2:58PM: Reds manager David Bell spoke with The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Charlie Goldsmith and other reporters about Fraley’s injury, saying a play in Thursday’s game “re-aggravated” the issue and “pushed him to a point where it’s a different type of pain.” In terms of when the outfielder might be back, “we still haven’t pinpointed a time frame, which is actually good. He’s still trying to get all the information. In [Fraley’s] mind, he’s trying to get back in a few weeks, which is great. That’s how I’m going to think about it.”
10:10AM: The Reds placed outfielder Jake Fraley on the 10-day injured list due to a stress fracture in his left fourth toe. The club also announced that outfielder TJ Hopkins was called up from Triple-A, and that right-hander Lyon Richardson was added to the taxi squad in advance of his planned start on Sunday.
The IL placement is retroactive to August 4, as Fraley didn’t play in Cincinnati’s 6-3 loss to Washington yesterday. The nature and severity of the injury isn’t yet known, but it would certainly seem like Fraley will miss well beyond 10 days, leaving a notable hole in the Reds lineup. This is the second straight year that Fraley has been sidelined by a toe injury, as while rehabbing a knee injury in 2022, his time on the IL was extended due to a toe issue suffered during rehab.
Between the injuries and the fact that the Reds use Fraley almost exclusively against right-handed pitching, he has played in only 160 games since Cincinnati acquired the outfielder as part of the Eugenio Suarez/Jesse Winker trade with the Mariners in March 2022. When he has been able to play, however, Fraley has been a productive bat, hitting .261/.345/.467 with 27 homers over 574 plate appearances — that works out to a 116 wRC+ over essentially the equivalent of one full season. Playing both corner outfield positions, Fraley has been a very useful platoon option for the Reds to mix and match in their outfield.
Hopkins has a .367 OPS over 25 PA in his rookie season, plus as a right-handed bat, he’s an imperfect fill-in option for Fraley’s specific role. Nick Senzel and Stuart Fairchild (also right-handed hitters) figure to get more playing time in Fraley’s absence, or the Reds could continue to give Spencer Steer regular looks in left field.
As much as the Reds’ influx of young talent was seemingly going to create a crunch for playing time, injuries have now provided an unfortunate solution to that issue. Fraley joins Jonathan India on the 10-day IL, and while India was at least hopeful of a quick return, Cincinnati is now missing two experienced bats in the midst of a playoff race. The Reds are on a four-game losing streak, and are 9-12 since the All-Star break.
surprised Richardson got the nod over Phillips for Sunday’s start
Neither one is ready. But that hasn’t stopped them before.
The season after the trade deadline going pretty much as I predicted, unfortunately. The kid GM failed his troops.
i don’t think he failed the troops i think he’s looking big picture beyond this season and not trading away the future
redsredsreds… I agree with that. And This one belongs to the Reds.. this entire team isn’t ready. Why sacrifice excellent young talent for a couple of pieces that aren’t gonna put you over the top?
Richardson is already on the 40 man and with Greene, Antone, Lodolo, Dunn, and Gutierrez potentially coming off the IL those spots are very valuable. And fortunately the pitching staff is going to be very crowded in the next month or so. Good problem to have. Richardson can make a couple spot starts until Greene comes back and shift over to the overused bullpen for the remainder of the season.
Is it because Richardson was already on the 40 man roster and Phillips was not?
Last year, the Reds were a 100 loss team… they have done a great job rebuilding through the draft and smart trades. They have a very exciting team.
They need that young pitching to continue to develop and stay healthy and they’ll be a force at the top of the NL Central for the next 4 or 5 years. Coming from a Brewers fan, they look to have the best young team I’ve seen them have in at least 10 years.
Phillips isn’t on the 40-man roster, Richardson is – that’s why he’s getting the call. Disastrous trade deadline for Krall.
The Castellini’s ruined that franchise. Dig up Marge Schott and let her run it again
Please get out of your ground hog den and become up to date with the team. That’s to our astute management and ownership recently we’ve become a very exciting very different team that what you’re focusing on.
If your astute management and ownership were serious about the team, fans or even cared about the city of Cincinnati in general, they would have done something at the deadline.
You could say that about the majority of MLB teams. There wasn’t a ton of movement at the deadline except for the Mets tearing it down and Seattle trading Sewald.
Except the teams that are leading their divisions and the teams that are in second trying to run them down. .. Texas, Houston, LA, AZ, Baltimore, Brewers, Tampa. Heck, even the Angels and Cubs added, but you’re right. Not a lot a movement. Sure.
Trading prospects for rentals isn’t how you build a consistent winner. Build through the draft and int signings. Sign free agents and make minor trades to compliment the roster. Trade players once they approach free agency to constantly restock the pipeline. All of this combined with a good scouting network and clear organizational vision. Its not rocket science.
Besides drafting well (due to their terrible record/s) Which one of those fits the Reds?
A: none.
Pretty much summed up why the Reds are the Reds.
Scouting and player development have done well. Building a competent major league team is another story.
No free agents to compliment the roster outside of one far from his prime.
Not even minor trades to do the same.
Definitely no organizational vision outside of calling kids up and dumpster diving.
There is a reason this team lost 100 games last year. There is a reason they are falling apart now.
We have watched this act since last offseason and it is found wanting.
I feel sorry for these kids that got them there. Unfortunately for Reds fans, they won’t want to stick around to support a front office that doesn’t support them.
I really like Cincy’s lineup. They have the ability to put an above average hitter at every spot in the lineup except catcher (by wRC+ they have 7 such hitters [Votto, EDLC, Steer, McLain, Benson, Friedl, Fraley], but that doesn’t include India who should be better when healthy or CES who likely will be above average once he has a large enough sample size). My thought when seeing Fraley hurt was that they’d simply slot in Fairchild who has hit fairly well in a limited sample, but looks instead like they’ll rotate everyone around to put Senzel in.
Dang, Lyon decided to just pop off this season.
It’s fair to debate whether the front office should have done more at the deadline. Trouble is we aren’t privy to the information as to what offers were made. But to criticize that they should have brought in veterans last off season is absurd. No one saw the rapid development coming. We owed Votto 25M and Moose 20M. We are loaded with talent that needed to be brought up and begin to learn to win in the majors.