Reds Rumors

Reds Acquire Delino DeShields Jr.

By Mark Polishuk | August 31, 2021 at 12:10pm CDT

The Reds have acquired outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. in a trade with the Red Sox, as announced by both teams. Boston will receive cash considerations in return, and the Reds have assigned DeShields to their Triple-A affiliate.

Since DeShields wasn’t on Boston’s 40-man roster and was playing on a minor league contract, he was eligible to be dealt after the July 30 trade deadline. The Sox and Reds have each made similar deals this August — Cincinnati previously swapped Mallex Smith to the Blue Jays for cash, while Boston picked up right-hander Brad Peacock from the Indians just yesterday and added DeShields himself from the Rangers four weeks ago.

DeShields is still looking to appear in his first big league game of the 2021 season. The veteran was non-tendered by Cleveland last winter and signed back on with Texas on a minor league contract, though he didn’t receive a call-up from either the Rangers or the Red Sox. The expanded September rosters create some extra opportunity for DeShields to get a look from the Reds, especially since Jesse Winker and Nick Senzel are still on the injured list. There is also a family connection involved, as Delino DeShields Sr. is Cincinnati’s first base coach.

With Winker expected back in a couple of weeks, the Reds will have Winker and Nick Castellanos in the corner outfield, with DeShields perhaps serving as a right-handed hitting complement to Tyler Naquin and Shogo Akiyama in center field. Aristides Aquino and Max Schrock are also on Cincinnati’s roster, though they lack DeShields’ experience and speed. The latter skill could be potentially very useful for DeShields to earn pinch-running opportunities for the Reds down the stretch and potentially into the postseason.

DeShields is 21-for-24 in stolen base attempts at the Triple-A level this season, and he has hit .252/.385/.366 over a combined 381 plate appearances with the Rangers and Red Sox affiliates. While DeShields is best known for his fielding and baserunning, his offense has been much of a mixed bag, as he has hit only .246/.326/.340 over 2056 career PA in the majors.

Yankees Acquire Pitching Prospect Jason Parker From Reds To Complete Cessa/Wilson Trade

By Anthony Franco | August 30, 2021 at 10:44pm CDT

The Yankees announced they have acquired right-handed pitching prospect Jason Parker from the Reds. He is the player to be named later in last month’s trade that sent relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson to Cincinnati.

Parker was Cincinnati’s 16th-round pick in 2019 out of North Carolina State University. He’s made his affiliated ball debut this season, working to a 4.05 ERA across 80 innings as a starter in Low-A. The 23-year-old has struck out a strong 27% of opposing hitters against an average 9.8% walk rate, albeit against generally younger competition. Parker was not ranked among the Reds’ top prospects at FanGraphs or Baseball America.

While the Yankees will add Parker as a flier to the lower levels of the organization, the bigger driver of the deal for New York at the time was creating immediate roster and payroll space to accommodate future deadline acquisitions. The Yankees would go on to add Joey Gallo, Joely Rodríguez, Anthony Rizzo and Andrew Heaney over the next few days. By including Cessa, the Yankees were able to incentivize the Reds to take on a little less than half of Wilson’s remaining salary, as well as his $2.3MM player option for next season. That was of particular import given the Yankees’ apparent insistence on narrowly ducking below the first luxury tax threshold.

For the Reds, picking up Cessa and Wilson (as well as Mychal Givens in a later deal with the Rockies) was part of a broader effort to remake a struggling bullpen. As a whole, the relief corps has continued to struggle in recent weeks, but Cessa and Wilson have both been stabilizing forces at the back end. Cessa has allowed four runs over 10 1/3 frames since the trade, while Wilson has worked 9 2/3 innings of two-run ball.

NL Central Notes: Indians, Reynolds, Winker, Brach, Hayes, Escobar

By Mark Polishuk | August 29, 2021 at 10:05pm CDT

The Indians were known to be looking at outfield help in the lead-up to the trade deadline, and The Athletic’s Zack Meisel reports that Cleveland checked in on a pair of major NL Central names — the Tribe spoke to the Pirates about Bryan Reynolds, and with the Reds about Jesse Winker. It isn’t known if any serious talks took place about potential deals, or if the Indians were just doing their due diligence and were quickly rebuffed.

