Reds Approaching Deadline Season As Buyers, Looking To Add Pitching
The Reds are baseball’s hottest team. After knocking off the Rockies 8-6 this evening, Cincinnati has reeled off 10 consecutive wins to push a season-high four games over .500. Their 39-35 record has them atop a wide open NL Central, half a game up on the Brewers.
Cincinnati’s surprising hot streak comes as teams are beginning to weigh their approaches to the upcoming trade deadline. Reds general manager Nick Krall met with reporters before tonight’s game and suggested they’re trending towards adding to the MLB roster.
“We’re in first place. We’re looking to win,” Krall said when asked if the team was planning to add at the deadline (relayed by Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). Unsurprisingly, the GM pointed to the pitching staff — both the rotation and bullpen — as an area where they could try to improve (via Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer).
The Reds’ midseason turnaround has been driven in large part by an influx of position players from the farm system. Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain have hit the ground running after midseason debuts. Fellow rookie Spencer Steer, who reached the majors last September, has somewhat quietly put together an excellent .278/.361/.475 showing while bouncing around the corner positions. Holdovers Jonathan India, TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley are all having strong years.
Rather suddenly, Cincinnati finds itself with a surplus of hitting talent. They designated Wil Myers — their highest-paid free agent pickup of last offseason — for assignment this afternoon rather than create room for him on the roster to return from the injured list. Corner infield prospect Christian Encarnacion-Strand would likely have made his MLB debut for a number of teams by now thanks to a .348/.421/.687 showing in Triple-A. With Steer, India, McLain, De La Cruz and Joey Votto around the infield, the Reds don’t have the MLB playing time for Encarnacion-Strand at the moment.
Over the past month, only the Giants and Braves have scored more runs than Cincinnati. It’s a young lineup but one that’s firing on all cylinders. Perhaps injuries or a few slumps will open a clear need on the position player side within the next month, but there aren’t any obvious holes in the lineup right now.
The pitching staff is another story. Cincinnati entered the season with a top-heavy rotation reliant on second-year arms Nick Lodolo, Hunter Greene and Graham Aschraft. All three are presently on the injured list. Ashcraft should be back this week, but he has an ERA pushing 7.00 over 13 starts. Greene will miss at least the next two weeks; Lodolo is out into August.
Rookie left-hander Andrew Abbott has carried over a breakout upper minors showing to toss 17 2/3 scoreless innings to kick off his MLB career. While he’s obviously a very promising pitcher, he has all of three big league appearances and is already the club’s best healthy starter. Offseason signee Luke Weaver has an ERA above 6.00 and is struggling mightily to keep the ball in the yard. Brandon Williamson has a 5.40 ERA over his first seven starts. Ben Lively has acquitted himself well at the back of the staff, but he’s a journeyman who didn’t start a single MLB game between 2019-22.
Even if Greene joins Ashcraft in making a quick return from the IL, the Reds need rotation help if they’re to fight for a division title. Cincinnati’s bullpen has been a little more reliable. They entered play Tuesday ranked 10th in ERA (3.73), although they’re just 22nd in strikeout rate (22.6%).
Alexis Díaz has been almost untouchable in the ninth inning. There’s room for help bridging the gap to Díaz, with Lucas Sims, Ian Gibaut, Derek Law and Alex Young representing David Bell’s highest-leverage setup arms. Young is the only left-hander in the current group, so another southpaw could be on the wishlist.
Krall predictably didn’t delve into specific targets. Whether the Reds would seriously vie for a top impending free agent trade candidate (i.e. Lucas Giolito or old friend Aroldis Chapman) during a season in which they’re surprise contenders isn’t clear. Perhaps the front office will prioritize players with multiple years of control, simultaneously trying to support this year’s club while adding to future rosters that’ll enter seasons with higher expectations than the 2023 team did.
How the team performs over the next six weeks could determine how much the front office is willing to push in young talent. That Krall is openly positioning the team as a buyer in late June is a testament to how quickly things have looked upwards. The GM has already suggested there’s room on the books to take on some money for the stretch run, a sentiment he repeated this evening. It’s an exciting time in Cincinnati, one that looks to have changed the deadline trajectory for a team that seemed to be a seller just a few weeks ago.
