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Reds Select Matt Reynolds

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The Reds announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of utilityman Matt Reynolds from Triple-A Louisville and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by transferring right-hander Tony Santillan from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Santillan has yet to pitch in the Majors this season due to a back injury that dates back to the 2022 campaign. He’d gone out on a minor league rehab assignment earlier this month, but the Reds halted that when he began experiencing discomfort in his knee.

Reynolds, 32, played in 93 games with the 2022 Reds and posted a .246/.320/.332 batting line while appearing at every position on the diamond other than catcher (pitcher included). The former Mets farmhand is out to a nice start in Louisville this season, slashing .263/.364/.544 with three homers and seven doubles through his first 66 trips to the plate.

The Reds placed Wil Myers on the injured list yesterday and didn’t announce a corresponding 26-man roster move, so Reynolds is effectively coming up to take his spot on the roster for the time being. He’ll give the club a versatile bench option for now, with catcher Tyler Stephenson likely slotting in as the primary option at first base. Cincinnati currently has three catchers on its roster with Stephenson, Curt Casali and Luke Maile, and Stephenson has already appeared in five games at first base on the young season.

Reds Place Wil Myers On Injured List, Outright Jason Vosler

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The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve place first baseman/outfielder Wil Myers on the injured list (retroactive to Wednesday) and assigned corner infielder Jason Vosler to Triple-A Louisville after he went unclaimed on outright waivers. Cincinnati also placed righty Graham Ashcraft on the bereavement list and recalled right-hander Casey Legumina from Louisville. The Reds are off today, so they’ll presumably add a position player to the roster tomorrow in advance of their series opener in Oakland.

Myers was scratched from yesterday’s game due to an illness and missed Tuesday’s contest due to neck spasms. The Reds didn’t list an injury designation or a timetable for his return in today’s announcement. Myers, who signed a one-year deal worth $7.5MM this offseason, has stumbled out to a .222/.292/.321 start with what would be a career-high 34.8% strikeout rate through his first 89 plate appearances.

With Myers and Joey Votto on the shelf, the Reds could turn to catcher Tyler Stephenson at first base with more regularity. The 26-year-old Stephenson has already started three games there and made five total appearances at the position, and Cincinnati is carrying two other catchers in Luke Maile and Curt Casali. Infielder Spencer Steer is another option; he started his first game of the season at first base when Myers was scratched and has made a total of four appearances there. It’s also possible the Reds will call up a first base option from the minors before tomorrow’s game.

With Votto yet to make his 2023 debut, the Reds’ two primary first basemen have been Myers and the now-outrighted Vosler, who was designated for assignment earlier in the week. Vosler got out to a blistering start with the Reds after signing a minor league deal late in the offseason. He cracked three home runs in his first 15 plate appearances but has since fallen into a protracted slump, batting just .106/.160/.128 with 20 strikeouts in his past 50 trips to the plate.

Vosler, 29, has logged big league time in each of the past three seasons. In 258 Major League plate appearances between the Reds and the Giants, he’s a .210/.279/.408 hitter who’s seen time at both infield and both outfield corners. Vosler has also appeared in 345 Triple-A games in his career, posting a vastly superior .272/.344/.485 slash along the way. This is the first outright assignment of Vosler’s career, and he has fewer than three years of MLB service time, so he doesn’t have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll remain with the Reds organization and hope to play his way back onto the 40-man roster at some point.

Reds Designate Jason Vosler For Assignment

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The Reds announced Monday that they’ve designated infielder Jason Vosler for assignment and selected the contract of outfielder Henry Ramos from Triple-A Louisville.

Vosler signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati late in the offseason and rode a solid .263/.341/.526 spring performance to a spot on the team’s Opening Day roster. He roared out of the gates with a trio of home runs in his first 15 plate appearances, coming over a span of five games, but has since gone cold at the plate. Dating back to April 7, Vosler has taken 50 turns at the plate and turned in a .106/.160/.128 batting line with 20 strikeouts.

