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Reds To DFA Fairchild, Place Hays On IL; Steer Will Not Go On IL

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The Reds have a few notable moves on tap ahead of Opening Day, as reported by Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Despite previous reports that infielder/outfielder Spencer Steer will start the season on the injured list due to a right shoulder injury, he actually will make the Opening Day roster but will be the designated hitter only. However, outfielder Austin Hays will go on the 10-day injured list due to a calf injury. Additionally, outfielder Stuart Fairchild will be designated for assignment tomorrow.

At this point, the details on Hays aren’t clear. He was in the lineup for the club on Sunday, stepping to the plate three times. It hasn’t been publicly reported how he sustained his injury or how severe it is. Opening Day IL stints can be backdated by three days, so it’s possible he could rejoin the club as soon as one week into the season if it’s minor.

As for Steer, his right shoulder has been bothering him going back to last year. Here in camp, he’s been able to swing a bat without pain but the shoulder bugs him when he throws. Manager Terry Francona told members of the media a few days ago that Steer would start the season on the IL but it seems the club has changed that plan recently.

It’s understandable that they don’t want to lose his bat. He hit .271/.356/.464 for a 117 wRC+ in 2023. His line dropped to .225/.319/.402 last year but that seems to have been at least partially bad luck, with his batting average on balls in play dropping from .318 to .260 in those respective seasons. Having him in the DH spot will give the club a bit less flexibility but ideally some extra thump.

As for Fairchild, he has largely been serving as a glove-first depth outfielder for the Reds lately. He exhausted his final option year in 2023 but then managed to stick on the roster last year as the club suffered through a number of injuries.

His glovework has been strong but he has a career batting line of .224/.308/.389, which translates to an 88 wRC+. In camp this year, his numbers were far worse, as he slashed .132/.233/.184 in 45 plate appearances. That performance seems to have sealed his fate. The Reds could have kept Fairchild and optioned guys like Jacob Hurtubise and Blake Dunn to the minors, but will open the season with those two and bump Fairchild off the roster.

Once he’s officially DFA’d, he’ll have at most a week to find out his fate, whether that’s a trade or some destiny on the waiver wire. Despite the poor offense, he does have ten Defensive Runs Saved and nine Outs Above Average in his 1,389 1/3 innings. He’s also stolen 23 bases over the past two years. Perhaps some other club will be interested in grabbing him as a fourth outfielder. If that comes to pass, he can be controlled for four seasons since his service time is between two and three years at the moment.

Without Steer, Hays or Fairchild, the outfield might be in flux to start the season. TJ Friedl and Jake Fraley should be regulars in two spots. Gavin Lux might play a decent amount of left field with Matt McLain at second and Jeimer Candelario at third. Candelario can also play first but it seems as though Christian Encarnacion-Strand will be the regular there. Dunn and Hurtubise could also factor into the mix alongside Lux.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Reds Select Ian Gibaut

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The Reds announced that they have selected right-hander Ian Gibaut to their roster. They had a 40-man vacancy after recently returning Rule 5 pick Cooper Bowman to the Athletics, so no corresponding move is necessary today.

Gibaut, 31, is no stranger to Cincinnati. He’s spent the past two and a half seasons in a Reds uniform and has logged a bit more than three quarters of his 147 career innings with them. He was non-tendered back in November but quickly returned on a minor league deal and has pitched his way back into the bullpen with a solid spring effort. In 11 innings, the righty allowed five runs on 13 hits and three walks with 12 strikeouts (4.09 ERA).

In his two-plus seasons as a Red, Gibaut has logged a 3.77 earned run average. That’s come in a sample of 112 1/3 frames, and he’s struck out 24.5% of opponents against a 9.8% walk rate along the way. He’s not likely to land in many high-leverage spots, but he’ll join Taylor Rogers, Emilio Pagan, Scott Barlow, Graham Ashcraft, Sam Moll, Tony Santillan and Brent Suter in rounding out the Opening Day bullpen for manager Terry Francona’s first year at the helm in Cincinnati.

Gibaut has 3.077 years of big league service time, meaning he’s controllable for two years beyond the current season if the Reds choose to retain him via arbitration. He’s out of minor league options, so he’d need to pass through waivers before he could be sent to Triple-A. Even if he were to clear, Gibaut could reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Offseason In Review: Cincinnati Reds

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The Reds swung a few notable trades to bring some new talent onto the roster, as manager Terry Francona will try to lead the team back into contention.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $28.55MM
Total spending: $28.55MM

Option Decisions

Trades & Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

Notable Losses

Starting with some bigger-picture news from the Reds' winter, the club gained some slight stability on the broadcasting front when it signed a one-year contract with the FanDuel Sports Network, a.k.a. the rebranded Bally Sports Network.  The Reds' broadcasts were previously handed by Bally and parent company Diamond Sports Group, but Cincinnati was one of many teams whose TV future was thrown into question when DSG went into bankruptcy proceedings in March 2023.  DSG and Bally re-emerged under the Main Street Sports and FanDuel Sports Network banners, and several MLB teams chose to re-engage with their old partners under short-term agreements.

