Reds Rumors

Reds Place Sonny Gray On Injured List

By Steve Adams | July 8, 2021 at 3:52pm CDT

3:51 pm: Gray seemed wholly unconcerned when speaking with reporters (including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com) this afternoon. He said he pitched through the discomfort during his start yesterday and expects to be back when first eligible. In that case, he wouldn’t need to skip a turn in the rotation.

1:38 pm: The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve placed right-hander Sonny Gray back on the 10-day injured list due to a rib cage strain. It’s the third IL stint of the season for Gray, who had very recently returned from a four-week absence due to a groin strain. Right-hander Tony Santillan is up from Triple-A Louisville in his place.

Cincinnati hasn’t provided a timetable for Gray’s return, though it’s possible that with the All-Star break looming, the impact of his absence could be minimal. Gray started yesterday’s game (and pitched quite well), so he wouldn’t have been in line to make another start prior to the break anyhow. He’d be eligible to return for the Reds’ third game after the break, so it’s technically possible that he won’t even miss a start.

If the injury does prove to sideline Gray for a few outings, however, it’ll be a particularly ill-timed IL trip. The Reds, winners in 10 of their past 15 games, will come out of the break to host a pivotal three-game series against the division-leading Brewers. They’ll then take on a first-place Mets club before playing a string of seven straight divisional games (four against the Cubs, three against the Cardinals) in the days leading up to the July 30 trade deadline. Getting multiple starts from Gray, who has a 3.19 ERA in 62 frames this year, would obviously be ideal.

The Reds’ recent hot streak has propelled them back to second place in the NL Central. They’re six back of the Brewers at the moment, making these next seven games in particular quite important to their season. General manager Nick Krall recently characterized his club as deadline buyers, although one would imagine that is at least somewhat dependent on how the team performs in the looming seven-game stretch against the current division leaders.

For now, Santillan will give the Reds’ staff some depth. All four of his outings with the big league club this season have been starts, but he’ll give manager David Bell a multi-inning option out of the ’pen for now, it seems. In 16 2/3 innings of big league work so far, Santillan has allowed seven earned runs (3.78 ERA) on 18 hits and 10 walks with 20 punchouts.

Reds Notes: Lorenzen, Antone, Trade Deadline

By Anthony Franco | July 5, 2021 at 9:13pm CDT

The Reds could welcome right-hander Michael Lorenzen back from the injured list this weekend, manager David Bell told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer). The 29-year-old is on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville.

Lorenzen hasn’t pitched all year on account of a right shoulder strain. While the Reds intended to give him a shot to earn a spot in the starting rotation entering the year, Lorenzen’s now expected to come back in his customary relief role. Bell told reporters last month Cincinnati didn’t feel it was worthwhile to try to build his workload up to a level sufficient to take on a starting job, given the injury.

His return will be a welcome development for a Cincinnati bullpen that has been among the league’s worst this season. Reds relievers have a cumulative 5.22 ERA; only the Rockies bullpen (5.44) has had a tougher time preventing runs. The peripherals look a bit better — Cincinnati relievers are eighteenth in strikeout/walk rate differential (14.5 percentage points) and 21st in SIERA (4.01) — but the bullpen has nevertheless been one of the weaker position groups on the roster.

The issues have been exacerbated by recent injuries to Lucas Sims and Tejay Antone. Sims suffered an elbow sprain in late June that came with an expected one-month recovery timetable, and it now seems Antone’s looking at a similar return date. Antone has yet to resume throwing after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection on his ailing right forearm and isn’t expected back until late July, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com was among those to relay.

Presumably, the bullpen will be a key target area for the Reds to address in the next few weeks. In an interview with C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic on Friday, general manager Nick Krall said the club would be “aggressive” in acquiring help from outside the organization. Krall suggested then the front office wasn’t giving consideration to selling pieces off the big league roster, and that’s certainly all the more true after Cincinnati swept the Cubs in a three-game set to take over second place in the NL Central last weekend. At 43-40, the Reds still trail the division-leading Brewers by 6.5 games, and they’re 5.5 back of the Padres in the race for the league’s second Wild Card spot.

One question that remains is how much financial flexibility the front office has in exploring midseason upgrades. Krall told Rosecrans the team could add salary “within reason,” a bit of an equivocation that’s likely to concern some fans after payroll constrains led the Reds to trade closer Raisel Iglesias to the Angels for very little return over the winter.

