The Reds made a pair of depth additions to the outfield last week. They brought in glove-first center fielder Dane Myers in a small trade with Miami while signing JJ Bleday to a $1.4MM reclamation deal. Neither player should be locked into everyday roles, but they’ll each compete for playing time alongside TJ Friedl and Noelvi Marte. Both acquisitions have a minor league option remaining and can be sent to Triple-A Louisville without going on waivers.
Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic write that the Reds are open to acquiring another outfielder, which they suggest is likelier to come via trade than free agency. Their left field mix is likely to feature Bleday, Gavin Lux and Will Benson — each of whom hit from the left side. Friedl is also a left-handed hitter, leaving Marte and Myers as their top right-handed options. Marte is going to be the everyday right fielder. Myers has good career numbers against left-handed pitching (.297/.360/.456) but has been almost unplayable against righties.
The Reds have some flexibility in their positional alignment. They limited Spencer Steer mostly to first base this year after he suffered a shoulder injury in Spring Training. If they feel better about testing his arm after a healthy offseason, he could pick up a few more starts in left field. Playing Steer in the outfield against left-handed pitching would free more first base at-bats for Sal Stewart, who is coming off a .309/.383/.524 showing in Triple-A. Stewart reached the big leagues late in the season and connected on five home runs in 18 games. He’s one of the organization’s most exciting offensive players, though it remains to be seen if he can handle more than spot starts at a position other than first base or designated hitter.
Acquiring a center fielder could also push Friedl into a full-time left field role. That’s easier said than done given the limited supply of center fielders on the trade market. Houston dangled Jake Meyers for starting pitching before trading Jacob Melton as part of a package to acquire Mike Burrows from Pittsburgh. The White Sox have discussed Luis Robert Jr. with the Reds, among other clubs, but his $20MM salary is a significant obstacle. Even if Chicago might be willing to pay down a portion of the contract, that’d increase their prospect demand for their talented but inconsistent center fielder.
Sammon and Woo report that the Reds have not considered trading Friedl. He’s under arbitration control for three seasons and led the team with a .364 on-base percentage (min. 200 plate appearances). Friedl was at the top of Terry Francona’s batting order for the entire year. He has serviceable range in center field but a below-average arm that would make him a better fit in left if the Reds were able to land a clear upgrade in center.
Cincinnati’s payroll projection sits around $111MM, as estimated by RosterResource. The Reds opened the 2025 season at just under $116MM. President of baseball operations Nick Krall said at the beginning of the offseason that he anticipated a similar number next year.
Reds have great young starting pitchers, but other than Elly De La Cruz, and perhaps Stewart and Friedl, the offense seems lackluster. Marte is uncertain at best, Steer and especially McLain have regressed.
Jays fan here. Since the Reds are budget conscious, what about Joey Loperfido? I love him, could be a budding star with great defence and bat. If we sign Tucker and/or Bichette, there won’t be playing time for him unfortunately.
The reds do need a new Joey, at what cost though
Idk about regressed. Steer has been hurt and looked good 2nd half. They are also going to play Stewart. He’s already better than McLain. Also Marte is a former top prospect. His overall numbers were not impressive last year but he had some really good runs. I think if he and steer put it together, they’ll compete for central
Agree that Stewart looks good.
Agree Stewart looks good as a hitter but way too small sample size to count on him just yet. He can “regress” just like McLain did. Also I think the word regress is misused. MLB pitchers have a way of finding a hitter’s weakness and attack that. Some guys adjust to it and some don’t. Those who do have long careers.
Yes that means regression. He cannot adjust to the adjustments. If he did that would be progression.
Cruz is very over rated
De La Cruz is a genuine star. He is slightly over-rated if someone calls him a top ten player in MLB, but he is a stud by any other metric.
If EDLC is an average hitter he is a good player and if he is a good hitter he is a superstar because of his freakish speed and strength. So far thru a couple of years he has been an above average hitter which makes him a borderline all star although by far the best offensive player on the team.
I was really hoping we could have gotten someone to hit behind him like schwarber that would allow him to see better pitches then maybe have 2 superstars on offense. I understand with our budget not getting schwarber though however I do not understand either not signing O’Hearn or trading for Brandon Lowe.
Octavian
RE: “Regress”
Agree:
In McLain’s case, partly injuries took him out of rhythm, partly regression to the mean, partly pitchers have adapted to him at the plate.
Lackluster is a kind way to put it. It’s totally inadequate and a waste of their pitching talent
Totally agree. Just meant that the Reds don’t want to spend so they might need to look at high ceiling guys. Loperfido, if given regular playing time, could have a great year and then his value might be double what it is now. IF is the word though. Jays have excess young talent. If we sign Tucker, I could see us dealing Loperfido and one of our SS, both are in MLB’s top 100. I love the Reds though, they’re my go to team after my Jays.
