had him for free. That plan never works, it makes no sense. He’d have to overachieve in a shockingly unexpected manner for anyone to give up anything for him. Not happening.
I think the Mets should pick him up for that final bench spot. He seems like a decent fit. Nobody has claimed that last spot and he’s a very nice bench piece.
No thanks
I haven’t seen anything to suggest that Guillorme, Villar, Almora and Pillar won’t be the infield and outfield group off the bench. Villar hasn’t had a good spring, but he’s making the team, and Rojas already confirmed that Guillorme will be making the team as the main defensive sub for Davis.
Totally forgot about Villar. That’s my bad!!
No way. Mets don’t need him. He’s not very good at this point.
I would think the Mets would stay away from a verified PED user. They still have the stink of Cano on them.
“He’d be a perfect fit for the Mets.”
Regards, The 29 Other MLB Teams
Mets have Villar in majors and could keep Mallex, no room for strange.
Not strange for the Reds more like typical.
Puns are our friend. Yep they are.
Makes sense for Reds. Could have kept him as CF backup until Akiyama returns but he’d probably have been DFA’d after that.
That would make sense if reds cared to play players in a position they can handle defensively. I think votto is backing up senzel in center though
Ha! They’ve actually used Jesse Winker in CF, so you’re right Votto’s not much of a stretch from that. Although neither is a third-baseman so probably has no business in CF for the Reds.
Votto is the emergency catcher. He was drafted as one so in reds terms that means he can still play the position
Once one of the best couple hitters in the game, Votto is now just an emergency period.
Man..
First Albert Pujols
Then Troy Polomola
Then..Troy Tulowitski
Then..ARod and Jeter
And now Dee Gordon
Not sure about Strange
Curtis Strange maybe
The fallen skills of our past heroes
Alex Bregman –
Congrats on leaving one of the “strange”st comments I’ve ever seen…
You lump Dee Gordon in with 4 elite to HOF baseball players, which is strange enough on its own, but for some reason you also throw a HOF football player into the list? Sorry but I’m not getting the logic in your thought here. Very strange
Made you look.
“Alex Bregman has just left the dispensary.”
Strange-Gordon was actually having a decent spring. Someone will sign him though he may have to take another minor league contract
He can barely hit the ball out of the infield and isn’t defensively sound enough to start anywhere on the diamond.
Meh. As long as he can steal a bag and is willing to take a split deal, he’ll get another job
The SB is a dying art because the risk of injury is too great for the reward of 90 feet, especially when you consider the value some players bring. But a guy with only one skill? You pinch run for your catcher if no one out in the 7th and hope to steal a quick run… if he gets a broken thumb it sucks but it’s not the end of the season
The real thing Dee needs but will never develop is plate discipline. He had a nice OBP this spring, but in general, he’s never been properly geared toward getting on any way possible
To make my point. if Mookie Betts gets significantly hurt stealing a base… was it worth it?
Over the last three seasons he’s only stolen at at 65% success rate.
Except it was actually 75% back to 2018. 55/74
76% dating back to 2017 when he stole 60 bags
That’s definitely more than serviceable for 500K-1M split contract deal
Yeah, but if you divide his caught stealing by stolen bases 19/55. Then subtract that percentage from 100%, you get 65%.
You know bad math.
The stolen base is a list art because analytics show that it’s not a very valuable play. It has nothing to do with risk of injury and pinch runners add negligible value.
A 75% success rate in SBs is close to doing more harm than good
@Cosmo. It’s well above the belief that you need to steal 2 bases for 1 cs to essentially break even. When considering Carlos Beltran is highly ranked all time (over 300 attempts) at around 86% and Tim Raines is at around 84%. I don’t think 75% is close to more harm than good. It’s actually right between elite and the minimum.
Baserunners who are threats to steal put pressure on pitchers and catchers, can change the pitch mix, influence fielding positions, and can cause game-changing mistakes to be made. But since there’s no number for that affect the analytics show that it doesn’t really exist.
Actually the two of you agree. If the cut off is 67%, he is saying 75% is close to 67%.
For fun, if you look at 2/3= 66% as the minimum for the play to be valuable and Tim Raines’ 84% is the start of elite, then Gordon’s 75% is exactly in the middle. 9% either way
So again. I’d very much argue that 75% is a very serviceable percentage. Btw, Billy Hamilton has a 77% success rate since 2018 for comparison. Both are good at one thing. Stealing a base.