Mariners Sign Shane Carle

By Anthony Franco | July 4, 2021 at 2:53pm CDT

The Mariners have signed reliever Shane Carle to a minor league contract, per Mike Curto, broadcaster for Seattle’s Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma. The 29-year-old has been assigned to the Rainiers.

Carle signed a minors pact with the Reds in February. He spent the entire season with Cincinnati’s top farm team in Louisville, working to a 3.45 ERA with decent strikeout and walk rates (21.7% and 7.2%, respectively). Despite the solid performance, Cincinnati released Carle earlier this week rather than add him to the big league roster.

The right-hander appeared in the majors with the Rockies and Braves between 2017-19. The overwhelming majority of his playing time came with Atlanta in 2018, when Carle worked to a 2.86 ERA over 63 frames. His peripherals never supported that run prevention level, though. Carle only struck out 16.6% of batters faced that year while walking an average 10.4% of opponents, contributing to a less inspiring 4.59 SIERA.

Carle got off to a bad start the following season, allowing ten runs on eleven hits and nine walks while striking out six. The Braves designated him for assignment after just six appearances, and he didn’t return to the majors after being acquired by the Rangers. Nevertheless, there’s no harm for the Mariners in brining him aboard as high minors depth, particularly given his solid numbers with Louisville this year.

Injured List Returns: Gregorius, Reyes, Gray

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2021 at 10:22pm CDT

While top players continue to hit the injured list on a near-daily basis, several notable names also made their return to the field today. The latest…

The Phillies activated shortstop Didi Gregorius off the 10-day injured list prior to today’s 4-3 victory over the Padres, with infielder Nick Maton heading to Triple-A in the corresponding move. Gregorius hadn’t played since May 12, as his initial right elbow injury was slow to heal, and led to a setback in his minor league rehab assignment. The veteran shortstop had hit only .229/.266/.364 in his first 128 plate appearances of the season, but Gregorius celebrated his return to the lineup with a solo home run and a walk in four PA tonight.
Franmil Reyes was activated off the Indians’ 10-day IL, and infielder Yu Chang was optioned to Triple-A. Reyes suffered an internal oblique strain on May 23, and he’ll return about halfway between his projected recovery timeline of 5-to-7 weeks. The struggling Cleveland lineup is in need of Reyes’ offensive production, and he picked up where he left off by collecting three hits in tonight’s 6-3 Tribe loss to the Astros. Reyes is now hitting .268/.325/.577 with 11 home runs over 163 PA.
Sonny Gray tossed five innings of one-run ball (on five hits and one walk, with eight strikeouts) in the Reds’ 2-1 victory over the Cubs. A right groin strain sidelined Gray on June 9, and his return will boost a Cincinnati team that is trying to stay close in the NL Central and NL wild card races. With tonight’s outing in the books, Gray has a 3.27 ERA and an impressive 30.8% strikeout rate over 55 innings this season. Right-hander Ashton Goudeau was optioned to Triple-A to create roster room for Gray’s activation off the 10-day IL.

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/1/21

By Anthony Franco | July 1, 2021 at 10:33pm CDT

Today’s minor moves from around the game:

The Reds announced that outfielder Scott Heineman has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Louisville. He’ll remain in the organization as non-roster depth. Cincinnati acquired Heineman from the Rangers over the winter, but he struggled in a brief look at the major league level before they designated him for assignment this week. The 28-year-old has a .172/.249/.325 line across 173 career MLB plate appearances, but he owns a much stronger .302/.368/.458 mark in parts of three Triple-A seasons.
The Yankees announced they’ve acquired outfield prospect Aldenis Sanchez from the Rays. The move completes the teams’ June 17 trade that sent first baseman Mike Ford to Tampa Bay. Sanchez, 22, joined the Rays out of the Dominican Republic during the 2016-17 international signing period. He has yet to make it beyond rookie ball. Sanchez never appeared on a Rays system ranking at Baseball America; in March 2020, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs called the right-handed hitter a “speedy (prospect) with some contact skills.”

Reds Designate Scott Heineman For Assignment, Select Alejo Lopez

By Steve Adams | June 28, 2021 at 10:52am CDT

The Reds announced Monday morning that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Alejo Lopez and designated outfielder Scott Heineman for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster.

