The Reds are shuffling the bullpen. Right-hander Pierce Johnson is headed to the injured list with right elbow inflammation, the club announced. Righty Lyon Richardson is returning to the big-league club to take his spot. To open up room on the 40-man for Richardson, Cincinnati designated right-hander Kyle Nicolas for assignment.
Nicolas joined the organization via trade from the Pirates in March. Outfielder Tyler Callihan went to Pittsburgh in the deal. Nicolas didn’t break camp with the club, but made his team debut in early April. He was knocked around for seven earned runs over seven appearances. The righty piled up 13 walks over 7 1/3 frames.
The 27-year-old Nicolas struggled in his first outing with the Reds. He ceded three earned runs in mop-up duty and had to be relieved by a position player. Nicolas settled in for four scoreless appearances after the ugly debut. He was tagged for four earned runs in a late April outing against the Rays and was optioned back to Triple-A shortly after.
Throwing strikes has been the main issue for Nicolas. He’s pitched in parts of four seasons in the majors and has yet to post a sub-10% walk rate. The righty has an underwhelming 59.5% strike rate across 93 MLB outings. Nicolas posted a career-worst 38.4% zone rate in his brief stint with the Reds.
After two short stretches with the Reds in 2023 and 2024, Richardson was a regular in the bullpen last season. He pitched to a 4.54 ERA across 37 appearances. The Reds used Richardson in a variety of roles, including occasional late-inning appearances. He picked up three holds, but also covered more than an inning on 14 occasions.
Richardson came up as a starter, and his first four games with the Reds were starts. He struggled to an 8.64 ERA as a rookie in 2023. Richardson began transitioning to a relief role in 2024. He pitched out of the bullpen six times at Triple-A. His lone appearance with the Reds that season came as a reliever. Richardson has been almost exclusively used out of the bullpen since then.
More to come…
I wouldnt be surprised if Pittsburgh took a 2nd look at Nicolas
There you go Mendoza and other’s who cried over losing Falter and Nicholas. You can get both back. I’m 2 for 2 on my prediction.
Now the injuries are piling up in the bullpen. The budget gets set for the season and not raised until the ownership figures out if the minority owners can go without their dividends. As Reds fans know this ownership structure is garbage to begin with.
Now they are going to have to figure out if they want to continue hoping for the best or make trades to help.
I can also see them selling off too.
They do have some interesting pieces if they go that direction.
Richardson has failed on multiple occasions too so he is no better. Meanwhile they dealt a kid who literally put his body on the line for them for nothing.
Richardson will probably blow the game tonight like Marte last night. Of course the off-season lack of planning pretty much indicated all this, except to the idol worshippers.
This ownership group will sell if they are forced to pay a floor of 170 million. They barely go over a hundred.
Yeah the Callihan trade was ridiculous from the start. And I would like to see some other relievers get a shot. Hunter Parks has a 0.00 ERA this year. Anthony Miesiewicz (or however you spell it) has been good. Same with the dude they just traded for Hinds.