The Reds need power bats not guys who hit 8hrs in a season. They already have enough of those guys.
100%… What I said in my follow up comment is the Reds don’t have the money to get power bats in the free agent market, obviously they could trade for them, but will they actually invest to keep them? Teams like the Reds need to identify Guys that are potential All-Stars with power and great defence and pick them up. That’s how some of the best players in the league start out…
Giving up talent for a 5% chance this kid might be good sounds like a horrible idea. They already got burned by the Jays in the last trade they did.
Valaika’s magic at work…
(Plot twist, they’re really not and they won’t.)
They’re just saying this to appease their fans who are rightfully upset right now, that they are once again doing absolutely nothing to improve.
The highlight of their offseason will be “well we tried for Schwarber and almost got him”, and they’re going to be pointing it out, bringing it up and trying to remind fans of that for years lmao.
Alec Burleson for Rhett Lowder. Nice and simple.
I mean you could even switch burleson with nootbar too. Or burleson and nootbar for lowder plus something else.
Burleson and Nootbaar for Lowder Lux and another prospect.
That’s got the makin of a deal !
Reds don’t want your crap
Better find a better OF to trade if you want Lowder
Burleson would lead the Reds in homers in 2026. He’s better than any outfielder they currently have.
I would do that trade.
Nowhere near Lowder
Just making sure the white Sox still know they’re dumb enough to trade for lrj
Not sure Cincy/WSox will agree on a headline near ready several years controllable starter with Sox picking up 10 out of 20mil owed. Don’t believe they like Petty at all not being good in minors-yet Lowder off injury won’t be given up.
I’m sure the White Sox would love to have Lowder but Robert isnt worth Lowder.
I’m only a fan of this organization from afar, but it’s still enough to make me pull my hair out. This Braintrust will give a three year contract to Jeimer Candelario to play a position they already had filled , they sign Zack Littell a well known gopherball pitcher to pitch in a stadium known to be a bandbox, and then they fail to sign anyone who is able to hit homeruns to take any advantage of the bandbox dimensions (their homerun leader had what 23 homeruns last year?) I mean this kind of mismanagement is borderline criminal and embarrassing for this franchise.
This is Kralls like 4th rebuild too. He’s remained in control the whole time by rotating others as fall guys why he tries to figure it out.
He’ll never figure it out. Meanwhile, they waste another year of Elly and the crew around him.
4th rebuild? He has his faults, but he has been president for 3 years (running the show) and was GM foranother 3 years (working for someone else) before that.
Its at least his second. He traded everything of value and got basically Marte and Steer for Suarez, Winker, Castillo, Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle and Kyle Farmer. His biggest free agent signings were Moustakas and Candelario (who is the teams highest paid player and will not play for them this year), which were disasters. Most of the guys he traded for are approaching 30 now with minimal big league success. Krall has no business running anyones baseball team. He is a bigger problem than the ownership.
I am a fan up close so imagine my dismay. I didn’t have a problem with Littell although we didn’t really need him at the time as Greene was on the cusp of returning and Littell did provide some good innings in August and September.
My bigger issue was trading for K Hayes and his $8 million a year salary for 4 more years. Yes he is gold glove defense but it was obvious by that point of the season the biggest need was power and we passed on Suarez who has the most power of any 3rd baseman. Furthermore Suarez would have been a rental with no obligation in the future. So we evidently missed on schwarber by $5 million a year for 5 years if we offered him $25 million a year for 5 and he signed for $30 million for 5. Maybe not as simple because Philly might have beat the best offer but the $8 million a year we pay Hayes for 4 more would make up the schwarber difference or at least freed up money to get Josh Naylor or some other good left hand bat with power.
Then we get to the moves this offseason. Very first signing is Keegan Thompson who I really didn’t think would move the needle but also wouldn’t hurt. Give him a $1.4 million one year contract. Last week the cut him but still owe him the $1.4 million to make room on the 40 man roster for Bledey a left handed hitter that doesn’t move the needle either and we basically already had his clone in will benson. Add another $1.4 million for one year for his deal and we are basically paying double if you count Keegan’s salary.
Also with an earlier transaction they have 3 catchers on the 40 man roster none of which have options so they will have to carry all 3 on the 26 man unless they cut say the one still making league minimum in which case they have no other catchers on the 40 man that could be called up if one of the other 2 go on the IL. They do have dunno who is supposed to be really good but only 19 and not on the 40 man.