Reds Place Hunter Greene On Injured List, Designate Kevin Herget
The Reds have officially reinstated Joey Votto from the 60-day injured list, as was reported earlier this afternoon. Starter Hunter Greene was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to June 18, due to right hip pain. To clear a 40-man roster spot for Votto, Cincinnati designated righty Kevin Herget for assignment.
Greene has been battling hip discomfort for a few weeks. Cincinnati skipped one of his starts earlier in the month to give him extra rest. This’ll be his first IL stint of the season, as the pain returned during Saturday’s start against the Astros.
There’s no indication the Reds are overly concerned. As C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic notes (on Twitter), the Reds’ scheduled off day on Thursday means they won’t need a fifth starter until next Tuesday. By that point, right-hander Graham Ashcraft would be eligible to return from his own IL stint. Cincinnati skipper David Bell recently said the club anticipates Ashcraft being ready to come off the IL when first eligible (via MLB.com injury tracker).
Still, the Reds will have to navigate a couple weeks without arguably their best starter. Cincinnati has already been without Nick Lodolo for a while, and he’s not likely to return until August. The Reds’ young position player core has carried them to an eight-game win streak and within half a game of the lead in the NL Central. A temporary rotation of Ashcraft, Andrew Abbott, Ben Lively, Brandon Williamson and Luke Weaver is well below-average for a club battling for a playoff spot, though.
Herget has been working in long relief this season. He’s tallied 22 innings across 13 appearances, pitching to a 5.73 ERA while striking out only 11.5% of batters faced. Herget has thrown plenty of strikes but hasn’t missed many bats and has given up a lot of hard contact.
After a three-outing debut season with the Rays last year, Herget has gotten a career-high MLB workload in Cincinnati. He’ll likely land on waivers within the next week. The 32-year-old has cleared outright waivers before in his career, so he’d have the ability to test minor league free agency if he goes unclaimed.
Reds Reinstate Joey Votto
The Reds are reinstating Joey Votto from the injured list and he will be in tonight’s starting lineup, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Since Votto was on the 60-day injured list, corresponding moves will be required, though those have not yet been announced.
Once tonight’s contest begins, Votto will be playing in a major league game for the first time in 10 months. The last time he took the field was August 16 of last year, after which he required surgery on a torn rotator cuff. It was estimated that it would take about six months for him to recuperate from that procedure, though he’s ended up going beyond that. He once seemed on track to be ready for Opening Day or perhaps in April but continually delayed his return until he felt fully ready.
Much has changed for the club since Votto has been gone. The club was firmly in rebuild mode last year, trading away pitchers like Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, finishing with a record of 62-100. This year, they have been on the upswing with various younger players coming up to the majors and thriving. They are currently 37-35 and just half a game behind the Brewers in the National League Central.
Votto is a legend in Cincinnati, having debuted back in 2007 and racking up many accolades over the years. However, he’s aware that the club’s return to contention puts him in a position where the past won’t matter too much. “I was just called up. And I’m here to compete for a job,” he tells Wittenmyer. “That’s my mentality. That’s my attitude. Everything’s earned in this game, regardless. Guaranteed-contract guys get released all the time… I recognize that I have to perform well at all times.”
Now 39 years old, Votto struggled last year with a line of .205/.319/.370, though he’s not too far removed from an excellent .266/.375/.563 showing in 2021. In his absence this year, Spencer Steer has been getting the bulk of the playing time at first, responding with a strong showing of .277/.361/.477 and 121 wRC+.
Steer is also capable of moving to third base or left field, but the return of Votto is going to lead to a bit of a squeeze. Jonathan India is the everyday option at second while Matt McLain has been thriving at shortstop. Superstar prospect Elly De La Cruz has only played 11 games but has shown tremendous ability so far while playing both shortstop and third base. Perhaps Steer ends up in the outfield mix but he’ll be jockeying for playing time with Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl and Will Benson. There are also other players to consider such as Nick Senzel, Kevin Newman and Stuart Fairchild.