The Reds had reached a deal with Major League Baseball itself to handle broadcasts for the 2025 season, but in choosing to re-up with Main Street Sports, the Reds may be giving themselves some flexibility for future deals if all goes well this year.  It is also fair to assume that the Reds are getting at least a bit more money off this new deal than they were getting from MLB, even if terms of the new contract (or the terms of the MLB broadcast deal) weren't made public.

Here's the bottom line as it relates to the club's on-field endeavors --- the Reds had a bit more cash to invest in payroll, as president of baseball operations Nick Krall said in January.  Given the timing, it could be that the Reds might not have been able to trade for Taylor Rogers or sign Austin Hays without those extra funds coming into the team's revenue stream.

Team COO/CFO Doug Healy said in November that the Reds' payroll would either remain stable or go up in the aftermath of the broadcast deal with MLB, and that proved to be the case even with the change in broadcast partners.  The Reds finished last season with an approximate payroll of $100MM (as per RosterResource) and the club now has roughly $115.3MM committed to its 2025 roster as we approach Opening Day.

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Spencer Steer To Begin Season On Reds’ Injured List

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Spencer Steer hit during a minor league Spring Training game on Thursday, marking his first game action of any type since February 27.  Despite this step forward, the bothersome right shoulder that has sidelined Steer for much of camp will result in a season-opening placement on the injured list, Reds manager Terry Francona told MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon and other reporters today.

Because Steer’s shoulder problem only causes him discomfort while throwing, he had expressed some hope that he could break camp with the Reds in a DH-only capacity, allowing him to play while letting his shoulder fully heal up.  However, Francona said Steer was understanding of the roster situation, as “being a full-time DH probably isn’t best for him or our team.”  Steer will head north with the Reds and continue his work in simulated-game scenarios until the minor league season begins and he can start a proper rehab assignment.

The IL placement doesn’t come as much of a surprise, given how little Steer has played this spring and how his shoulder problem also bothered him for much of the 2024 season.  Specifically, the injury causes Steer to feel a twinge whenever he rears back to throw, though multiple tests and scans haven’t revealed anything structural at the root of this discomfort.  Steer received a cortisone shot this spring and was shut down entirely for over a week in order to let the shot take effect.

After an impressive rookie season for Cincinnati in 2023, Steer’s production took a step back last year, as he hit .225/.319/.402 with 20 home runs over 656 plate appearances.  On the defensive front, Steer played mostly as a left fielder and first baseman, while also chipping in for a few cameo appearances as a right fielder, second baseman, and shortstop.  Steer also saw a lot of time as a third baseman during the 2022-23 seasons.

It remains to be seen exactly how the Reds will deploy Steer in 2025, but his overall defensive utility underscores important it is that he can return to work on the diamond.  A return to form at the plate would also help, and while Steer has said that his shoulder problem didn’t impact his hitting, it seems like there might’ve been some correlation between his lingering injury and his downturn at the plate.

Offseason signing Austin Hays figures to get most of the left field work in Steer’s absence, while Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand look to handle first base, with CES also in line to act as the designated hitter.  Candelario is also expected to be part of a crowded mix of third base candidates, as Gavin Lux and Santiago Espinal will also be getting playing time at the hot corner.

Reds Sign Jose Trevino To Extension

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The Reds and catcher Jose Trevino have agreed to an extension. The Paragon Sports International client was already under contract for $3.425MM for 2025 and set to hit free agency after that. This new deal now runs through 2027 with a club option for 2028. Trevino will reportedly get $5.25MM in each of the two guaranteed years. The option is valued at $6.5MM with a $1MM buyout. That means it’s $11.5MM in new money over two years, though the club option means the Reds extend their potential window of control by three years.

Trevino, 32, still hasn’t played a regular season game for the Reds. He was just acquired from the Yankees in December, with reliever Fernando Cruz  and Alex Jackson going the other way. During his time with the Rangers and Yankees over the previous seven seasons, he was never much of a hitter but has emerged as a strong defender behind the plate.

The Yanks acquired Trevino from the Rangers in April of 2022, sending Albert Abreu and Robby Ahlstrom the other way. Through the end of the 2021 season, Trevino had a batting line of .245/.270/.364. That translated to a wRC+ of 65, indicating he was about 35% below league average at the plate. His defense was graded around par during his first few seasons but he seemed to take a leap forward in his final year with Texas. Publicly available metrics graded him as one of the best pitch framers in the league that year.

His first year in the Bronx went quite well and stands out as his best season yet. He hit 11 home runs, more than doubling his previous career high of five. His .248/.283/.388 batting line was still subpar overall, leading to a wRC+ of 90, but that’s about par for a catcher. When combined with his excellent framing and good work behind the plate overall, he was worth 3.8 wins above replacement, per the calculations of FanGraphs.

Injuries got in the way in the subsequent two seasons. A right wrist tear required surgery in 2023 and then a left quad strain sent him to the injured list last year. Over those two campaigns, he got into just 129 games total. His offense fell to a combined .213/.275/.336, wRC+ of 72, but he still produced 2.4 fWAR on the strength of his defense.