The Pirates are reportedly viewing Reynolds as a building block and aren’t looking to move him (at least for anything less than a gigantic offer). As for the Reds, it wasn’t even certain if they were going to be deadline sellers at all, even though Cincinnati had only a 39-40 record at the end of June. However, the Reds have gone 32-21 since July 1 and now hold a 1.5-game lead over the Padres for the second NL wild card slot. Given how Winker has developed into one of the game’s best bats, it’s safe to assume the Reds won’t be very open to offseason trade inquiries about his services, short of any “too good to be true” proposals.

NL Injury Notes: Moustakas, Lopez, Contreras

By Mark Polishuk | August 28, 2021 at 9:07pm CDT

Mike Moustakas left tonight’s game due to right hip tightness, replaced by Asdrubal Cabrera at third base to begin the bottom of the second inning. Moustakas struck out in his lone plate appearance (in the top of the second) and Bobby Nightengale of The Cincinnati Enquirer noted that Moustakas “hopped on his left leg a couple of times” following a game-opening single from Miguel Rojas. This was one of four balls hit in Moustakas’ direction during what ended up as a five-run inning for the Marlins en route to their 6-1 win over the Reds.

The severity of the hip problem isn’t known, though the 2021 season has already been an injury-marred campaign for the veteran infielder. Moustakas has played in only 45 games due to missing more than 11 weeks due to a right heel injury, which eventually necessitated a trip to the 60-day injured list. The result is a .216/.309/.417 slash line and six home runs through 162 plate appearances, and a 92 wRC+ that would count as the Moose’s lowest since the 2014 season. Cabrera was claimed off waivers just yesterday to help the Reds’ infield depth, though he could be in line for quite a bit more playing time if Moustakas’ hip issue results in another IL visit.

More injury updates from around the National League…

Pablo Lopez was scratched from a scheduled rehab start on Thursday and is now returning to Miami, Marlins manager Don Mattingly told reporters (including MLB.com’s Christina De Nicola). A right rotator cuff strain sent Lopez to the injured list (retroactively) on July 14, yet even with just over a month remaining in the season, Mattingly didn’t commit to the idea of potentially shutting Lopez down. “Nothing more than…just slowing him down, making sure we’re careful with him. Sounded like a minor setback for sure,” Mattingly said. “Probably not minor to Pablo, who’s wanting to get going. But I know the medical staff’s going to be careful with him.” Lopez has posted a 3.03 ERA/3.50 SIERA over 101 innings for Miami this season, with above-average strikeout (27.1%) and walk (6.1%) rates and strong hard-hit ball numbers.
Willson Contreras is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment within a few days’ time, Cubs manager David Ross told The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney and other reporters. Contreras has been on the 10-day IL since August 12 due to a sprained right knee. One of the few veterans still on the roster following the Cubs’ trade deadline fire sale, Contreras is enjoying another solid season, hitting .226/.333/.417 with 17 homers over 403 plate appearances.

Reds Claim Asdrubal Cabrera

By Steve Adams | August 27, 2021 at 1:45pm CDT

1:45pm: The Reds and D-backs have officially announced the move.

12:44pm: The Reds have claimed veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera off waivers from the Diamondbacks, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The teams have yet to announce the move. Cincinnati already has multiple vacancies on its 40-man roster, so the Reds will only need to open a spot on the active 26-man roster.

Cabrera, 35, will give the Reds a switch-hitting infield option off the bench for the final month-plus of the regular season — and for the postseason, should they qualify. Because Cabrera is being claimed prior to Sept. 1, he’ll be eligible for postseason play with his new club.

It hasn’t been a great year at the plate for Cabrera, but he’s posted a respectable .244/.324/.392 batting line in 321 plate appearances while splitting his time between the infield corners (in addition to one lone inning at shortstop). He’s playing out the season on a one-year, $1.75MM contract and is owed about $358K of that sum through season’s end. The Reds will be on the hook for the remainder of that salary.

The veteran Cabrera looked like an obvious trade candidate prior to the deadline, but the D-backs apparently didn’t find much interest. They’ll clear a bit of cash now that he’s been claimed, although the primary motivation here could simply have been to give a veteran player a chance to join a playoff contender.