That busy roster situation only figures to get more crowded as Wil Myers is currently on a rehab assignment and infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand is demanding a call-up by hitting .348/.421/.687 in Triple-A.
Votto is in the final guaranteed season of the 10-year, $225MM extension he signed back in 2012. The Reds have a $20MM option for 2024 that comes with a $7MM buyout, making it a net $13MM decision.
Reds Open To Buying, Spending At Trade Deadline
While the Reds only moved back to the .500 mark after yesterday’s 2-1 victory over the Astros, Cincinnati’s 35-35 record puts them only a half-game behind the Brewers for first place in the NL Central. Considering how the Reds were 21-29 just on May 25, the team’s surge over the last few weeks has included both a five-game winning streak and the Reds’ ongoing six-game winning streak.
Such highly-touted prospects as Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain have sparked the lineup, and Andrew Abbott has started his MLB career with 17 2/3 scoreless innings (setting a modern record in the process). Since the youngsters are contributing already and the NL Central seems to be wide open, the Reds could be in the unexpected position of finding themselves looking to add at the trade deadline.
To this end, general manager Nick Krall told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal) that the front office is prepared to act if Cincinnati remains in contention.
“If we’ve got a chance to make the playoffs, we try to make the playoffs any way we can. It’s not about getting top farm systems. That’s great, but at the same time, you’re trying to make moves to sustain winning on your big league club and figure out what that is,” Krall said. As to whether or not ownership will increase payroll to accommodate a deadline move, “there’s nothing I see that is going to impede us from making an acquisition,” Krall said.
As per Roster Resource, the Reds’ payroll sits just shy of $83MM, with Joey Votto accounting for $25MM of that figure. The team topped the $130MM mark (putting the Reds about in the middle of the league in payroll size) during the 2019-21 seasons, as Cincinnati’s previous rebuilding process saw the team augment its young talent with such notable free agents as Nick Castellanos and Mike Moustakas. The result was a wild card postseason appearance in 2020, but the pandemic seemed to curb ownership’s desire for any more spending, leading the front office to start cutting payroll and rebuilding anew, resulting in a dismal 62-100 season in 2022.
It’s probably safe to assume that the Reds aren’t going on a spending spree at the deadline, both because of the past history of modest payrolls, and because the club has so much young talent that it doesn’t want to block any positions with veterans. However, as Rosenthal noted, Cincinnati’s prospect depth is naturally also a big advantage in swinging trades. Obviously the likes of De La Cruz or McLain aren’t going anywhere, but the Reds could conceivably dangle some minor leaguers who are further away from their MLB debuts in order to land some win-now help. Offering a higher caliber of prospect might also entice a rival team to eat all or most of the money owed on a veteran player’s remaining contact, thus allowing the Reds to sidestep a major payroll increase.
Despite Abbott’s early success, starting pitching is the most obvious need for the Reds. Hunter Greene and Ben Lively have performed decently, but Graham Ashcraft has struggled and is currently on the 15-day injured list, while Nick Lodolo (who also wasn’t pitching well) is out until August due to a stress reaction in his tibia.
Krall said that Ashcraft and Lodolo could provide some pitching help, and implied that the Reds might be looking just for rental players for further rotation adds. “Anything else you do, you’re doing it for the short term but you also want to add quality guys if possible. You’d have to find the right match to make that trade,” the GM said.
Another creative route would be for the Reds to perhaps buy and sell in equal measure, trading some veteran players just to clear roster space for all of the youngsters that are knocking on the door for more playing time. Injuries have created some openings for the prospects, as Votto has yet to play this season and Wil Myers and Jake Fraley are currently on the 10-day IL. Nick Senzel was only just activated off the 10-day IL yesterday, and if everyone is healthy at the same time, the Reds simply won’t have enough at-bats to go around.
