2:40pm: Encarnacion-Strand is going to miss a month to six weeks, manager David Bell tells Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
2:15pm: Ford’s deal is worth $1.3MM plus incentives, per Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Assuming that’s prorated, he’ll make just over $1MM for the rest of the year.
1:35pm: The Reds announced Ford’s signing and the corresponding moves. Encarnacion-Strand has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right ulnar styloid fracture. It’s unclear how long they expect him to be out of action. To open a 40-man spot, lefty Brandon Williamson was transferred to the 60-day IL. He’s been on the 15-day IL all year due to shoulder soreness. Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported over a week ago that Williamson will be starting a rehab assignment May 9. He’s now ineligible to be activated until late May, 60 days from his initial IL placement, but he’ll likely need a few weeks to get stretched out anyhow.
12:15pm: The Reds are bringing first baseman/designated hitter Mike Ford back to the organization — this time on a major league contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The ZS Sports client will join the big league roster today. Cincinnati hasn’t announced the signing and will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster before Ford’s deal can become official.
It’s the third time Ford has signed with the Reds in fewer than three months. He’s previously signed and opted out of a pair of minor league contracts. The Reds could’ve added Ford to the big league roster when he triggered his opt-out clause last Friday but instead opted to let him become a free agent and test the market. It’s clear based on the number of times they’ve signed him that the Reds like the player, however, and it seems they were willing to match or beat whatever other offers Ford found in his brief foray into early season free agency.
Ford, 31, raked at a staggering .455/.486/.727 clip with three homers in 31 spring plate appearances before opening the season with a gaudy .297/.381/.538 slash in his first 105 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s cut his strikeout rate to a manageable 19.4% and coupled it with a stout 11.4% walk rate during his short time with Louisville.
Those impressive numbers come on the heels of a .228/.323/.475 slash in 251 plate appearances with the 2023 Mariners. Ford clobbered 16 home runs and walked at a strong 9.6% clip last year, but his 32.3% strikeout rate was an obvious eyesore. It was also nothing particularly new for Ford, a former Yankees farmhand who’s long had plus power and questionable bat-to-ball skills. In 719 big league plate appearances, Ford is a career .211/.309/.418 hitter. He’s actually hit fellow lefties better than righties, albeit in a small sample of 108 plate appearances compared to 611 plate appearances against righties.
Ford’s addition to the roster comes at a time when both Christian Encarnacion-Strand is struggling and when fellow lefty DH option Nick Martini has already been optioned to the minors. Encarnacion-Strand has been the primary first baseman in Cincinnati, logging 29 games at the position, but he’s flailed his way to a .190/.220/.293 slash in 123 plate appearances. Encarnacion-Strand has long had contact issues and sub-par walk rates, but this year’s 28.5% strikeout rate and microscopic 3.3% walk rate underscore that worrisome approach at the plate.
Ford will give the Reds a lefty-swinging alternative at first base or perhaps simply a regular option in the DH slot. The Reds have used a wide cast of characters there, but Ford could offer more stability in that role. If Cincinnati goes that route, one solution could be to option the struggling Will Benson (.191/.273/.391, 41.6% strikeout rate) and go with a regular outfield of Spencer Steer, TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley.
They should call this guy Jump. He jumps from team to team every year.
Good bat, don’t know why he can’t stick somewhere.
Because outside of his rookie campaign and solid year last year, he’s never really been that good and has little defensive value.
He could have stayed with Seattle, in theory, but I think he was part of their high strikeout rate purge
Decent left-handed bat with pop. If he had a little more defensive value he’d probably be able to stick on one team’s roster.
Immaculate Grid hero.
There seems to be a widespread disapproval of DH/1b only types now. Brandon Belt still hasn’t found a contract. It seems now teams really want to be able to flex guys to DH for partial rest and move everyone around the diamond. Instead of most teams carrying two of those kind of hitters, now they prefer one and a corner utility guy who probably isn’t as good of a hitter but keeps everyone more fresh.
Let him play long enough and you’ll see.
Why are they re-signing him? They have like 900 players already.
the team gets bonuses for every player 901-999
Plus they can sell him for more cash later.
Only one of those 900 are hitting their own weight currently.
Completely hopeless bottom of the league offense.
Yeah and 898 of them are batting below .200. He can’t be any worse.
Need to test Reds front office for drugs
LOL I know right, among other things
Interesting. They let the guy go, then re-sign him.
No plan. Seat of the pants management.
But we knew that.
There could be 1000 reasons why doing it this way happened
You just won’t ever turn down an opportunity to criticize Krall
It’s all he has to add to conversations. He’s like the annoying guy in the carpool that you want to pull over and say get out.
Krall is not above reproach. Giving Bell a three year extension coming off a 100 loss season and then signing Candeliro for 3 yrs/ $45 Million were bone head moves. They both will be a burden to this team until the end of the 2026 season.