Cincinnati doesn’t have everyday at-bats available for Cabrera — not with Joey Votto at first base, Jonathan India at second base and Mike Moustakas over at third base. However, Cabrera has been quite productive against left-handed pitching over the past two seasons and has slightly better numbers against lefties than against righties over the course of his lengthy career. And as potent as the Reds’ lineup can be, Cincinnati has quietly been one of the game’s least-productive groups against southpaws, hitting just .231/.313/.380 as a team. Their collective 86 wRC+ against lefties ranks 28th in the Majors. Cabrera gives them a slight upgrade in that regard and also gives manager David Bell some versatility for late-game maneuvering.

Tejay Antone To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Anthony Franco | August 26, 2021 at 11:04pm CDT

Reds reliever Tejay Antone announced (on Twitter) that he will undergo Tommy John surgery tomorrow. It’ll be the second time of the right-hander’s career, as Antone previously underwent the procedure in 2017.

It’s a disappointing, if not especially surprising, development. Antone spent most of the past few months on the injured list with forearm troubles. He was activated from the IL on Tuesday but pulled himself from that night’s game just five pitches amidst obvious discomfort. Cincinnati placed him back on the IL yesterday with what the team termed a forearm strain.

While no timetable has been announced, it seems likely Antone will miss the entire 2022 season. Tommy John procedures often require fourteen-plus months of recovery time, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the team is particularly cautious with Antone’s rehab given that he’s already undergone the procedure once before.

It’s a notable blow for the Reds, as Antone has been the club’s best reliever. The 27-year-old worked 33 2/3 innings across 23 appearances as a high-leverage weapon, pitching to a 2.14 ERA. Antone punched out hitters at a massive 32.8% clip on the back of an above-average 12.9% swinging strike rate. It’s the second consecutive high-end season to begin Antone’s MLB career, as he broke into the big leagues with 35 1/3 frames of 2.80 ERA ball in 2020.

Despite Antone’s contributions, the bullpen has been a problem for the Reds for much of the year. Cincinnati relievers have a 5.27 ERA that ranks 28th in the league, while they’re closer to middle-of-the-pack in SIERA (4.07) and strikeout/walk rate differential (14.3 percentage points). They’ve been marginally better since remaking their bullpen the week of the trade deadline — when they acquired Luis Cessa, Justin Wilson and Mychal Givens — but Reds’ relievers still have an even 5.00 ERA over the past thirty days. Antone has been on the injured list for almost all of that time already, but holding late leads will be all the more difficult with no possibility of him making it back at this point. At 69-59, the Reds hold a one-game advantage over the Padres in the NL Wild Card race.

Antone will likely be placed on the 60-day injured list whenever the Reds need a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll need to return to the 40-man over the offseason but can go back on the 60-day IL for the entirety of next season. Antone will continue to accrue service time on the IL and is scheduled to reach arbitration eligibility for the first time after the 2022 campaign.

Mariners Claim Sean Doolittle Off Waivers From Reds

By Anthony Franco | August 26, 2021 at 2:20pm CDT

The Mariners have claimed veteran reliever Sean Doolittle off waivers from the Reds, per a team announcement. Fellow reliever Keynan Middleton has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Doolittle had been designated for assignment earlier this week.

For the bulk of his career, Doolittle has been an elite reliever. After breaking into the big leagues in 2012, he posted an ERA of 3.23 or lower every year through 2018 (excluding a 2015 campaign in which he logged just 13 2/3 innings due to injury). That run of consistency earned him the closer’s role in Oakland, a job he held after being traded to the Nationals in 2017.

Doolittle has fallen on harder times over the past few seasons. While he posted strong strikeout and walk rates in 2019, an increase in home runs allowed pushed his ERA up to 4.05. The southpaw then missed most of last year’s shortened campaign due to knee and oblique issues. Upon reaching free agency, he signed a $1.5MM guarantee with the Reds over the winter.

While he has stayed healthy all year, Doolittle didn’t find enough success to stick in the Cincinnati bullpen over the entire season. His strikeout and walk rates (23.7% and 10.4%, respectively) have dipped to about league average for the first time in his career. And while Doolittle hasn’t been quite as home run prone this season as he was two years back, his 18.2% ground-ball rate is the lowest mark among the 207 relievers with 30+ innings pitched. That made for a tough fit in the hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.

