The Reds made a handful of transactions this afternoon, placing outfielder Stuart Fairchild on the COVID-19 injured list while transferring left-hander Alex Young to the COVID IL. Players on the COVID IL do not count against the 40-man roster, allowing the club to add infielder Alejo Lopez to the big league roster from Triple-A as a replacement player. As a replacement, Lopez can be taken off the 40-man roster and returned to the minors without being placed on waivers.
The news serves as a continuation of Cincinnati’s injury woes, with sixteen players now on the injured list. Fairchild, 27, is in his third season as a big leaguer and has looked like a decent fourth outfielder in 242 trips to the plate with a .223/.322/.379 with a wRC+ of 87, ten stolen bases, and solid outfield defense. Young, meanwhile, posted a 3.31 ERA in 49 innings of work for the Reds this year before going on the injured list with a hamstring issue back in August. He had just begun a rehab assignment earlier this week but now will surely be delayed in his comeback attempt.
Joining the roster for the time being is Lopez, who appeared in 59 games for Cincinnati last season, slashing .262/.314/.331 while playing second base, third base, and the outfield corners. While Lopez is hardly an impact bat, a 13.5% strikeout rate in the majors last year indicates he could provide contact off the bench, and his walk rate at Triple-A this year has ballooned to a career-high 13.4%. If that improved discipline can carry over to the majors and earn him extra free passes at the big league level, it’s possible that Lopez could be an interesting contributor for a Cincinnati infield that is currently without Matt McLain, Jonathan India, and Joey Votto.
That being said, Lopez’s stay on the active roster may be a short one, as Reds manager David Bell indicated to reporters (including those at MLB.com) yesterday that both Votto and India have begun rehab assignments and Triple-A and could be nearing a return to action, with Votto in particular a potential option as soon as tomorrow’s game against the Cardinals. Also likely to return tomorrow is right-hander Hunter Greene, who is currently on the COVID IL but is listed as tomorrow’s probable starter opposite St. Louis righty Miles Mikolas.
Quick recovery for Alex Young, Reds bullpen is questionable at times.
I’ve never been one of those crazy people who has suggested that the whole pandemic thing is not worth caring about, but the question on my mind is when we just treat Covid as endemic. It’s no longer classified as a global health emergency, and from what I’ve read, the WHO doesn’t declare pandemics as ended. Nothing wrong with being careful if you have it, but it isn’t 2020-2021 era pandemic anymore.
Its still very contagious. Like the flu, it can spread thru a clubhouse. At least the existing protocalls allow for players to be replaced.
Whether it is a pandemic is really meaningless to the people that have it. I would imagine that they are not feeling like playing baseball at all and MLB is keeping the Covid list around just so teams aren’t shorthanded. Even if it were no worse than the flu, do you feel like doing anything as rigorous as playing baseball when you get the flu?
Oh, absolutely, the players shouldn’t be playing. But I mean more from a larger societal perspective and the supposed isolation that is afforded by the Covid IL.
Right
Oh Man, you want these comments shut down, walking on thin ice bringing up “the Plandemic” ???? (I’m cool though, injected the bleach awhile back so I’m immune…with daily Ivermectin enemas as well, so I’m good bro)
Your name says it all
Oh MAN! You have no idea. I picked the name just for that reason! BUT I Had ZERO idea it would also be a commentary on my posts, wow I should have seen that coming. You’re a very perceptive keyboard warrior, hurrah!
Clearly this dude is being sarcastic, with the enema and bleach comments…
So in short, your position is the same as “those crazy people” you refer to – who had it correctly characterized all along, by the way.
The Reds seamstress deserves a raise for working overtime with all these transactions.
I think teams in years past missed out on valuable opportunities to use the covid IL callup rule to give young phenoms a cup of coffee at the big league level without having to add them to the 40 man roster. With the right players, it would be a major motivation to get to that level.
First move they should make is take everyone to Walgreens and get em vaccinated. Might be a plan. Just sayin.
Agree. If you can’t take the booster, then you won’t be tough enough to stick your shoulder out to get hit by a pitch with the bases loaded against an ace pitcher in the post-season. Man up and be a community leader and get vaccinated and boosted. If not because you need it for yourself, for the elderly veterans that you are protecting and to help your team if you have to play Toronto.
Look at these two geniuses above who think they’re smarter than a broad consensus of doctors, epidemiologists, and other scientists because of something they read on 4chan, and also apply their own narrow interpretation of reality that ignores fact, reason, and, ya know, what actually happened since 2021.
Hopefully COVID takes them out.
Imo, looking at politics we have @15% way left and @15% way right (but they DO get all the media coverage), maybe 20%, but the majority sit in the 60-70% in the middle. Me, I lean right……..
BUT, for the above mentioned sickness, I think it’s @40% on each side w/ the 20% in the middle who don’t have a strong opinion. I was in the 20%, got my shots to work. Now I am (mostly) in the “nope not this time around” group.
Point is MLBTR gains nothing by allowing comments as both sides are dug in pretty deep and won’t be swayed to change stances..
My guess is they’ll allow them until it gets nasty, like it did last time.
I prefer my baseball free of politico stuff…..
“Meanwhile” should ONLY start the sentence. It should NOT come in the middle. Don’t break up subject and verb if it isn’t absolutely necessary. Mr. Deeds is a hack and needs to be shown the door.