For the past 3 or 4 season I have been more to blame the owners than the VP of operations and not really blame them because they can’t help it they perennially rank as not just one of the poorest ownership groups in MLB but in all 4 major sports. Now I am begging to think it’s the VP of operations (former title of GM’s). He made a few moves that paid off like getting steer and CES for mahle back at the 2022 deadline and last offseason the trade of India for singer but the misses. Failing to get a starting pitcher at the deadline in 2023 when we were leading the division then missing the playoffs by a game. Prioritizing a defense first 3rd basemen this year deadline instead of a big bat probably kept us in the last wild card instead of a better wild card slot and not playing the dodgers first round and then not getting either O’Hearn via signing or Brandon Lowe by trade last week after understandably missing on Schwarber. None of those things would have busted a budget for a poor team so not sure I can blame the owners.
Ignorant,
Criticism of the Jeimer deal is fair. They made the playoffs last year, so I don’t see the Zack criticism. Zack did ok for us. My question is what bat should we have signed? Who is this home run hitter, that we should have signed?
A home run hitter, thats who. Its not our job to name the specific home run hitter, its Nick Krall’s job. Instead he paid a home run hitter’s price for one of the worst hitting regulars in the entire league. Then committed to him for 3 more years. Candelario’s 15 million and Hayes’s 8 million this year means they will pay 23 million for third basemen in 2026. That 23 million will produce a .225 average with less than 15 home runs.
Thats not doing your job if you are in charge.
How about Jarren Duran? Reds have talented young g pitching.
They want a front of the rotation pitcher in return, not sure the reds can afford that.
They can and should be Krall is afraid to trade Greene
Why would we trade Green. We have unproven young pitchers, some coming back from injury. Duran is not a power guy anyway or the Sox wouldn’t be signing/trading for additions all bats. We have we he offers already.
Not for Duran but you trade Greene to free up payroll to add someone else plus what you bring in. To SF for Ramos and Eldridge would be a dream package
If all your getting is those guys im glad your not the GM. Greene is a top talent and the Reds shouldn’t be trading him for mediocre players.
Bryce Eldridge hit more homers (hurt) last season than anyone in the whole entire reds organization. He also cleared three levels of minor league ball in one season. He’s a surefire prospect and MLB ready with 6 years of control. So all the money reds would spend on Greene in 26,27,28 would cost them less than 2 million in salary for Eldridge. Freeing them up to invest in other areas of need, like even more bats. O’Hearn could have been the addition or even Schwarber if he was ever serious about coming home to play in Cincy.
Burns > Greene
Big Wiffa > Krall 🔒
Not worth greene….. stop trying to give away a top notch arm for scraps
Nick Lodolo for Duran. Done…
Not Greene but maybe lodolo, idk if it’s worth it to lose some of what the reds actually have right atm
Lodolo when healthy, I think it’s our best pitcher. What do you feel we gain with Duran?
Duran is legit and I’d love to pencil him in the lineup every day but Greene is too much. Lodolo is intriguing.
I dont think Lodolo on his own gets it done, but Lodolo plus another, yeah that’s a good deal.
We would have to give up one of our best 2 pitchers to get him and he would be our second best hitter behind EDLC. Say it’s Abbott our 2nd best pitcher, Abbott is a better pitcher than Duran is hitter and Abbott or Greene either one has longer team control and more team friendly deals.
It would be robbing Peter to pay Paul really so I am not for it. I thought 2 weeks ago after we signed Ferguson the roster was pretty much set unless we traded for Lowe or signed O’Hearn which either would have made us better. What happened last week with Bledey signing didn’t make us better and ended up costing more money because we will have to pay Thompson what we signed him for back in November. His $1.4 million goes into the Candelario bucket of “dead money”.
By my math if the payroll is going to be same as last year we have $9 million left to spend and now need another middle inning right handed pen arm unless we are good with Maxwell or Mey and still need another “proven” left handed power bat single Bledey is still not proven after 3 mlb seasons and definitely not proven power.
Don’t think we will find that for $9 million unless someone trades us that for someone like Lux and his salary. Don’t see that type of bat left on the trade market now that the pirates have Lowe. Definitely don’t see a left handed power free agent for $9 million.
They should take a flier on a reunion with Nick Castellanos. Phils would pay most of his salary and can probably be had for a lottery ticket minor leaguer.
There’s gotta be a taker, no??
Castellanos had a .694 OPS last year and has an OPS+ of 100 over the last 4 years. He’s trending the wrong way and badly, with his OPS dropping 3 years in a row.
When it comes to offense from the outfield, Castellanos is more problem than he is solution.
He put up way better numbers in Cincinnati than he ever did in Philly.
This is not what the Reds should do. But is probably what they will do.
I would be surprised if they even do that. I bet they are done.
Hard no to Castellanos.
It’s not the worst shout tbh. Coming back to Cincy could respark him and the cost would be extremely low.
I don’t see that happening. Castellanos was very openly critical of ownership when he left.
How do they intend to add to the outfield? Are they moving the fences back? I wish they would bring back to Polo grounds dimensions.
