This week's mailbag gets into the Reds' offense, whether Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, and Jorge Polanco will stay with their respective clubs, trade targets for the Braves' rotation, and whether the Rangers could trade Jacob deGrom.
Bill asks:
What can the Cincinnati Reds possibly do to fix the mess that is their lineup? They need at least one big bat and probably do not have the money to accomplish that.
The Reds' offense ranked eighth in the NL with 4.42 runs scored per game. Let's examine where the lineup stands after the Reds were eliminated by the Dodgers in the Wild Card round.
- C: Jose Trevino and Tyler Stephenson handled catching duties.
- 1B: Spencer Steer was the regular this year, but rookie Sal Stewart began taking starts after coming up in September.
- 2B: Matt McLain was the typical choice, with Gavin Lux starting occasionally.
- SS: Elly De La Cruz has the full-time job.
- 3B: Ke'Bryan Hayes took most starts, with a few going to Stewart. Before Hayes was acquired, Santiago Espinal logged innings here.
- LF: Austin Hays was the top choice, followed by Lux and Will Benson.
- CF: TJ Friedl has the full-time job.
- RF: Noelvi Marte took over the starting job. Jake Fraley spent time here before getting injured, and Benson was also in the mix.
- DH: Of late, it was a Lux/Miguel Andujar time share. Hays also picked up a good number of ABs here.
No one on the Reds had a stellar offensive season. Almost every regular fell between a 97 wRC+ and a 109 mark, with 100 being league average. Where can improvements be found?
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Bichette posted 3.4 WAR in 139 games with an .840 OPS (Vladi was .848). [Even missing almost a month, he fell only three hits short of Bobby Witt for most hits in MLB.] Perhaps they get to the WS without him, but doubtful they win the division. If the Jays let him go, they need to replace that WAR to contend in a tough division.
Don’t see Ms resigning Polanco. He can’t play 3B and they need to sign Suarez or someone else there. They have Cole Young, and Colt Emerson on the way, at 2B. While Polanco probably hit enough this season to be a DH, over the next three years they need to play Raleigh at DH more often that the 38 times he played there this season. Polanco gets his long term deal elsewhere. .
I love deGrom but it feels like a guarantee that if the Mets traded for him, he would immediately get hurt again and miss a full season.
DeGrom seems like an AA target (if he could induce the Rangers to eat $25M of that salary.) He’d fit well in the Braves rotation. Yeah, I know—-a healthy DeGrom looks good in every rotation.
He’s got a full-NTC so I think it’s moot.
As a still disgruntled Pads fan, i hate to say it, but the TV strike zone box on broadcasts is not the official box and if you look at the Baseball Savant page, the pitch was much closer to a borderline strike than what the broadcast K box showed.
Y’all were robbed. If this happened in 2026 that’s a walk after a 2 second review.
I like both teams but what’s right is right.
I still feel robbed, but my dumb rational brain is coming around to the possibility that that might not have even been overturned under ABS and that what we think we are looking at on TV may not be what umps and review crews are looking at on these future reviews. I blame Eno Sarris for this dispassionate logic.
I love the Angels as a trade partner with the Reds if we were a functional organization.
Jo Adell could pop 30-40 HR, play RF well, move Marte to his natural 3B position, and cost little in the way of cash flow.
Taylor Ward is more expensive and only around for one year but would cost less in prospect capital. He’s a meh LF’er and Cincy is pretty set there.
Noelvi Marte is doing a respectable job in right learning a new position. He’ll be fine there. KeBryan Hayes is our 3B. Adell playing left and batting cleanup is intriguing however. How about we take Adell and a prospect off your hands for Hayes and Scott Williamson?