The old school notion that speed on the bases pressures professional pitchers into radically altering their game and making mistakes is unproven. It’s an assumption without evidence other than the anecdotal which also relies on assumption rather than proof to establish itself. Way too much is made of it. This is amongst the reasons that the entire league has drifted away from the strategy of base stealing.
Rangers??
No thanks. Holt and Culberson are both better.
Reds needs to go get Addison Russell
No wife beaters please
The Reds aren’t the Bengals. Outside of illegal gambling, the Reds don’t put up with as much off-field tomfoolery and give as many second chances as the Bengals
There loss. Way to take the high road when you are one of the worse organizations in sports lol
Not a russell fan but Torres is a yankee and not a red bc reds play by more rules than yankees. I prefer just playing by the rules and having Torres.
BTW– Russell has never been charged. MLB determines him guilty when state of Illinois can’t prove it.
Did you jump out of a plane and try to post a comment?
The media reported that Russell did admit guilt in a statement on November 30th after the Cubs elected to tender him a contract for the 2019 season after monitoring his MLB-mandated treatment.
Iv seen stranger things
It’s been all down hill since the first season.
Crazy that Finnegan is still only 27 yrs. old.
An injury or two will pave the way for a spot on someone’s roster. Other than his PED stretch he really hasnt hit enough to be worth a roster spot on a decent team. That being said, I expect to see him taking sad little hacks somewhere this season.
Empirejim – who says crime doesn’t pay, eh. He made a cool $50 mil (less the non payment for his suspension). Not much other ramification. He is set pretty well for the rest of his life. It’s a good gig if you have a low moral compass.
This is not all that surprising. I’ve watched him struggle with a bat for years. No power, all singles and no walks.. He has great speed but he’s a poor base runner. He does play three defensive positions, CF, SS, and 2B, all well be low average. He ran very poor routes in center. He can’t play ever day. Any team that needs a bench player with these limitations should grab him.
From the outside looking in, this is a bit odd, but not surprising. Not exactly loaded in the OF or 2nd base… he profiles well enough in those positions, but I’m sure you can get fine production or just as good production for less money
Sorry to see that Jessie Biddle was sent to the minor league camp. (2010 first round pick). His spring training numbers look reasonable 12/2 K/bb, 1.22 WHIP, etc. Can anyone who follows the Reds chime in on their thinking?
I was thinking Biddle pitched good enough this spring to make the Reds
I thought he was in the mix to make the roster. Sending him & Finnegan down tells me they’ve settled on Cionel Perez as their third LH out of the ‘pen or that they are only using Garrett & Dolittle.
If only he were a third baseman…Ah well, probably several other teams out there in need of some Strange.
Stephen King lost his love for Dee Strange.
“Flash” in the pan!
He used to be able to hit for average well, but it seems like speed is his only skill now.
“People are strange…”
But only when you’re a stranger, and when you’re alone.
And they showed him the “door”.
Did you guys all carpool here together or something?
There were people who still thought India was going to start the season in AAA. This pretty much cements his spot on the big league roster.
not nessicarily. Blandino could still start at SS.
You can bet your rupees it will be India starting.
I’m never upset when a known PED user finds his way out of baseball.
Yes everyone is looking for a banjo hitter like Dee Gordon!
Sweet Dee Gets Released. It would be great if he ends up in Philadelphia.
why?
Always Sunny. For shame darkside.
heck Phillies might kick the tires on Biddle. feel good story.
Rangers new DH
Strange-Gordon couldn’t really have done much more in spring training to prove that he deserves a shot somewhere. Sure his slugging is still quite weak but it’s never been all that impressive. But he did post a .285 batting average, walked a few times and showed he’s still got the speed on the bases. I’d be surprised if someone in need of infield help doesn’t pick him up in relatively short order. Worst case scenario he should be a solid enough utility guy with the ability to also pinch run and steal bases if necessary… and his ceiling is still that, that if he rebounds a bit too what he’s been in the past… he could even be a viable 2B or SS candidate for a team in need of a contact first/speed oriented hitter. Or possibly even a platoon situation.
C’Mon Tigers, pick him up. He can play Middle IF and CF. Oh, forget it, you have .160 hitters you prefer.