The 29-year-old Vosler has now seen Major League time in each of the past three seasons, including a pair of stints with the Giants. He’s logged 97 Major League games and 258 plate appearances but has a rather unsightly .210/.279/.408 slash to show for it. He’s been vastly better in Triple-A, where he’s a .272/.344/.485 hitter in 345 games.

Vosler has plenty of power, substantial experience at both infield corners, and also seen brief spells at second base, in left field and even at shortstop. He still has a minor league option remaining, so a team looking for a left-handed bat and some corner depth might be inclined to take a look via a small trade or waivers. The Reds will have a week to find a trade partner or attempt to pass him through waivers.

As for the 31-year-old Ramos, he’ll get what’s just the second look of his big league career. The older brother to Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos, Henry received a cup of coffee with the 2021 D-backs but only received 55 plate appearances, hitting .200/.255/.300 with a homer and two doubles. He also had a short stint with the Korea Baseball Organization’s KT Wiz last year, but the majority of his recent professional experience is in Triple-A. In parts of six seasons there, he’s .297/.352/.472 hitter — including a .314/.400/.486 start to his season in Louisville this year (41 plate appearances).

Reds Have “Preliminary” Extension Negotiations With Graham Ashcraft

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The Reds have had some “preliminary talks” with Graham Ashcraft’s camp about a possible contract extension, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.  The report comes just a few days after news broke that Hunter Greene had signed a six-year, $53MM extension with the club, and Cincinnati is also apparently looking into a long-term deal with Nick Lodolo.

As Nightengale’s phrasing would suggest, it doesn’t appear the Reds and Ashcraft’s reps at the Bledsoe Agency are necessarily close on a deal, or even if negotiations have gone beyond an exploratory stage.  However, it makes sense that the Reds would also turn to Ashcraft in their attempts to gain some long-term control and cost certainty over their young rotation members, though talks with Ashcraft could take a different shape than the negotiations with Greene or Lodolo.

For one, Ashcraft’s path to the big leagues has come with a lot less fanfare.  Both Greene and Lodolo were highly touted first-round draft picks (Greene second overall in 2017, Lodolo seventh overall in 2019) and fixtures on top-100 prospect rankings during their time in Cincinnati’s farm system.  By contrast, Ashcraft was a sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft, though he made a pretty quick rise up the ladder after posting a 3.33 ERA and 26.17% strikeout rate over 203 career innings in the minors.

Ashcraft made his MLB debut last May as a COVID-related substitute on the Reds’ roster, and then after a brief return to Triple-A came back to the big leagues for good less than a week later.  The righty’s rookie year saw him post a 4.89 ERA over 105 innings, displaying elite velocity (97.1mph on his fastball), a 54.5% grounder rate, an above-average 6.5% walk rate, and solid work in limiting hard contact.  Ashcraft didn’t miss many bats, however, as his 15.3% strikeout rate was one of the lower marks in the majors.  Thus far in 2023, the advanced metrics haven’t loved Ashcraft’s work, but he has an impressive 1.88 ERA over 24 innings, while generating groundballs 57.8% of the time — a .250 BABIP has undoubtedly contributed to Ashcraft’s success given this grounder-heavy approach.

This is nothing new for Ashcraft, whose overall grounder rate in the minors topped the 55% threshold.  Between that ability to avoid fly balls and his high velo, there’s some interesting potential for the 25-year-old going forward, even if Ashcraft has yet to really show any strikeout ability at the MLB level.  If Greene and Lodolo might have more of a front-of-the-rotation ceiling, Ashcraft has shown early signs that he could settle in as a comfortable mid-rotation arm.

Since Ashcraft is already controlled through the 2028 season, there isn’t necessarily any urgency on the Reds’ part to reach a long-term deal.  It is perhaps worth wondering if Ashcraft might be more open to an extension in order to lock in the first big payday of his pro career.  Ashcraft agreed to a modest $247.5K signing bonus after being drafted, as opposed to the much larger bonuses received by Lodolo ($5.4MM) and Greene ($7.23MM) befitting their higher draft status.