Heineman, 28, was 3-for-30 in a brief, 19-game look with Cincinnati this season after coming over from the Rangers via a December trade that sent young Jose Acosta to Texas. That rough showing dipped his career batting line in the big leagues to .172/.249/.325 through 173 plate appearances — all coming with either Texas or Cincinnati. Heineman has a much better track record in Triple-A, where he’s posted a hearty .302/.368/.458 slash through 699 trips to the plate.

As for the 25-year-old Lopez, he’s in the midst of a breakout campaign in the upper minors. He didn’t enter the season regarded as one of the better prospects in the Reds organization, but Lopez destroyed the Double-A Southern League with a .362/.437/.448 batting line before moving to Triple-A and upping the pace with a .358/.436/.526 slash through a nearly identical sample of plate appearances.

Lopez has had some good fortune in terms of balls in play (.404 BABIP in Double-A, .368 in Triple-A), but his output is also buoyed by what look to be exceptional bat-to-ball skills. Lopez has just 18 strikeouts against 24 walks through 229 plate appearances this season, helping to offset a lack of power. Lopez has only two home runs (both in Triple-A) and just nine long balls in 1564 plate appearances in minor league ball overall. But he’s also swatted 19 doubles in this year’s 229 trips to the plate and gone 6-for-7 in stolen base attempts.

Lopez has split his time between second base and third base this season, with the former of those two spots being his primary position throughout his minor league career. He does have some experience at shortstop and got some work in left field while playing winter ball in Mexico. He’ll give Cincinnati a switch-hitting presence to bounce around the diamond. This will be Lopez’s first call to the Majors after being a 27th-round pick by the Reds back in 2015. He’s controllable through at least the 2027 season.

MRI Reveals No UCL Damage For Reds’ Tejay Antone

By Mark Polishuk | June 27, 2021 at 10:02am CDT

JUNE 27: In encouraging news, Antone told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer and C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic) that an MRI revealed no damage to his UCL. The righty suggested he’s targeting a return immediately after the All-Star break, although he’ll be shut down from throwing for the moment.

JUNE 26: The Reds announced that right-hander Tejay Antone has been placed on the 10-day IL due to a right forearm strain. Left-hander Cionel Perez was recalled from Triple-A Louisville in the corresponding move.

Antone only just returned earlier this week from an 11-day stint on the injured list due to inflammation in that same forearm. It certainly isn’t a good sign that the righty is so quickly headed back to the IL with what looks like an even more serious forearm issue, especially since Antone already has a Tommy John surgery in his health history. It certainly looks like Antone will miss more than just a minimal amount of time with his latest injury, as the Reds will want to be as cautious as possible in avoiding any more serious damage.

In part because of that earlier TJ procedure that wiped out his 2017 season, Antone didn’t make his Major League debut until 2020, but he has made up for lost time with some impressive numbers. Over 69 innings in the big leagues, Antone has a 2.22 ERA/3.32 SIERA, 32.5% strikeout rate, and 48% grounder rate. While a .194 BABIP has helped minimize the damage from all those ground balls, Antone also isn’t allowing much hard contact.

There was some speculation in Spring Training that Antone could win a rotation job, though a minor hip injury scuttled that idea and placed him in the Reds’ bullpen. It ended up working out for the best, given that Antone has been more or less the only consistent arm in a very shaky Cincinnati relief corps. Even with Antone’ s 1.60 ERA over 33 2/3 relief innings this season, the Reds bullpen ranks last in the majors in ERA. Assuming Antone misses a noteworthy amount of time recovering from this forearm strain, it will put even more pressure on the Reds’ front office to land some bullpen help before the July 30 trade deadline.

Orioles Return Rule 5 Pick Mac Sceroler To Reds

By Mark Polishuk | June 26, 2021 at 2:28pm CDT

The Orioles have returned right-hander Mac Sceroler to the Reds organization. The Orioles selected Sceroler away from the Reds with the fifth pick of last December’s Rule 5 draft, but after Baltimore designated Sceroler for assignment earlier this week, the O’s had to offer him back to Cincinnati when no team claimed Scheroler off waivers.

Prior to this season, Sceroler had never pitched above the high-A level since being a fifth-round pick for Cincinnati in the 2017 amateur draft. Sceroler had to spent the entire 2021 season on the Orioles’ active roster for the team to officially secure his rights, but he ended up pitching in just five MLB games due to spending almost two months on the injured list with right shoulder tendinitis.