We will trade cinci brooks baldwin and lenyn sosa and a minir leaguer for bleday
I will believe it when I see it. I hope they make me eat my words. They never sell off minor leaguers and now is the time to slightly over pay to go get a guy. Honestly if they went after Duran and gave up Lodolo… do it. Singer and a top prospect, do it. Lodolo and a top prospect… do it. Guy has years of control, go for it. Hell while they are at it go get Robert too. I don’t give a darn about future plans anymore. Win now and figure it out later. Stop crying broke you aren’t. Win a division Bob.
I’m kinda with you, I’d rather them spend like they have this year and trade some capital, than the reverse with signings like candy and moose with all due respect
The Reds don’t have enough arms to handle all the innings if they trade Lodolo or Singer. They’d need to backfill with a free agent or another trade, and probably end up spending more money on a weaker rotation. Why not just sign a Harrison Bader instead.
Bader lol. They had him and he was garbage
That might be what they do. He is a good bat but not really a power bat so it doesn’t fill that big void for lack of power in the lineup but likely the way to improve the team the most with the money they have left to work with.
I think they have plenty of arms. Heck right now they might have the best AAA rotation with Aguilar, Williamson and Lowder assuming none of those guys go to the bullpen.
Anything they can get from Lowder, Williamson and Aguiar will be a bonus. All 3 are coming off significant injuries and/or surgeries. They’ll need to be eased back in and will all be on innings limits.
I think he was saying the jury was out on the guys you mentioned in AAA if they deal one of the big league starters, which is true. Plus none of the top three have shown they can get though a year without a DL trip except Abbott last year. Hopefully that is the new normal for him and not an anomaly.
All this malcontent about the Reds… As an outsider, I see a team primed to make a major leap. They’re just young and need to coalesce.
But man, as Elly, McLain, Marte, and Sal Stewart mature, that’s going to be one heck of a core—and the big leap could even come this year. Plus, with Friedl, Steer and Stephenson, that gives the lineup some length. Hayes isn’t anything special with the bat, but he sure does lock down third. I could see how adding a bonafide bat in left (or maybe at first or DH and altering position plans for Stewart and Steer) would be welcomed. But it’s still a high-upside lineup as is.
And then the rotation… Still young and injury-prone, but the talent is unbelievable.
If not in ‘26, then by ‘27 this team will make a serious run.
Thank you for this.
Agreed!
what would Geno Suarez cost? 33 years old. fits Reds d.h. spot.
They are not as young as you think. This is now going into year 4 with EDLC our best offensive player and Greene our best pitcher. Many of these guys are now arbitration players.
Yes Marte & Stewart are young but 2 years ago so was Steer and MClain now both arbitration. Steer is about the same and an every day player IMO but not any better than 2 years ago. McLain had big regression coming off an injury and now to the point where really shouldn’t be playing him and K Hayes in the same line up.
Fact is we just don’t know what Marte & Stewart will do because not enough sample size. Really don’t know on McLain either if he is 2023 version, 2025 version or somewhere in between. It’s fine to go into a season with a couple of what ifs. They can play if they can hit and be used for depth if they can’t but not good to start the season with half a dozen “what ifs”. We needed a couple of proven veteran bats to go with these guys. Last year we did have Austin Hays but really don’t have that now.
What we know as far as offensive production is Friedl, Stephenson, Steer & Lux all average but none good hitters although Friedl is a top 10 leadoff hitter. We also unfortunately know what K Hayes will do with a bat and if McLain is his 2025 version Stewart needs to be getting reps at second because we can’t have 2025 McLain & Hayes in the lineup at the same time.
Brings me to EDLC which we about know what he is at this point which is an above average hitter but not necessarily a good with a lot of speed & arm strength to make him a good player. Still only 24 same as Marte and both need to improve if we are going to make the playoffs again. If they both do and Stewart ends up the real deal then maybe we can slot a better wild card than last year and if all 3 happen and McLain is 2023 McLain we could win the central but that is a lot of ifs. Be lucky if 2 pan out.
No thanks on Eugenio Suarez. He’s a strikeout machine.
Giants should send them Matos in a trade.
Jo Adell would be a great fit in Cincy. His OBP isn’t great but he’ll hit 40 bombs for the Reds and has 2 years of control remaining.
Unfortunately Arte will try to “compete” only to trade Jo midway through his each year for a fraction of what we could get now. If at all.
U crazy to suggest the Angels trade the Jo Show! U aren’t a real Halo fan.
Davis Schneider is coming off a 127 wRC+ season playing in the role described. He gets to barrels which is what the Reds should be shopping for to fit that park. 14% last year and 13.5% for his career. He hits righties just fine too even though the Jays used him more as a platoon guy. But if the strong side guy like Bleday wasn’t working out great, Schneider could play more against lefties. Can play some 2B as well.