Reds Have Discussed Extension With Nick Lodolo

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The Reds locked down a hopeful core member for at least the next six years earlier this week when signing righty Hunter Greene to a $53MM extension, and they’re hopeful of doing so with another promising young arm. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that Cincinnati has been discussing an extension with left-hander Nick Lodolo as well.

There are plenty of similarities between Lodolo and Greene. Both are former top-10 overall draft picks — Greene No. 2 in 2017, Lodolo No. 7 in 2019 — and both entered the 2023 season with exactly one year of Major League service after debuting for the Reds early in the 2022 season. Both pitchers were widely regarded as top-100 prospects in the sport before making their respective Major League debuts last year.

That’s not to suggest that Lodolo should or will sign on for identical terms, but the framework is likely one that could interest the Reds. Both Greene ($7.23MM) and Lodolo ($5.4MM) signed life-changing signing bonuses out of the draft, arguably creating less urgency for either pitcher to sign a long-term contract. That didn’t stop Greene from doing so, but every player’s personal motivations, appetite for risk, etc. are different, of course.

It’s not clear when or whether talks between the Reds and Lodolo’s reps at Excel Sports Management will gain steam, but the team’s interest in hammering out a long-term contract shouldn’t come as a great surprise. Lodolo made the transition from the upper minors to MLB rather seamlessly in 2022, pitching 103 1/3 innings of 3.66 ERA ball in his debut campaign. His 29.7% strikeout rate trailed only his own teammate, Greene, and breakout Braves righty Spencer Strider among rookie starters last season. Loosening the parameters and looking at all MLB pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched in ’22, Lodolo ranked 14th out of 124 in terms of strikeout rate.

Lodolo paired that innate ability to miss bats with a solid 8.8% walk rate and an above-average 46% grounder rate. Were it not for a lower back strain that wiped out all of May and June for the left-hander, Lodolo might well have factored into NL Rookie of the Year voting. The aforementioned Strider and his teammate Michael Harris were always the runaway favorites, but given the absolute tear on which Lodolo finished out the season, a larger number of innings might’ve had him in the running.

While Lodolo was hit hard in two of his first three starts off the injured list last season, he found his stride over his final 13 trips to the hill. In that time, he pitched 77 innings of 2.92 ERA ball with a 30% strikeout rate — including a 2.48 ERA and 35% strikeout rate in the season’s final month. At the very least, with better health, he might’ve wound up in third on the ballot rather than his eventual sixth-place finish.

In 2023, Lodolo was sharp through three turns, with a scoreless, seven-inning, 12-strikeout gem in Philadelphia standing out as the headliner. The Rays trounced him for eight runs earlier this week, ballooning his season ERA to 4.98 overall. However, Lodolo’s strikeout and ground-ball rates are near mirror images of his 2022 marks, and his walk rate is actually down two percentage points in 2023. The 25-year-old southpaw’s young career has produced an overall 3.89 ERA, 29.7% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 46.2% ground-ball rate in 125 innings, giving the Reds’ front office plenty of reason to believe he can join Greene and righty Graham Ashcraft as cornerstones of the current rebuild.

As it stands, the Reds control Lodolo through the end of the 2027 season, and he’d be eligible for arbitration following the 2025 season. He still has all three minor league option years remaining, so it’s technically possible that those trajectories could be impacted if he struggles for an extended period and is optioned to Triple-A. Aside from a couple of hiccups (e.g. that clunker against the Rays), however, there’s not much in Lodolo’s first 23 big league starts that suggests he needs any additional seasoning in the upper minors.

Reds, Rangers Join Teams Seeking Overdue Rights Fees From Diamond Sports

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The Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy continues, with a handful of new teams seeking missed payments. According to reports from Daniel Kaplan of the Athletic and Alden González of ESPN, the Rangers and Reds joined an MLB motion seeking overdue rights fees this week.

MLB first filed that motion in early April on behalf of the Twins and Guardians. Diamond, the corporation which operates the Bally Sports networks that carry local broadcasts for nearly half of major league teams, informed those clubs it wouldn’t meet its scheduled payments on April 1. The D-Backs filed a separate motion shortly thereafter seeking missed rights payments.