Doolittle’s fly-ball heavy ways are easier to manage in Seattle’s more spacious T-Mobile Park. And while Doolittle’s strikeout and walk rates suggest he’s no longer the elite late-innings option he was at his peak, the 34-year-old still looks to be at least an average middle reliever.

Acquiring Doolittle comes with very little risk, as the M’s will simply have to assume the remainder of that modest $1.5MM deal (approximately $295K). For a Seattle club a mere two and a half games back of the final Wild Card spot in the American League, it’s a worthwhile cost to bolster the bullpen depth for the season’s final five weeks. If the Mariners do make the playoffs, Doolittle will be eligible for the postseason roster because he was acquired before August 31.

To make room for Doolittle, the Mariners do run the risk of losing Middleton. A well-regarded relief prospect during his days in the Angels’ system, Middleton broke into the majors with a very promising rookie season in 2017. By early the following year, he had assumed the closing duties in Anaheim.

Unfortunately, Middleton blew out his elbow in May 2018 and required Tommy John surgery. His stuff didn’t look the same upon his return and the Angels non-tendered last winter after he spent most of the 2020 campaign at the alternate training site. Seattle jumped in to add the righty on a one-year, $800K guarantee in free agency.

Middleton has logged significant action for Seattle this season but hasn’t recaptured his peak form. Across 31 frames, he’s managed just a 4.94 ERA with a career-low 17.1% strikeout rate and a lofty 13.6% walk percentage. Middleton has actually induced plenty of swinging strikes (14.2%) but they’ve yet to translate into consistent results.

Seattle will now place Middleton on waivers over the coming days. Another team could take a speculative flier in the hope that Middleton’s swing-and-miss stuff and still strong velocity could lead to stronger production moving forward. Any claiming team could keep him under club control through 2023 via arbitration if he figures things out down the stretch.

Reds Place Tejay Antone On Injured List, Release Michael Feliz

By Steve Adams | August 25, 2021 at 3:05pm CDT

3:05 pm: Cincinnati has placed Antone on the 10-day injured list due to a right forearm strain. Infielder Max Schrock is up from Triple-A Louisville to take his active roster spot. Additionally, the Reds announced they’ve released reliever Michael Feliz. Feliz, who was designated for assignment on Monday, will be placed on waivers and will be free to sign elsewhere, assuming he passed through unclaimed.

9:33 am: The Reds welcomed their best reliever back from a nearly two-month stay on the injured list on Tuesday, but Tejay Antone’s return lasted only five pitches. Antone grimaced in obvious pain after his fifth pitch and immediately called for the training staff to come to the mound, at which point he was removed from the game.

Any type of arm discomfort after spending two months on the shelf due to a forearm strain is troubling, and manager David Bell expressed concern to reporters in his postgame session (link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). “He definitely felt something in his elbow,” Bell said of Antone.

A return trip to the injured list would be a tough blow to a Reds club that has soared into Wild Card position over the past several weeks. Antone is not only Cincinnati’s best reliever but one of the better relievers in the entire league when at his best. The 27-year-old made his MLB debut last year and has since pitched 69 innings of 2.48 ERA ball with a huge 32.3 percent strikeout rate, a 10.8 percent walk rate and a 48 percent ground-ball rate. Since making his debut, Antone ranks 27th in strikeout percentage among the 307 pitchers who’ve tallied at least 60 innings. He has the second-highest rate of called strikes in that same set (22.9 percent) and ranks third in combined called/swinging-strike rate (35.8 percent).

An Antone injury is particularly concerning for the Reds given that bullpen struggles have been the team’s Achilles heel all season. Cincinnati has the fourth-highest collective bullpen ERA in the Majors (5.27) and has seen continued struggles even after adding three relievers at the deadline (4.99 ERA over the past 30 days; 6.21 over the past two weeks). Veteran left-hander Sean Doolittle was designated for assignment just yesterday.

If Antone ultimately requires another absence, the Reds will continue to lean on the combination of Mychal Givens, Michael Lorenzen and Amir Garrett late in games. Cincinnati currently has sole possession of the second NL Wild Card spot, but the Padres (one game), Cardinals (four and a half games) and Phillies (five games) are all within striking distance.