He fits the Jays for now, though a healthy Santander and the Jays still shopping for everyday bats might make his opportunities fewer than the quality of his bat deserves. For all the talk of Toronto’s starting pitching depth, it’s all at the major league level with no mechanism to get them to AAA outside of IL rehab stints. They made a bunch of trades of upper minors pitching at the deadline and sure could use some starting pitching with minor league options remaining. I don’t know where the likes of Petty, Lowder, Franco stand in the Reds organization or if the Jays might like any of them. Even Williamson might be on the right timeline as the Jays don’t need someone out of the gate. But that’s the kind of framework that could make sense.
Lowder is the Reds #2 prospect and pretty much untouchable unless you want to send Vlad
Is he still the #2 prospect? Or in real time is there a bit of a down arrow in value? That’s why I said I don’t know where those guys stand in the organization. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I thought he might be entering a little bit of post hype territory. He has over a full year of service time and the stuff wasn’t very good (90 stuff+) when he was deemed big league ready. Maybe the projection is now more of a sixth starter who commands less than impressive stuff. Which honestly always felt like that’s how he was described even when highly regarded. Plus the old adage that “there is no such thing as a pitching prospect” can apply here. He’s not a prospect anymore though there’s still development in front of him and he hasn’t established a floor yet. He could bounce back from the injury marred season and surpass what he showed his first time in the majors. Or that might be all there is and he never gets off the ground. I’m not making a judgement. I really don’t know. I was just looking at 40 man pitchers not projected to be on the 26 and included them.
Just like the Cardinals fan saying the Reds should take Burleson for him Schneider isnt in the stratosphere of what you need to offer to get Lowder. .234 and 11 hrs isnt going to cut it. Thats pretty much giving Lowder away for free.
That’s fine. I was just taking the group of guys on the 40 who don’t project to be one of the top 26 guys. It wasn’t a particular trade proposal. Just a general trade concept. A sixth starter type for a good platoon player who might be more. Maybe Cincinatti is still really high on Lowder and that’s fine. He’d probably be too much in a one for one. I wasn’t trying to steal him from you. I’m trying to find a place where a guy I like and think is better than his current and projected usage suggests could thrive in a bigger role. The Reds don’t need Schwarber level raw power. They need to find guys who get to barrels. The park does the rest. Schneider is pre arb with 4 years of control. His .797 OPS, 14% barrel rate, 127 wRC+, and +10 batting run value would have been at or near the top of Reds hitters last year. Granted in a part time role, but doesn’t that make his 11 HRs all the more impressive when he was a guy who played a third of the time. The upside here for a team relying on a $1.4m signing of a DFA’d/non-tendered guy as the strong side of the platoon is that Schneider doesn’t just hit lefties. He had major reverse splits last year and has reverse splits for his career. So the role could be bigger than weak side of a platoon guy if Bleday isn’t good. And while he’s probably limited to LF in the OF, he can also play some 2B if you need to move some things around.
Every team needs Scwarber raw power. The Reds best player had 22 hrs. They need more power not guys who have warning track power which is 11 hrs a year. Lowder is still a top 100 prospect, meaning the Reds would have to get something significant for him and Sneider doesn’t fit that bill.
He is still considered a prospect but I don’t understand the post. He has only made 6 major league starts and a year of service time would be more like 30. I really didn’t see any of his starts to see what his “stuff” is like but he had a 1.5 era in around 30 innings which if applied to 170 innings would win a cy young walking away.
Not always does the 100 mph fastball keep 0’s on the scoreboard but it helps. I don’t thin anybody would think Greg Maddox to have better stuff than Clemons or Johnson but I think a minority consider Maddox to have had the best career of the 3. Or consider our rotation last few years. Greene and Lodolo have better “stuff” than Abbott but Abbott has been our best pitcher over the past 2 years. Stuff helps but also knowing when to make certain pitches is equally important.
With all that said I feel like burns will be our 5th starter over lower because he has better “stuff”.
Yeah Shannon, I think Lowder is more about floor because his standout attribute is command. Burns more about ceiling because he has the stuff. But also keep in mind that stuff isn’t necessarily velo. Pitch shape is as much or more important in the stuff models. The ERA you reference for Lowder wouldn’t hold up over 170 innings as his peripherals suggested more of a mid 4s in that time. Still good for a first look. I honestly wasn’t criticizing him or anything. Just curious. Sometimes when the clock is ticking on a guy, a team will choose to cash him in because they have other guys (like Burns or Petty). Grayson Rodriguez was just moved for one year of Taylor Ward who is due a decent salary. We don’t always know who a team values more or less than the publicly available scouting reports and prospect grades.