Sceroler’s first taste of the majors didn’t go well, as he posted a 14.09 ERA over 7 2/3 innings, with seven walks and six home runs allowed in that brief sample size. He’ll now head to the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate in Louisville, though it’s worth noting that Sceroler also struggled (16.62 ERA) in 4 1/3 innings for Baltimore’s Triple-A team while he was rehabbing his shoulder this season.

The Orioles have traditionally made frequent use of the Rule 5 Draft to add young talent to the roster, with Anthony Santander, T.J. McFarland, Ryan Flaherty, and Joey Rickard the most notable names acquired via the Rule 5. Right-hander Tyler Wells is the lone remaining 2020 selection who is still on Baltimore’s active roster, and Wells has looked quite good in his rookie season, posting a 4.01 ERA, 31.3% strikeout rate and 6.0% walk rate over 33 2/3 innings out of the Orioles’ pen.

NL Central Notes: Senzel, Gant, Cardinals, Cubs, Hoerner

By Mark Polishuk | June 26, 2021 at 9:16am CDT

It’s going to be longer than originally expected before the Reds get Nick Senzel back on the field, as manager David Bell told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon) that Senzel isn’t likely to be activated from the 60-day injured list as soon as he is immediately eligible. “I would think towards the end of July before we would see him back here,” Bell said. “That’s a bit of a guess, but just because there’s not an exact clear day right now. He’s definitely progressing the right way, but it’s just taken some time.”

Senzel was initially placed on the 10-day IL on May 21 and he underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery five days later, with Cincinnati shifting him to the 60-day IL in June when an 40-man roster spot was required. The 60-day placement backdates to May 21, so Senzel would have been eligible to return just after the All-Star break. While pushing Senzel’s return date back from mid-July to late July isn’t a huge delay on paper, it does represent even more lost time for a player who has unfortunately become an injured-list regular during his young career. On the plus side, Senzel has already started some light baseball activities, such as pre-game throwing over the last few days.

Lucas Sims Out One Month Due To Elbow Sprain

By Steve Adams | June 24, 2021 at 1:55pm CDT

1:55pm: Reds skipper David Bell tells reporters that Sims is expected to miss around a month’s worth of games (Twitter link via Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer).

11:45am: The Reds placed right-hander Lucas Sims on the 10-day injured list due to a right elbow sprain, per a club announcement. Outfielder Scott Heineman is up from Triple-A Louisville to take his spot on the active roster. Sims’ placement on the IL is retroactive to June 23.

Sims has had an up-and-down season but has been the Reds’ most oft-used option in save situations this year. He’s leading the club with seven saves and has also picked up four holds as one of the team’s most prominent high-leverage options.

The 27-year-old Sims got out to a miserable start in 2021, pitching to a 7.20 ERA through his first month of action. But over a span of 16 games from May 5 through June 21, Sims looked like the potentially dominant, breakout reliever he appeared to be last season, posting a 2.41 ERA with a 29-to-8 K/BB ratio in 16 2/3 frames of relief. Sims hit another roadblock in his most recent outing, however, serving up three runs without recording an out.

All told, Sims has gone from a 2.45 ERA in 25 2/3 frames in 2020 to a 5.02 mark through his first 28 2/3 innings in 2021. From a velocity standpoint, he’s actually added about a mile per hour to his heater, and he’s also bumped his strikeout rate from 33 percent to 35 percent. He’s seen a major spike in BABIP (.192 in 2020, .333 in 2021) while his ability to strand runners has taken a nosedive as well.

As is so frequently the case, the reality likely lies somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Sims unquestionably benefited from that minuscule average on balls in play in 2020, but he’s also surely better than his 2021 ERA would indicate. He’s limiting hard contact quite efficiently, striking out batters in droves and keeping the ball in the yard. His sub-par command ought to lead to occasional hiccups, but taken in totality, his 2020-21 numbers — 3.81 ERA, 3.23 SIERA, 34.1 percent strikeout rate, 11.4 percent walk rate — have the makings of a solid late-inning option for the Reds.

The team hasn’t provided a timetable on Sims’ absence, though obviously any type of elbow injury is a concern for a pitcher. Sprains, in particular, can be ominous. The hope is obviously that it’ll prove to be a minor issue, as the Reds can ill afford to lose a key arm from an already struggling bullpen. The Reds’ relief corps did just receive a boost with the return of its best reliever, Tejay Antone, but the Cincinnati ’pen has collectively pitched to an MLB-worst 5.70 ERA so far in 2021.

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