Bell is more of an Owners wanting him and that legacy thing the Cincinnati town seems to like. Because he’s a Bell. He’s not bad to me. He’s the modern manager who is more of an organizer then he is a Dusty type who manages by feel. I would prefer one who can do both but he’s bthink the upper management does make more of the decisions in regards to rosters and even lineups.
Candelario was signed because they knew Marte was going to be suspended. It should not have been for 3 years though. That agree.
Candelario was the fifth best free agent position player available this off-season. He was projected by MLBTR to get a $70MM four yr deal. The registered well to get him for three years $45MM. I’m not ready to write him off because of a slow start.
Who cares if he was the fifth best position free agent? It’s intellectually dishonest, when anyone who follows the game knows It was a terribly weak free agency market for position players.
Candelario is a life time .240 hitter and is not good defensively. He is another Mike Moustakas. The opportunity cost of this signing will hamper this team for the next three years.
I don’t understand the mindset of bending over backwards to defend a front office that has been so inept for over a quarter of a century.
Absolutely correct. You can’t blame the non producing young and older players on Krall, but those two(Especially Candelario’s signing) tend to show incompetence. I have been saying that about Candelario since the day of the signing. He has no track record to merit 15 million per season. The Cubs were smart enough to back off. Bell seems to be in the “in crowd” with the front office. It is past time to be displaying some positive results for the team..Injuries have been over the top, but they still could have survived if not for all the non productive players on offense. That has to pick up. That many players can’t keep playing below their potential. The offense is pitiful right now.
Absolutely wrong. Krall hasn’t been running the team for the last 25 years and wasn’t responsible for the Kennedy assassination. His trades have mostly worked in the Reds favor, while the farm system has been strengthened nicely. And it’s ridiculously early to declare that the Candelario acquisition was wrong.
And what years in the past do you feel Candelario was worth anywhere near 15 million? You must be in the catch lightening in a bottle crowd. It can happen but is highly unlikely. Businessmen making those kind of poor choices in selecting key personnel usually pay dearly for it. I have seen it too much in the past and I have a long past.
Krall has made some good moves, but Candelario certainly wasn’t one of them.
Of course Krall hasn’t been the GM for 25 years,
but the current ownership has been in place for 18 years and that brain trust hired Krall and Bell. It’s a poorly run organization no matter how Pollyanna some here may view it.
Reds fans love the “somebody else wouldve done it too” argument to explain the dumb moves the Reds seem to always make. Since a website says he was 5th, that must be it. Believe your own eyes. Does he look like a good 45 million dollar investment? Anything on the back of his baseball card say he is worth 45 million for a “small market” team? He hits some doubles? Never mind the .243 career average? That doesnt fit this team, they have enough guys who do not hit for average and strikeout too much.
Name one that doesnt involve trading a top 10 major league pitcher. Even the Mahle trade doesnt look as good as it did. He is not a good GM. He wasnt a good scout. He is a yes man. Results speak.
Exactly right Franklin!
The Mahle trade looks great just on Steer alone. CES looks bad now and is injured so if you’re downgrading it because of that then we will see when Mahle comes back. Just on Steer alone it’s good.
Marte getting suspended and Arroyo getting hurt like Matt when he was looking to be on a fast track to SS is looking bad. But not because of performance.
I know the Candelario signing was for one extra year too many. They knew though that Marte was getting suspended. They tell teams ahead of time what’s going on. It’s barely a week into May so calling it already a failure and Moose part 2 is stupid. It’s showing you hatred of Krall and getting on top of it before he starts hitting better and you can’t say much.
Exactly. The boneheadedness from the front office just keeps getting worse. How do you explain optioning Moll and keeping Sims and Wilson? Just unbelievable..
“Opportunity to criticize Krall”…There’s lots of people on this site that literally do-nothing but Monday-morning criticize owners & GMs for how their seasons are playing out. Everyone’s a genius with the benefit of hindsight.
It’s not that surprising that an owner/GM/field manager of a team which hasn’t won a play-off series since 1995 receives criticism.
Do you really believe that praise is in order?
No, it’s just this individual is like a broken record. Doesn’t care for front office. Time to move on.
For having 3 players now injured and another taking banned substance to get suspended. Sure that’s all everyone else’s fault. They caused it to happen.
Theres monday morning critics of critics too. At least Krall critics are right.
Im sure when he let Wade Miley walk for nothing then sign a worse version (Mike Minor) for the money Miley wanted they had a plan too. Im sure the plan was to extend the manager 5 mos after losing 100 games all to watch him go 42-52 since. Part of the process Im sure.
I dont get how Nick Krall has support from fans, its funny. The guy has been a disaster and this organization is sinking to the White Sox level. Its happening in real time and Krall still has defenders. They shuffle AAAA players on and off the roster, they mismanage injuries, they mismanage player options and they built a team that is performing the way they were built. Unproven, undisciplined hitters who strikeout a ton and lack fundamentals. If you wanna argue w me ive got all kinds of numbers id love to share.