Diamond apparently also recently failed to meet its obligations to the Rangers and Reds. Despite the missed payments, the Bally Sports networks have continued to operate and carry local broadcasts in each market through the season’s first few weeks. Kaplan reports that the Rangers’ deal calls for Diamond to pay the team $111MM this season. The precise value of the first missed payment is unknown.

González writes that the Reds’ situation is a bit different from those of the other clubs. The Reds have an ownership stake (the precise extent of which is unreported) along with Diamond in the Bally Sports Ohio network that carries games in Cincinnati. As a result, they’re bucketed separately from the other franchises involved in the litigation. According to González, Diamond entered into a 15-day window to meet its obligations to the Reds, beginning Monday. If it fails to do so, the team would be able to get out of the deal and turn in-market local broadcasting responsibilities over to MLB.

The other clubs will have to wait a while longer for resolution. The bankruptcy court has scheduled a hearing for May 31 to consider MLB’s motion for those teams’ overdue fees. Diamond is expected to continue all broadcasts until then. The Reds’ partial ownership offers a potentially quicker endpoint in their case, though that’s only if Diamond doesn’t meet its obligations to them in the intervening two weeks.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has stated on numerous occasions that the league is prepared to take over local broadcasting for teams whose contracts are defaulted. For any local broadcasting deals that fall through, MLB would be able to make games available in-market through streaming and cable platforms free of blackout restrictions.

Reds Promote Levi Stoudt

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April 19: The Reds announced this morning that Stoudt has been activated from the taxi squad and is now on the active Major League roster to start today’s game. Righty Casey Legumina was optioned to Triple-A Louisville to clear a spot on the 26-man roster.

April 18, 2:10pm: Manager David Bell tells reporters, including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer, that it will just be a spot start for Stoudt. He’ll push the rotation back a day to give Greene an extra day of rest after getting hit on the shin by a comebacker in his most recent start.

1:55pm: The Reds announced that pitching prospect Levi Stoudt has been added to their taxi squad and is scheduled to start tomorrow’s game, which will be his major league debut. Additionally, the club reinstated right-hander Lucas Sims from the injured list and optioned fellow righty Kevin Herget to Triple-A. Stoudt already has a 40-man roster spot but a corresponding move will be required to get him on the active roster.

Stoudt, 25, came over to the Reds in the trade that sent Luis Castillo to the Mariners. He was selected by the latter club in the third round of the 2019 draft, then had Tommy John surgery shortly after, with his rehab coinciding with the minor leagues being canceled by the pandemic in 2020. Despite not yet making his professional debut, Baseball America considered him to be Seattle’s #12 prospect going into 2021. He was able to return to the mound that year, making 15 starts between High-A and Double-A, posting a 3.31 ERA in that time along with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate.

He was bumped up to the #8 spot on BA’s ranking of Mariner prospects for 2022, but that would end up being a tumultuous season for him. He had a 5.28 ERA through 18 Double-A starts. He dropped his walk rate to 5.9% but he also allowed 13 home runs in 87 innings. Nonetheless, the Reds still liked him enough to make him one of the four prospects they acquired in the Castillo deal. He finished strong after the trade, tossing five scoreless innings in a Double-A start before getting bumped to Triple-A for his final six starts, registering a 3.32 ERA in that time. BA ranked him #16 in the Reds’ system coming into 2023.

Stoudt would have been Rule 5 eligible this past December but the Reds added him to their roster to prevent him from being selected. He’s made three more Triple-A starts in the early going here with a 4.09 ERA, though an 18% walk rate, .185 batting average on balls in play and 94.2% strand rate suggest he probably deserved worse. Regardless, it’s a small sample and the club has decided he’s ready to try the big leagues.

It seems like Stoudt will be the replacement for Connor Overton, who was placed on the injured list over the weekend. Stoudt will slot into the club’s rotation alongside Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Graham Ashcraft and Luis Cessa for now. Luke Weaver has been on a rehab assignment after starting the season on the injured list and seemed in line to jump to the big leagues this week, though it’s unclear why Stoudt is now taking the spot instead.

