The Reds placed left-hander Sam Moll on the 15-day injured list today, and called up righty Casey Legumina from Triple-A Louisville in a corresponding move. Moll is dealing with a left shoulder impingement, and it is “not likely” that he’ll return before the season is over, as the southpaw told Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Moll has been trying to pitch through the injury for a few weeks, and the issue might even date back to last season, when Moll said he was also trying to pitch through some shoulder discomfort in order to contribute to a contending Reds team. Coming into this season, Moll began the year on the 15-day injured list and didn’t make his season debut until April 23.
“I obviously don’t want it to snowball to what it did last offseason, where it screwed up my offseason as far as preparation and leading into obviously what I dealt with earlier this year,” Moll said. It isn’t yet known if Moll will just need to rest his shoulder, or if some kind of procedure could be needed to address the problem.
Despite the lack of a proper ramp-up in the spring, Moll still delivered some quality innings out of Cincinnati’s bullpen. If this is indeed it for his 2024 campaign, he’ll finish the season with a 3.35 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate, and 46.9% grounder rate over 37 2/3 innings and 48 appearances. Moll isn’t a particularly hard thrower, but his sinker and sweeper are plus pitches that induce a lot of soft contact. Left-handed batters have only a .430 OPS in 63 plate appearances against Moll this year, and he has also been effective against righty swingers to the tune of a .719 OPS in 89 PA.
This solid 2024 season comes on the heels of the 0.73 ERA Moll posted in the 24 2/3 innings he pitched for the Reds in 2023 after Cincinnati acquired him from the A’s at the trade deadline. A veteran of five MLB seasons, Moll will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter as he enters his age-33 season. If no injury-related complications interfere with the Reds’ decision to tender Moll a contract, he’ll be in line for a nice raise to get him out of the minimum-salary range.
Another victim of constant bullpen days.
Yeah, it’s ridiculous to have a reliever pitch 37 innings in a single season.
Your never ending narrative is insufferable.
Legumina has got to be at the 5 option max for 2024. Meaning he’d need to be DFA’d to get sent down again before next season.
Is that tracked anywhere publicly – the number of times a player has been optioned during the current season?
Legumina has been optioned five times this season (mlb.com/player/casey-legumina-668984)
Yeah, it’s 5 if you count up the transaction log. But what’s not clear is whether any of them might not have counted toward the max. Such as being the 27th man for a doubleheader – where the player is called up and then optioned the next day.
MLB must keep an official tracking, at least internally.
Trade Rumors should post stories when a Reds player DOESN’T go the DL!!!!
Were the Reds still in playoff contention, it’s likely Moll would have continued to pitch through this injury. As things stand, it’s just as well to get a couple looks at Legumina at the ML level. 40 man roster spots are going to be at a premium- especially for Reds pitchers later this year.