Cincinnati’s outfield has more question marks than the infield, which is why Christian Encarnacion-Strand has been getting a tryout as a corner outfielder at Triple-A. Considered to be the next top prospect on the verge of his big league debut, Encarnacion-Strand is a corner infielder by trade, yet the Reds are well stocked for first and third base options (i.e. Spencer Steer, De La Cruz, Senzel, Votto, Myers, Kevin Newman). Encarnacion-Strand’s outfield work has thus far consisted of one game each as a left fielder and right fielder, but if he can provide at least passable glovework on the grass, it will create a quicker path to playing time. Hitting-wise, CES seems more than ready for the Show, with a whopping .345/.413/.691 slash line over 218 PA at Triple-A Louisville this season.
Astros Acquire Joel Kuhnel
The Reds have traded right-hander Joel Kuhnel to the Astros in exchange for cash considerations, per an announcement by both teams. The move comes days after Kuhnel was designated for assignment by Cincinnati. To make room for Kuhnel on the 40-man roster, the Astros have transferred right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. to the 60-day injured list. The club also announced that they have optioned Kuhnel to Triple-A.
The move marks the end of the Kuhnel’s tenure with the Reds, for whom he has played his entire professional career after the club selected him in the 11th round of the 2016 draft. Kuhnel pitched for Cincinnati in parts of four seasons, with the majority of his appearances coming during the 2022 campaign.
In 58 innings of work last season, Kuhnel posted an abysmal 6.36 ERA. That being said, those terrible run prevention numbers are belie what advanced metrics say was a perfectly solid performance in 2022. Hitters posted an unsustainable .343 BABIP against Kuhnel in 2022 while the right-hander posted an unusually low strand rate of just 60.2% over the course of the season. Kuhnel’s performance is further bolstered by his 22% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate. Taken together, it’s easy to see why advanced metrics thought relatively highly of Kuhnel in 2022, as evidenced by a 3.78 xERA and a 3.52 xFIP.
In all, Kuhnel heads to Houston with a career 6.20 ERA and 4.28 FIP in 74 innings of work across 69 appearances. Going forward, Kuhnel figures to act as depth for an Astros bullpen that ranks top three in the majors with a 3.21 ERA, behind only the Guardians and Yankees. He joins the likes of Matt Gage and Blake Taylor as bullpen depth at the Triple-A level that’s already on the 40-man roster. Kuhnel takes the 40-man roster spot of McCullers, whose placement on the 60-day IL comes as little surprise following his season-ending surgery earlier this week.
Nick Lodolo Likely Sidelined Into August
Reds starter Nick Lodolo has been out of action since May 6 due to a left leg issue. Initially announced as calf tendinitis, the injury was later revised to a more concerning tibia stress reaction.
Lodolo has spent the better part of a month in a walking boot. Follow-up imaging this afternoon confirmed he’d need at least another two weeks in the boot, skipper David Bell told the media (relayed by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer). He’ll go for additional testing at that point.
According to Bell, Lodolo would likely need four to six weeks from the time he’s out of the walking boot before he’d be ready for game action. The long layoff will require him to build arm strength back via a throwing program. At the earliest, that timeline would suggest an early-August return to Great American Ball Park. Further delays or the longer end of that expected throwing program could keep him out well into the month.
Lodolo is already on the 60-day injured list. He’s eligible to return around the All-Star Break but clearly won’t be ready by that point. It has been a frustrating season for the second-year hurler. He’s started seven games and pitched to a 6.29 ERA over 34 1/3 innings. The former seventh overall pick had also spent a couple months on the IL last season — in that case due to a lower back strain — but impressed with a 3.66 ERA over 103 1/3 frames as a rookie.
The Reds weren’t generally expected to compete this season. That’d have been especially tough to envision if one could’ve predicted Lodolo’s injury woes, but Cincinnati’s influx of young infield talent has helped them outperform most preseason forecasts. The Reds sit at 34-35, just two games behind the Pirates in a lackluster NL Central. If Cincinnati can hang in the playoff picture deep into the summer, Lodolo’s return could take on extra importance for a club currently giving regular rotation run to each of Luke Weaver, Ben Lively and Brandon Williamson.
Reds Designate Joel Kuhnel, Select Daniel Duarte
The Reds announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contract of right-hander Daniel Duarte. To open a spot on the active roster, fellow righty Ricky Karcher was optioned to Triple-A. Righty Joel Kuhnel was designated for assignment in a corresponding 40-man move.