It looks to me like the reason Lowder has more than a year of service time is that they chose to put him on the major league IL instead of using up an option on him as he still has a full slate of options. That’s a curious decision since I don’t think they were obligated to put him on the major league IL because his injury was an offseason/spring training one as opposed to while he was on the active regular season roster. So they’ve used a full season of control. If they think he’s major league ready, saving all those options doesn’t really make sense unless they view him more as a depth starter who goes up and down from the minors (the role I’m trying to target for the Jays somewhere). Even then, if they used the option instead and put him on the minor league IL to keep the year of service, he would end up eligible for a fourth option year since he wouldn’t have had five full pro seasons under his belt before exhausting his three options.
Okay Matt, let’s examine that statement. Every team needs Schwarber power. Sure. Every team can use Schwarber power production. But the Reds have a couple guys with Schwarber raw power. Elly had .2 mph higher max EV and Marte only slightly behind Schwarber by about half a mile. So why is it they don’t hit as many homers as Schwarber? Because they don’t get to barrels near as frequently as Schwarber’s 3rd in the league barrel rate of 20.8%. Elly and Marte are living in the 9-10% barrel rate zone. Well below Schneider’s 14%. If you want more homers, you need to shop for more barrels because about half of barrels become HRs and around 85% of homers are barrels. You know why the Reds were 21st in the league in HRs despite playing in one of if not the most HR friendly park in the majors? Because they had the third worst barrel rate of any team. You scoff at Schneider’s 11 HRs but that was in less than a third of your HR leader’s plate appearances and in an environment not as conducive to turning fly balls into HRs. The article suggests they’re looking to add a part time right handed bat. If your left handed bat is as productive as Schneider, that would be 22 HRs and added to Schneider becomes 33 from the position. Now you’re cooking. The article also says that bat is more likely to come from trade than free agency. So how many right handed platoon OFs who offer the level of offensive performance that Schneider does are conceivably available?
Personally, I think Cincinatti should have been looking to free agency this offseason because there was/is opportunity for good value. Tucker, Bellinger, and Bregman are all guys whose performances are heavily influenced by environment. This isn’t news to the league and it probably makes for fewer suitors than they would like in order to get the bidding up. Remember the 85% of homers are barrels? These are the types of hitters who live in the other 15%. Lofting fly balls to the pull side. GABP would be a good environment for those guys. But the majority of the league won’t project them to be nearly as valuable in other home parks. Bellinger was a below average hitter away from Yankee stadium last year. The Yankees probably still could outbid the Reds even though they are crying poor this offseason. But Cincinatti should be in there. Geno Suarez pulls his fly balls and while he’s at an age where you expect major bat speed drop off, his pulled flies can still work at GABP and is prod ably going to be a modestly priced deal. Bregman is harder to see the fit with the commitment to Hayes, but work it out later. Your lineup could use Bregman. But if you don’t want to pay players, Schneider comes at league minimum and at some point, to get players that will help right now and are pre arbitration, you do have to surrender prospects or other players. You have to spend one or the other. Sure Lowder is too much one for one for Schneider. But the Jays could give you another piece or two. Or maybe Petty is the more equivalent value. Or even a package of lesser prospects plus Williamson if his timeline works. Or nothing at all. The Jays could really use Schneider as currently constructed. But if they get an everyday bat like Tucker in the OF or even someone on the infield and want Barger to have a chance to face lefties and be an everyday guy, Schneider could be available. You don’t sound interested because 11 HRs in 227 plate appearances isn’t enough. I don’t understand that logic, but that’s fine. As a Blue Jay fan, I don’t want him to leave. As a baseball fan and David Schneider fan, I want him to play on the Reds. I think he’d rake there and would play more than he does in Toronto and earn more money.
A lot of things the reds do does not make sense. Every team including the reds need starting pitching depth of 6 or 7 serviceable guys which I would say Lowder is. I don’t get into much of the peripheral stats like expected era, etc. I am of the theory that a prospect or young player is what they are until they are something different either better or worse. With that said I am sure Lowder won’t pitch 10 years with a 1.5 era but see no reason he won’t have a mid 3 career era until he has a couple of seasons early on in the 4’s or 5’s.
As far as a trade to the blue jays…I am not familiar with what they have. The reds need a left handed power bat more than they need pitching depth really. To start the offseason the best free agent target for them was Schwarber as he is probably the best left handed pure power bat free agent to come along in 20 years, however I really didn’t think it would happen. I looked around at trade the trade market and stats of other teams players and thought maybe a trade with the rays for Brandon Lowe would work for the reds budget and bring in proven 25 plus home run power from the left side. I was thinking more in terms of Chase petty than Lowder (petty has the better “stuff but worse stats with the same big league innings). For some unknown reasons the reds let the pirates get him from Tampa for a prospect package.
If the blue jays have a proven 25+ home run left handed bat with a salary of $10 to $15 million and a year remaining I would probably go for Lowder trade but I ain’t the reds VP of operations.
If a blue jays fan from Canada thanks for 17 years of Votto BTW.
