Outfielder Tyler Naquin is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, Reds manager David Bell tells Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
This news is most unwelcome for the Reds, as Naquin has been a pleasant surprise for them this year. After being non-tendered by Cleveland in December, he latched on with the Reds on a minor league deal in February and then had a great spring, vaulting himself onto the Opening Day roster. Since then, he has gotten into 127 games for the Reds, hitting .270/.333/.477, good enough for a wRC+ of 111. Despite subpar defense, he’s still been worth 1.4 wins above replacement on the season, according to FanGraphs. Unfortunately, on September 11th, Naquin and teammate Jose Barrero collided while attempting to trying to catch a fly ball. Naquin came out of that game with bruised ribs and was eventually placed on the IL a few days later.
If Cincinnati were to go on a lengthy playoff run, Naquin’s chances of returning would surely improve, though that seems very unlikely at this point. The club has gone on an ill-timed slide here in September, with a record of 7-13 in the month so far. When combined with the incredible 12-game win streak of the Cardinals, the Reds are now 5 1/2 games out of a playoff spot with just over a week remaining in the season.
Longer term, the team will now have to decide whether to tender Naquin a contract for 2022. He will finish this season with just over five years’ service time and can be controlled for one more season via arbitration. Naquin played the 2020 season on a prorated $1.45MM salary and was let go by a Cleveland team that didn’t think he was worth an arbitration raise. Now Cincinnati is in a similar position, paying him $1.5MM for this year. However, Naquin was coming off a disastrous campaign in the shortened 2020 season, hitting .218/.248/.383, a wRC+ of 65.
The Reds are likely to see Nick Castellanos opt out of the last two years of his contract and return to free agency. That would leave Jesse Winker as the only lock for next year’s outfield, along with unproven options such as TJ Friedl, Max Schrock, Nick Senzel, Shogo Akiyama and Aristides Aquino. Keeping Naquin around for another season and giving him a modest arbitration raise could be a good way to provide the club some extra cover as they navigate the offseason outfield market.
Tendering him a contract seems like a no brainer at this point. Worst case scenario is you have a decent option as a 4th outfielder. Other scenarios include having a pretty good trade piece or having a starting center fielder since Nick Senzel can’t stay on the field for longer than the national anthem singer most of the time.
No doubt about it, aside from him and Winker and with Castellanos opting out his contract, there’s nobody else in the horizon.
Its fine, I’m sure they have a 3B to put in the outfield
His problem has been staying on the field, and that has to be factored in the decision. Also he got off to a terrific start and faded badly.
Not really
His 127 games this year are the most in his nine years as a professional. So if you resign him you’ve got to ask, is he going to top that in his thirties?
Right, but it won’t cost a lot to find out.
He had a great August but with a BABIP of about .450. It is going to be a tough call for a guy who is a platoon player and a long injury track record. He isn’t going to make money in arbitration, the bigger issue is whether or not he is worth a roster spot.
He’s one of the few players whose stats and highlights I follow. Hope they re-sign him. He seems to like it there.
But that slide though..
Too bad, he was having a sneaky good offensive season. Still a slight liability on the defensive side. Something to work on in the off-season.