Duarte, 26, first got added to the Cincinnati roster going into 2022 but he spent most of the season on the injured list due to elbow problems. He was non-tendered, re-signed to a minor league deal and has been pitching in Triple-A so far this year. He has a 3.49 ERA in 28 1/3 innings, striking out 25.4% of opponents while walking 11.1% and getting grounders at a 51.4% clip.
The Reds played a 10-inning game yesterday, using six pitchers in the process. Though they ultimately emerged victorious, the bullpen was a bit taxed so Duarte will come in and give the club a fresh arm. He still has a couple of options and just one year of major league service time, so he could potentially be retained as a cheap and optionable depth piece for the foreseeable future if he continues to hang onto his 40-man roster spot.
The casualty of bringing Duarte up to the majors is Kuhnel. The 28-year-old has bounced on and off the Reds’ roster in recent seasons, logging 74 innings of sporadic action dating back to 2019. He has a 6.20 career ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 51.9% ground ball rate. There’s likely been a bit of bad luck in there as his 62.8% strand rate is well below average, leading to a 4.28 FIP and 3.55 SIERA. But in 24 Triple-A innings this year, he has a 7.13 ERA while striking out just 13.3% of opponents.
The Reds will now have a week to trade Kuhnel or pass him through waivers. In the event he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency by virtue of having a previous career outright. If any club were to acquire Kuhnel, he has a couple of options and just over a year of service time.
NL Central Notes: Stroman, Taylor, Reds
Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman has repeatedly stressed his desire to sign a long-term extension with the Cubs, even as he could reach free agency after this season on the heels of a career year. Stroman, who can opt-out of the final one year and $21MM left on his contract at season’s end, has posted a sensational 2.42 ERA (184 ERA+) through 14 starts with a 21.7% strikeout rate that would be the best of his career over a full season while also managing a fantastic 61% groundball rate. Those fantastic numbers figure to make Stroman a worthy addition to any rotation, but Chicago seems uninterested in getting a deal done at the moment. As Stroman himself relayed on Twitter that both he and his agent have made “multiple attempts” to engage the club’s front office in extension negotiations, but the Cubs were uninterested in exploring a deal for the time being.
In a conversation with The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney, Stroman elaborated further on the situation, telling Mooney that “We’ve been going to the front office from spring training, very open that I want to be here. We’ve continued those thoughts. Up until now, there’s been nothing from their side. No offers, no talks, really, at all.” Stroman goes on to make clear that there isn’t tension between him and the front office, despite the fact that his camp’s desire for negotiations having been largely rebuffed to this point.
It’s possible that the club’s hesitance has to do with their position in the standings. The club is 28-36, good for fourth place in the NL Central and 5.5 games out of a playoff spot. While their weak division does provide them some semblance of hope for contention, it’s nonetheless easy to imagine the Cubs selling for the third straight deadline. If they opted to go down that path, Stroman would likely be their most attractive trade piece. In fact, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic recently identified Stroman as an ideal fit for the Giants as trade season approaches, while noting that San Francisco actually finished second in free agent bidding for Stroman’s services when he signed his current three-year, $71MM deal with Chicago prior to the 2022 campaign.
More from around the NL Central…
- Brewers outfielder Tyrone Taylor is set to receive a cortisone shot in his right elbow, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.) Counsell noted that the injection comes after Taylor received multiple opinions on the elbow sprain that’s kept him on the shelf for the past two weeks. After posting a 106 wRC+ in 250 career games headed into the 2023 campaign, it’s been a brutal season for Taylor, who has slashed just .160/.179/.240 (8 wRC+) while being limited to just 27 games due to the ongoing elbow issues. With Taylor on the shelf, the club has Blake Perkins backing up an outfield trio of Christian Yelich, Joey Wiemer, and Brian Anderson.