It made sense to let him test the free agent waters. Since he had no takers Reds probably saved money going this route than signing him when he had chance to opt out.
He had a decent year last year in Seattle, a strong Spring Training this year, and was playing well in AAA. I don’t understand the criticism. This is a good move. Send Christian Encarnacion-Strand back to AAA. He is struggling mightily.
They placed CES on the IL with a wrist fracture. Wonder how long he has been playing with that? Crack jack trainers in Cincinnati.
I think he should get his eyes checked while he’s out lol. Only walking 3% while striking out 28% isn’t going to cut it.
“You got two. You’re good.”
They found no issue when he was HBP in Texas. Just an old fracture that had nothing to do with anything affecting him now. Now they either found a new one or just needed an excuse to sit him. I can understand his power being affected but his pitch recognition was awful. People think Elly was bad there. CES is worse. He’s just over anxious trying too much at this point.
What a disappointment it has been for injuries with this team. Just a mess.
The crap started hitting the fan once Noelvi Marte got busted. My morale (and it seems the team’s) has been tanking since then.
It’s par for the course with this cheap franchise. Good medical staffs cost too much money.
Optioning Benson makes sense as the left-handed bat. CES could certainly be optioned otherwise. Bubba Thompson possibly bumped off the 40-man?
It’s CES to the 10-day IL for the active roster spot. Brandon Williamson to the 60-day IL to clear room for Ford on the 40-man.
I don’t think they can be down another outfielder (because they were foolish and didn’t address it in the offseason), though I agree Benson needs another Louisville refresher obviously.
They just added Capel, so they’ve got Capel, Friedl, Steer, Fraley and Fairchild in addition to Benson. They don’t really need 6 outfielders. It’s just that there’s no one else knocking down the door to take Benson’s spot, regardless of what position they play.
With CES out, Steer wiil most likely playing first in the meantime. Ford has no defensive skills at first. Pure DH. Candelario certainly doesn’t either, as we have seen when they stuck him there briefly.
Candelario is roughly league average at 1B. Steer is better in LF than at 1B.
Maybe 1 of those guys would start for another big league team.
They carry Bubba Trammell around like it’s an 80s roster. A fast guy who can PR and play defense occasionally. You could do that when you had a 14-15 man bench. Not in this age. He’s adding nothing because he can’t be used much. He can’t hit at all.
It’s like the 1976 carrying around Joel Youngblood on their roster all year barely getting 60 AB all year. They could afford it. It was a luxury that only the best/ great teams can afford.
Bubba has already been optioned off of the team.
He’s changed teams more this year than I’ve changed my bed sheets. He’s a fifth OFr.
Reds have 39 on the 40 man, so no other move is needed there. CES likely to be optioned to get him on the active roster.(also not in the lineup today)
Anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks for CES, plus rehab. Things haven’t gone as planned.
This is my thought as well. The Reds seriously need better medical staff.
Yeah, watching Dr. Oz isn’t cutting it.
Their track record isn’t good.
Good for Ford. I’ll always root for the underdog who I perceive as exceeding expectations. Sort of a slap but meant as a compliment. I never saw much in him when he played for the Yankees yet he delivered and is still unappreciated in my book. I’d rather have him than Smith or Cooper that the Sox signed recently.
“Good for Ford”…Seemingly, Mike Ford has improved a little bit every single year. He still offers virtually zero defensive value, but can be routinely depended on to deliver a grind-it-out, tough, veteran at bat in key situations. He makes the opposing pitcher throw strikes, which is more than you can say for about 30% of MLB players.
Solid bench piece. While he’s not great in the field, he’s serviceable in small doses.
GO Ford. Should hit well in that park.
You would think Detroit would have signed a guy named Ford.
Why not? No one is stepping up and giving reasons to not give him a shot at DH.
81 strikeouts in 219 at bats
If only I got a million after I was released.
Late in his career , but over the last couple of years he’s become much fitter. Shows on his play.
Surprising, he couldn’t find a contract in….. Detroit.
Reds fans now spend hours discussing moves for players who are barely big leaguers while defending a GM that has done an abysmal job. Look at the state of this organization in a short time. Extending managers 50 games under .500 (twice). Trading away anything that resembled a big league salary for lottery tickets that look worse every day. What does this guy have to do to show you he has no clue? The lack of leadership in this organization is evident in the middle of a losing streak. No fan communication of a plan. Noone speaks publicly for the team. David Bell says guys are doing the right thing lol yet lastnight down 2 runs the D Backs got a 5 pitch inning in the 6th.
Its a joke and ive been a fan my whole life.
Never seen a front office this obtuse and indifferent to the fans. They asked where else ya gonna go and some of you said nowhere sir.
I see you stuck around when Castellini asked where are you gonna go.
Something bothering ya pal? Are you getting chapped because someones criticizing your dungeons and dragons partner Nick Krall?