Reds Designate Joe La Sorsa For Assignment

The Reds announced Tuesday that they’ve designated left-hander Joe La Sorsa for assignment and selected the contract of fellow southpaw Reiver Sanmartin from Triple-A Louisville. Cincinnati also optioned lefty Sam Moll to Louisville. Additionally, outfielder/first baseman Connor Joe has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A after clearing waivers, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic.

La Sorsa, 27, has pitched just 6 2/3 innings with the Reds this year after signing a minor league deal in the offseason. He’s been tagged for eight earned runs on 13 hits (four homers) and a pair of walks with two strikeouts in that small sample. That’s clearly not an exciting line for any pitcher, but the lefty has been far better in Triple-A, where he’s pitched 44 2/3 frames with a 2.82 earned run average. La Sorsa’s 21.1% strikeout rate and 13.4% walk rate in Louisville both leave something to be desired, however.

This year’s brief look with the Reds brought La Sorsa’s career totals in the majors to 57 innings with a 5.21 ERA, a 17.5% strikeout rate and a 6.3% walk rate. He’s previously suited up for the Rays and Nationals. While the big league track record is limited, La Sorsa has a 2.88 ERA in three Triple-A seasons (134 1/3 innings). He sits 91-92 mph with his sinker and complements that pitch with an upper-70s slider and a seldom-used changeup in the mid-80s. Now that he’s been designated for assignment, La Sorsa will head to waivers and be available to all 29 other teams. He’ll have a minor league option remaining next season.

Sanmartin, 29, is a familiar face for Cincinnati fans. He spent considerable time with the Reds in the majors from 2021-23, picking up 82 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Sanmartin was hit hard in the majors, yielding a 5.77 ERA and a .289/.366/.450 batting line to his opponents across those three seasons. He’s posted a 4.27 ERA with a strikeout per inning in parts of three Triple-A campaigns, although this year’s 15 runs in 18 1/3 innings (7.36 ERA) don’t exactly portend a breakout.

The Reds cycled through four relievers yesterday and have had both Emilio Pagan and Tony Santillan work on back-to-back days already. Starter Nick Lodolo was scratched from today’s start due to illness, the team announced earlier in the day, leaving reliever Scott Barlow to start what will be a bullpen game. With that in mind, it’s not surprising to see them bring up a fresh arm — particularly one who’s stretched out for multi-inning work. Each of Sanmartin’s past four relief appearances has been for two or more innings, and he last pitched two frames on Aug. 29. He should be fresh for the day and could give the Reds two to three innings in relief of Barlow at some point.

As for Joe, he’s been with the Reds since early May. Originally signed by the Padres to a one-year, $1MM contract over the winter, the veteran 33-year-old has struggled to a .186/.263/.243 slash in 80 plate appearances between the two teams this season. The Reds have only used Joe sparingly, giving him 70 big league plate appearances since his May 9 acquisition. He’s struggled with similar rate stats in a similar sample of Triple-A at-bats this season.

Given this year’s poor performance in the upper minors and in the majors, it’s not surprising that no team placed a claim on Joe. It’s also unsurprising that he accepted the outright assignment. Joe has the three years of service needed to reject an outright assignment but does not have the five years required to reject an outright assignment and retain the remainder of his guaranteed money. Rejecting the assignment would’ve meant forfeiting the remaining $150K or so on his contract, so he’ll stick with the Reds for the rest of the year. As a player with more than three years of service who’s been removed from the 40-man roster, he’ll have the right to become a free agent at season’s end (unless he’s added back to the 40-man roster in the interim).