- The Reds are still without their usual starting outfield, even after activating center fielder TJ Friedl from the 10-day injured list yesterrday, as left fielder Jake Fraley was placed on the shelf with a right wrist contusion in a corresponding move. While Friedl is enjoying a career season, with a .315/.365/.479 slash line in 43 games this year, the club is sure to miss the contributions of Fraley nonetheless, who has posted a wRC+ of 114 in 123 games since joining the club prior to the 2022 season. With Fraley on the shelf, the Reds figure to use the likes of Stuart Fairchild and Will Benson in the outfield corners.
Reds Sign Michael Mariot To Minor League Deal
The Reds have signed right-hander Michael Mariot to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Louisville.
Mariot, 34, has 44 games of major league experience, which came with the Royals and Phillies back in the 2014-2016 seasons. He has a 5.98 career ERA in 49 2/3 innings with a 20% strikeout rate, 12.4% walk rate and 34.2% ground ball rate.
Since that time, he has been bouncing to various different organizations. He signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in March of last year and was traded to the Tigers in June for cash, though neither club called him to the majors. He made 15 starts and three relief appearances on the year, posting a 4.90 ERA in 79 innings. He struck out 16.3% of opponents while walking 9.3%. He then spent some time with the CTBC Brothers of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan.
For the past few months, he’s been with the Cleburne Railroaders of the independent American Association of Professional Baseball. He had a 5.06 ERA there but with 29 strikeouts and just five walks in 26 2/3 innings.
The Reds have dealt with a number of injuries to their pitching staff, with Graham Ashcraft landing on the injured list just yesterday. He joined Justin Dunn, Vladimir Gutierrez, Nick Lodolo, Connor Overton, Tejay Antone, Derek Law, Casey Legumina, Reiver Sanmartin and Tony Santillan on the list of Cincinnati hurlers currently on the shelf. It’s unclear whether they plan to deploy Mariot as a starter or reliever but he will give them some experienced non-roster depth either way. If he earns his way onto the roster, he is out of options but has just over a year of service time.
Jack Baldschun Passes Away
Former big league reliever Jack Baldschun passed away this week after a battle with leukemia, according to an obituary from the Malcore Funeral Home in Green Bay. He was 86 years old.
An Ohio native, Baldschun entered the minor league ranks in 1956 as a signee of the Washington Senators. He’d spent four years in the Reds’ organization thereafter before moving to the Phillies during the 1960 Rule 5 draft. That set the stage for the right-hander to make his big league debut with Philadelphia in April 1961.
Baldschun took an immediate key role on the Phils’ pitching staff. He logged 99 2/3 innings over 65 relief appearances as a rookie, leading the majors in pitching appearances. Baldschun posted a 3.88 ERA, then followed up with consecutive sub-3.00 showings. He pitched to a 2.96 ERA over 112 2/3 frames of relief in 1962, then posted a career-best 2.30 mark in 113 2/3 innings the next season.
While he didn’t quite keep his ERA below 3.00 for a third straight year, Baldschun tossed a personal-high 118 1/3 frames of 3.12 ball in 1964. He fell just shy of the century mark the following season, working to a 3.82 ERA over 99 innings.
Over the stretch between 1961-65, only Hoyt Wilhelm, Ron Perranoski and Stu Miller absorbed a heavier workload out of the bullpen. Baldschun posted a cumulative 3.18 ERA and, while the save wouldn’t become an official statistic until the end of the decade, he’d be retroactively credited with 59 of them.
After the ’65 season, Philadelphia traded Baldschun to the Orioles. Baltimore would flip him back to Cincinnati within a matter of days, packaging him in one of the most impactful trades in MLB history. Baldschun joined starter Milt Pappas and outfielder Dick Simpson in heading to the Reds for Frank Robinson. The future Hall of Famer would go to win an MVP in his first season in Baltimore and help the club to a pair of World Series titles.
Baldschun never really found his form with the Reds, pitching to a 5.25 ERA in parts of two seasons. He signed with the Padres going into 1969 and pitched for two years there. He retired after the 1970 campaign, having appeared in parts of nine MLB seasons. Altogether, Baldschun pitched 704 innings over 457 games as one of the top bullpen workhorses of the 1960s. He posted a 3.69 ERA, struck out 555 and finished 267 contests.
MLBTR sends our condolences to Baldschun’s family, friends and loved ones.