Reds Sign Hunter Greene To Six-Year Extension

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The Reds have committed to a key member of their rotation. Cincinnati announced Tuesday evening they’ve signed Hunter Greene to a six-year deal covering the 2023-28 seasons and containing a club option for 2029. It’s reportedly a $53MM guarantee, including a $2MM buyout on a $21MM option for the ’29 season. The deal also contains various escalators and awards bonuses that could push the total earnings to $96.2MM. Greene is a CAA client.

The salary structure breaks down as follows:

  • $2MM signing bonus
  • $1MM salary in 2023
  • $3MM in 2024
  • $6MM in 2025
  • $8MM in 2026
  • $15MM in 2027
  • $16MM in 2028
  • $21MM club option with $2MM buyout in 2029

Greene entered this season with exactly one year of major league service after breaking camp with the team last season. The deal buys out his final two pre-arbitration seasons, all three arbitration years and at least one free agent year with an option for a second.

The 23-year-old righty was selected by the Reds with the second overall pick in the 2017 draft. Though he was drafted as a two-way player, he dropped the offensive portion of his game while in the minors and has been entirely focused on pitching. He required Tommy John surgery as a prospect in 2019 but that did little to diminish his tremendous prospect stock. He still had his trademark triple-digit heater and wipeout slider when he returned. The minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020 but Greene fared well in his return to competitive ball the year after. He posted a 3.30 ERA in 106 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, striking out 31.7% of batters faced while walking 8.9%.

He was selected to the club’s 40-man roster after that season to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but it wasn’t clear if the club would carry him on their Opening Day roster. In the end, Greene did indeed make the club out of camp, sticking with them all year long apart from an August injured list stint and subsequent rehab assignment. He made 24 starts in the big leagues, logging 125 2/3 innings with a 4.44 ERA. He struck out 30.9% of batters faced, walked 9% of opponents, and got grounders at a 29.3% clip. It wasn’t a completely dominant showing, but it was a solid debut for a 22-year-old getting his first taste of the big leagues.

Greene is off to a similar beginning to the season in 2023. Through four starts and 17 innings, he owns a 4.24 ERA. He’s punched out just under 31% of opponents while generating swinging strikes on a strong 13.5% of his offerings. It’s little surprise Greene has missed plenty of bats with a fastball that averages north of 99 MPH. Home runs were his main concern last year, as his modest ground ball numbers translated into a lofty 1.72 homers allowed per nine innings. To his credit, Greene has allowed just one longball thus far in 2023.

If he can consistently keep the ball in the yard, it’s not hard to envision him sticking at the top of a rotation. Few young pitchers can match Greene’s raw arm strength and he’s long shown solid control for a young flamethrower. Greene has handled left and right-handed batters in his brief big league time as well. Between him and fellow top ten pick Nick Lodolo (plus mid-rotation grounder specialist Graham Ashcraft), the Reds have the nucleus of an excellent rotation they hope to lead them out of their ongoing rebuild.

Greene had been on a trajectory to reach arbitration for the first time after 2024 and reach free agency after 2027. The Reds tack on two years of club control while leaving him an opportunity to hit the open market at a relatively young age. Greene would be on track to hit free agency headed into his age-30 season if the Reds exercise their option. He locks in strong earnings to safeguard against injury or performance risk while retaining the possibility of a significant free agent deal down the line.

The $53MM guarantee is the second-largest for a pitcher with between one and two years of big league service. Spencer Strider set the record last October with a six-year, $75MM deal. Greene falls short of that mark but didn’t have the kind of rookie season the Atlanta hurler put together in 2022, when he worked to a 2.67 ERA with an eye-popping 38.3% strikeout percentage in 131 2/3 innings. Greene’s deal easily checks in second in the service group, with Madison Bumgarner’s decade-old $35MM extension representing the record mark until Strider put pen to paper.