The reds can’t afford bregman or bellinger and probably shouldn’t sign Suarez to a 3 year deal in the $15 to $20 million a year range at this point in his career especially since he is right power and they need left.
Speaking of Suarez and Hayes that was another thing I didn’t understand the reds did at the deadline trading for Hayes instead of Suarez since by then it was obvious they needed power more than defense. Also they wouldn’t have had a commitment to Suarez going forward as Hayes is owed $8 million a year for 4 more years. Marte could have been our 3rd basemen for the foreseeable future and probably easier to find a left handed power bat at any of the 4 corners or DH as now Marte has to take up a corner OF spot to get his bat in the lineup and Hayes takes up 3rd because we owe him money. Steer can move from 1st to left and Stewart takes up another corner unless he can play 2B and McLain hits like he did last year. Kind of limits our options on who we get with left handed power by only being able to play a few positions.
Can also think without Hayes salary and some of the other silly moves they made like signing Keegan Thompson then cutting him to make room for JJ Bledey both at $1.4 million being another $2.& million, they could afford bellinger.
The article says they are looking for right handed complements. If left handed power like you are describing is the need, then I’m not sure the Jays are really your trade partner. They have Varsho who kind of fits your description as a one year at ~$10m CF who hits homers, but it comes with major underwhelming OBPs. The Jays love him though even though a majority of Blue Jay fans don’t seem to. Santander might be a good fit for the Reds but he’s only one year into a long term commitment. On the one hand, it would be weird to see them move off of him a year after liking him enough to give him that deal, but on the other hand, I don’t think they were expecting the Springer resurgence at age 35 when they signed Santander. They might be willing to move him to free up the roster functioning and he’s in the $13m a year range that the Jays would pay down given his lost season last year. That’s a long shot though. Springer is a free agent after this year, so DH opens for Santander next year. Otherwise, left handed bats at the majors aren’t really power guys. They have Lukes whose playing time would be threatened by an addition to the lineup but he’s more of an on base guy than power guy. They have some left handed power in AAA but not sure how ready to be major leaguers they are. Joey Loperfido could be but he’s nice depth for the Jays to have themselves.
I wouldn’t assume Cincinatti couldn’t afford Bellinger. If Bellinger is going to keep doing the high AAV opt out thing, then maybe he’s too expensive, but if he just wants some security, why not just give him term at a modest AAV if you are the Reds? He’ll hit homers in that park and he might age fine. It’s not the long term outlook on Bellinger that scares teams so much as it is the fact that he’s so environment dependent right now. Great American would be the right environment for him. The Reds shouldn’t be afraid of Bellinger the way other teams are. If you could afford Schwarber, you can afford Bellinger.
If you don’t want to play in the B tier of free agency like Bellinger, and you don’t want to trade the good prospects, you’ll have to hit on your upside plays like Bleday. But Bleday has very little floor. You might be better in the C tier for guys like Kepler who might profile well for Cincinnati. Though he profiled well for Philly and it didn’t work out. I can’t figure out why. He’s a fly ball hitter with good plate discipline who walks a good amount and doesn’t strikeout a lot and hits the ball hard. He pulls his flies at an average rate. It was the really low BABIP that did him in. Low BABIPs are expected of fly ball hitters but his was really low. Looks to me like he hits a lot of his flies to CF which is big at Citizens Bank. Statcast puts his expected HRs in Philly at 18 and in Cincinatti at 22. Hey, I’ve heard that number before. In my response to TigerMatt. 22 HRs from the left and 11 from Schneider on the right side in a platoon equals 33 from the position. Anyway, I’ll stop trying to pawn off Schneider on you. I’d actually prefer to keep him on the Jays, but like I said, he can be underutilized as the roster is now so I was thinking about good fits for him when this article popped up.
P.S. On Votto, I didn’t love when the Jays signed him to that minor league deal and was happy he never made it up to the big league team. He’s a one uniform player in my mind and a Cincinatti Red forever.
What the reds need and what the front office think they need are 2 different animals. Currently from the right side the have Spencer steer who was 2nd on the team with 21 home runs and plays very good defense at first but can also play decent left field, they have Tyler Stephenson who as a semi platoon catcher (roughly 120 games as primary catcher) hits around 15 a year and would hit 20 if 160 games, Sal Stewart a September call up that hit 4 with a high obp in roughly 20 games last year so who knows but I feel like he can be a 20 plus a year guy and he doesn’t really have a position but supposedly can play 3rd and 2nd as well as 1st & DH. Marte who hit around a dozen in about half a season last year coming off a horrible half season rookie campaign in 2024 came up as an infielder but moved to right field to make room at 3rd for Hayes and his big .650 career ops. Between Stewart and Marte figure one the real deal that can hit 20 plus home runs with an over .750 ops. Finally from the right we have second baseman Matt McLain who was called up in May 2023 and hit 18 home runs and a mid .800 ops in roughly 2/3 of a season, missed all of 2024 with an injury then last season had more at bats than anybody on the team except EDLC but to the tune of .650 (Hayes like) ops with 14 home runs.