Reds Activate Tejay Antone, Designate Sean Doolittle For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | August 24, 2021 at 3:05pm CDT

The Reds announced they’ve reinstated right-hander Tejay Antone from the 10-day injured list. To open space on the active roster, Cincinnati designated southpaw Sean Doolittle for assignment. The move also clears another spot on the 40-man roster, which now sits at 37.

Antone has missed the better part of three months dealing with forearm issues. He landed on the IL with inflammation on June 11, then returned after a minimal stint. Just four days later, he was placed back on the IL with a forearm strain that has kept him out ever since. Before the injury, Antone had been the Reds’ best late-inning weapon. He’s worked to a 1.87 ERA over 33 2/3 frames this season, striking out a fantastic 33.1% of opponents against an average 9.4% walk rate. It’s the second consecutive quality season for the 27-year-old, who posted a 2.80 ERA over 35 1/3 innings as a rookie in 2020.

Cincinnati welcomes back their top reliever at an opportune time. The Reds’ recent hot streak, coupled with the Padres’ free fall, has Cincinnati up a game over the Friars with a little less than six weeks remaining in the regular season. That’s a far better position than the Reds were in as recently as a couple weeks ago, but it’s also nowhere near a comfortable advantage. The Cincinnati bullpen was a disaster earlier in the season, but they’ve performed better over the past few weeks.

Doolittle has been a fixture in that relief corps for the entire season. He’ll now lose his spot as part of a broader makeover in the late innings. In addition to Antone, Cincinnati welcomed Lucas Sims back from a lengthy IL stint earlier this month, and they overhauled the bullpen before the July 30 trade deadline. The Reds brought in Mychal Givens, Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson via trade, pushing Doolittle out of the picture.

The veteran southpaw was one of the sport’s premier relievers from 2012-18. He broke in with the A’s and eventually earned the closer’s role in Oakland, a job he retained after being traded to the Nationals midway through the 2017 season. Doolittle pitched at a league average level in 2019 before struggling through an injury-wrecked 2020 campaign to end his time in Washington. He signed a one-year, $1.5MM guarantee with the Reds in February.

Doolittle has stayed healthy this season, but he’s amidst the worst year of his career. The 34-year-old has worked 38 1/3 innings of 4.46 ERA ball across 45 appearances, striking out 23.7% of opposing hitters against a 10.4% walk rate. That’s not disastrous work — it’s a little worse than league average after adjusting for the Reds’ hitter-friendly home park — but it’s nowhere near the elite heights Doolittle reached at his peak.

That said, it’s plausible another team will add Doolittle off waivers over the coming days. Even if he’s only a league average pitcher at this stage of his career, that kind of competence could upgrade many teams’ current middle innings situations. And Doolittle’s low base salary would reduce the financial responsibility for claiming teams, as he’s only due around $311K from now through season’s end. Should Doolittle pass through waivers unclaimed, he’d have the right to elect free agency while collecting the remainder of that guaranteed salary as a player with five-plus years of big league service.

Reds Designate Michael Feliz For Assignment

By Steve Adams | August 23, 2021 at 1:25pm CDT

The Reds have designated right-handed reliever Michael Feliz for assignment, tweets C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. He’d been on a minor league rehab assignment that had drawn to a close, and the Reds opted against adding him back to the MLB roster. Cincinnati now has 38 players on its 40-man roster.

Feliz, 28, was a May waiver claim by the Reds out of the Pirates organization and appeared in nine games before landing on the injured list with a sprained right elbow. He yielded a dozen runs on 13 hits and four walks with nine strikeouts during his brief time in the organization.

The elbow injury ultimately sidelined Feliz for more than two months, but he recently wrapped up a rehab assignment and is apparently healthy now. The Reds determined their current bullpen group to be sufficient, clearly, and because Feliz is out of minor league options, he’ll now be exposed to outright waivers or released.

Feliz posted an impressive 30.5 percent strikeout rate and a 3.99 ERA in 56 1/3 innings with Pittsburgh back in 2019, but command problems and arm injuries have hindered him throughout his big league career. He’s missed time with shoulder and forearm injuries prior to this year’s elbow troubles. In 241 MLB innings between Houston, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, the hard-throwing Feliz owns a 5.38 ERA with a 30 percent strikeout rate and a 9.9 percent walk rate.

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