Cincinnati didn’t have a single player under guaranteed contract beyond this season. Option buyouts for the likes of Joey Votto, Mike Moustakas, Wil Myers and Curt Casali represented the Reds’ only commitments. There’s plenty of breathing room and obvious motivation for the Reds to start committing to core players. Speculatively speaking, players like Lodolo, Ashcraft, Tyler Stephenson and Jonathan India could be next on the front office’s list of extension targets.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Reds and Greene had agreed to a six-year, $53MM extension and reported the option value. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the contract could max out at $96.2MM. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the salary and escalator specifics.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Reds Notes: Santillan, Votto, Sims

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The Reds have halted the rehab of right-hander Tony Santillan, as noted by The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosencrans. Santillan was limited to just 19 2/3 innings of work in 2022 due to low back pain, and was diagnosed with a Pars stress fracture in his low back this spring that has kept him out of action ever since. He appeared to be on the verge of returning to big league action, as he had begun a rehab assignment in Triple-A recently, but Santillan is now dealing with discomfort in his right knee that will keep him out of action for longer, according to Rosencrans.

Santillan struggled to a 5.49 ERA during his injury-plagued 2022 season, but impressed in his 2021 rookie season with a 2.91 ERA (162 ERA+) in 43 1/3 innings, though it came with a concerning 4.62 FIP thanks to Santillan stranding an unsustainable 90% of baserunners, though he did post an impressive 29.5% strikeout rate that season. When healthy, Santillan could join the likes of Alex Diaz and Fernando Cruz in covering late-inning duties for the Reds.

First baseman Joey Votto is also halting his rehab process, per a club announcement. Votto returned to Cincinnati and spoke with reporters today, with Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer noting that Votto has not suffered any setbacks and MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relaying that the first baseman remains optimistic about returning to big league action in the near future, though he isn’t ready to do so yet. As Nightengale notes, Votto could begin another rehab assignment in five days if he’s ready to do so.

Votto underwent surgery on his rotator cuff and bicep last season after struggling to a slash line of just .205/.319/.370 in 91 games last year, the worst performance of his future Hall of Fame career. Following his surgery, Votto took things slowly this spring, and has continued to work his way back at a careful pace as he has repeatedly expressed a desire to not return to the club until he’s fully healthy and ready to return. The Reds have given their veteran slugger the latitude to guide his own rehab process, including leaving the decision about whether he would start the season on the Opening Day roster up to him.

In more positive injury news, reliever Lucas Sims is scheduled to pitch for a second day in a row at Triple-A today, according to Nightengale, with a return to the big leagues later this week a possibility if all goes well. A first round pick by the Braves in the 2012 draft, Sims was part of the return for the trade that sent Adam Duvall from Cincinnati to Atlanta at the 2018 trade deadline. Since then, Sims has been a bullpen regular for the Reds, posting a 4.44 ERA (107 ERA+) and 3.87 FIP in 127 2/3 innings of work with the club. Sims pitched just 6 2/3 innings last year before being placed on the IL with lower back spasms last May, an issue he’s dealt with ever since. Fortunately, it appears Sims is primed to return to big league action and join a bullpen that currently features the likes of Derek Law and Buck Farmer covering the middle innings.

Reds Place Connor Overton On 15-Day IL

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The Reds have placed right hander Connor Overton on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain, the team announced. They have recalled right hander Casey Legumina from Triple-A to take his place on the active roster.

It’s been a rough start to the season for the 29-year-old, giving up 14 earned runs in 11 innings over three starts. It’s an unfortunate development for a player who impressed to the tune of a 2.73 ERA over 33 innings late last year for the Reds. Now it seems the issue with his elbow may have been behind his struggles to start the year.

In his place, the Reds will call on Legumina to make his big league debut. Originally drafted by the Twins in the eighth round back in 2019, Legumina came over to the Reds in the Kyle Farmer deal this winter. The Twins had added him to their 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft, but he’s yet to appear in the big leagues.

Legumina’s been working in relief at Triple-A Louisville, putting up a 1.59 ERA in 5 2/3 innings. Even though he’s replacing a starter on the roster, it’s likely that Legumina will continue in a relief role with the Reds. Luke Weaver is set to come off the IL to take what would have been Overton’s next start, so the Reds can use an extra spot in their bullpen in the meantime.

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