If 2 of Marte, Stewart and McLain hit 20 or more that gives us 3 with a catcher that hits 15 in roughly 400 at bats. I would think if the 2 are Stewart and Marge Stewart will likely become the everyday second baseman and McClain will become the backup shortstop to EDLC. Can’t expect to make a postseason with both McLain and Hayes getting 600 at bats with a .650 ops no matter how good the starting pitching is.
From the left side we have our leadoff hitter and decent defensive center fielder who hits roughly 15 a year but get on base 37% of the time thus we would have no need for varsho. We have Gavin lux who is also a decent on base guy but wouldn’t hit 8 home runs if he played all 162 games (currently a platoon) and will benson who has power, arm and speed but is unplayable against left handed pitching so basically the same as Bledey. We also have EDLC who o feel like has at least 25 home runs as a switch hitter. So nobody with 20 home run power from the left.
In November the reds vp of operations said the payroll for 2026 would be similar to 2025 which is silly coming of first postseason in 5 years. 2025 was roughly $115 million and reds are currently at $105 by my count. I think they probably would have gone up to a $130 million payroll for Schwarber because he is local and they think he would have sold tickets. My line of thinking is winning not a local sells tickets (I get a Saturday games ticket package but not really local living 2 hours away in KY). No doubt we would have probably had a good chance to win our division with Schwarber and a decent chance to win it with bellinger but their line of thinking is bellinger which also puts them around $130 million payroll (what it should be to expect to be competitive) but bellinger won’t sell as many tickets as Schwarber is the line of thinking.
Hope you all sign Tucker. He is as close to votto in his prime as I have seen since votto in his prime. I feel like y’all will get Tucker but lose your shortstop. Depending on defensive needs would actually be a good swap strictly offense. That is if Tucker can stay healthy.
Pretty sure they can get Nick Castellanos for 5M and a bag of balls.
I cannot understand why the Reds won’t consider Stewart as their left fielder. He plays 2nd, 1st, some 3rd. He has lost about 24 lb. this winter. His defense in left can’t be much worse than Lux or Steer, and Bleday is no gold glover out their either.
Same old story, they haven’t been able to put a good OF roster in ages.
“Remain Open”? Yeah, my wife remains open to an anullment. What is this even saying. Sign an outfielder already
The Big Red Machine is the little engine that could currently. However they are 3/5 years away from truly being able to compete and win their division. They can hasten this and reach it in 2/3 years if they get smart and make some good trades but their GM and office personnel are afraid of rushing and value their jobs over taking chances so it might be a while.
In any event, I love when teams are right on the cusp of breaking out. It’s that first breakout year when everything comes together that is the best feeling you can have as a fan.
Why don’t the Reds have a reunion with Castellanos and trade to bring him back. I am sure the Phillies and their fans would gladly do a trade for him.
Murakami and Okamoto were available and should have been in their price range. Nobody they are likely to sign now is going to move the needle.
Dear Mr. Krall,
Is it really that hard to sort? 😂
Why not move Stewart to the OF. It seemed to work for Pete Rose…
Steer is a Gold Glove type at 1B…
In other words: We are trying, but most likely won’t do anything!! SAD!!
I think the idea of the latest OF additions was to put together a package for Robert that might possibly include Friedl, Benson, or Marte. I’d personally like to think an offer of one of the new OF, Lux, and Singer would get it done. That trades away roughly $15mm in salary. The CWS offset Robert’s by $5mm and it’s a net trade based against the salary cap. This lineup doesn’t look terrible.
C Stephenson
1B Steer
2B McLain
SS De La Cruz
3B Hayes
LF Friedl
CF Robert
RF Marte
DH Stewart/Benson
SP: Greene, Lodolo, Abbott, Burns, Lowder
Sox want young, controllable talent. Not worth it for one year of Robert when you are not sure what you will get. The Reds would never trade Marte, Friedl nor most of their young pitching staff.
You read the post, right?
I wouldn’t trade Friedl for Robert straight up. 37% on base lead off hitter for a guy who hasn’t had an ops of .700 in 2 seasons. We have at least one proven .650 ops guy in our lineup everyday now with Hayes. McLain might be another if he is more the 2025 McLain than the 2023. If McLain is the 2025 McLain and considering the dead money we are paying Candelario there is no way I would take the chance on Robert being the 2023 Robert. We are already taking the chance with McLain being the 2023 McLain.
wouldn’t trade Singer straight up for him.
Me either and also no to a castelanos reunion. If we can’t sign bellinger then go with what we have, hope for the best in 2026 and try to get a good free agent or player on a trade in 2027.
Nick Castellanos reunion?