The Reds already had Tyler Stephenson as their primary catcher going into this year but clearly liked the idea of Trevino as a complement. They effectively have opposite profiles, since Stephenson is more of a bat-first guy with lesser work while donning the tools of ignorance. The Reds subtracted a big strikeout pitcher from their bullpen in order to get Trevino, sending Cruz to the Yankees. After a few weeks in camp, they are clearly comfortable enough to keep Trevino around into the future as well.

Trevino’s presence has become more important in the short term, as Stephenson is set to begin the season on the IL due to an oblique strain. Trevino himself got a bit of a scare, as he was recently hit on the hand by a foul tip, but his tests came back clean and he appears to be on track to start the season healthy.

Turning to the long term, the Reds are surely hoping this will solidify their catching corps, which was previously fairly uncertain. As mentioned, Trevino was set to hit free agency after 2025. Stephenson is only under club control through 2026.

The top catching prospect in the system is Alfredo Duno, but he’s not close to the majors. He’s only 19 years old, for one thing. His professional résumé consists of 45 games in the Dominican Summer League in 2023 and 32 Single-A games last year. All signs point to a bright future but he won’t be in Cincinnati for a while.

With this new deal, it’s possible for the club to roll with the Trevino/Stephenson pairing for the next two years. By then, perhaps Duno will have worked his way to the upper levels of the minors and put himself in position to replace Stephenson. Even if not, the Reds will have Trevino in place for 2027 and will just need to find a complementary player. If all is going well, they can bring Trevino back for 2028 as well.

The $5-8MM range is a fairly standard AAV for a veteran catcher in his mid-30s, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. In recent years, Mitch Garver and Yadier Molina were the only two backstops age-33 or older to surpass that range. Garver was signed to be more of a bat-first catcher/designated hitter while Molina was a legend in St. Louis. Players like Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Higashioka, Yan Gomes, Martín Maldonado and Roberto Pérez have been in that $5-8MM window.

Looking ahead to next winter, this takes one of the more notable catchers off the board. For the 2025-26 offseason, the top free agent catchers are going to be J.T. Realmuto and Danny Jansen. Realmuto will be going into his age-35 season and might sign an extension with the Phillies before then. Jansen has had good numbers at times but has had a hard time staying healthy. Trevino would have been an interesting glove-first option for clubs but that won’t be the case now that he’s sticking in Cincinnati.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Reds and Trevino agreed to a deal running through 2027 with the 2028 club option. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reported the full financial details. Photos courtesy of Sam Greene, Imagn Images.

36 Veteran Players With Looming Opt-Out Dates

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The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement implemented a new series of uniform opt-out dates for players who qualified as free agents under Article XX(b) of said agreement and sign a minor league deal in free agency. More specifically, that designation falls on players with six-plus years of MLB service time who finished the preceding season on a major league roster or injured list. Some contracts for players coming over from a foreign professional league like Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization will also have language written into their contracts allowing them to qualify as an XX(b) free agent despite a lack of six years of service.

The three uniform opt-out dates on those contracts land five days before Opening Day, on May 1 and on June 1. With the regular season set to kick off next week, any Article XX(b) free agents who are in camp on minor league contracts will have the opportunity to opt out on Saturday, March 22. A player triggering one of these out clauses gives his current club 48 hours to either add him to the 40-man roster or let him become a free agent.

There are other ways to secure opt-outs in contracts, of course. Many players who don’t qualify for XX(b) designation will still have opt-out opportunities negotiated into their minor league deals in free agency.

The following is a list of 36 players who are in camp as non-roster invitees and will be able to opt out this weekend. Most were XX(b) free agents, but there are a handful of names who didn’t meet that requirement but had outs negotiated into their respective deals nonetheless. This is not a comprehensive list of all players with opt-out opportunities this weekend.

All spring stats referenced are accurate through the completion of games played Wednesday, March 19.

Astros: LHP Jalen Beeks

Beeks, 31, was a relatively late sign (March 7) who’s since tossed three spring frames — including two scoreless innings just yesterday. He logged a 4.50 ERA in 70 innings between the Rockies and Pirates last season. He struggled to miss bats last year but typically runs strong strikeout rates. Dating back to 2020, Beeks carries a 4.16 ERA in 192 2/3 innings. In Josh Hader, Bryan King and Bennett Sousa, the Astros already have three lefty relievers on the 40-man. Another veteran non-roster invitee, Steven Okert, has rattled off 8 2/3 shutout spring innings with a 14-to-2 K/BB ratio. Beeks might have long odds of cracking the roster.

Blue Jays: RHP Jacob Barnes, LHP Ryan Yarbrough

The 34-year-old Barnes logged a 4.36 ERA in a career-high 66 big league innings last season. He posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the five preceding seasons (a total of 115 1/3 frames). He’s been tagged for four runs in 5 1/3 innings this spring.

Yarbrough, 33, had a terrific run with the Jays to close out the 2024 season. Joining Toronto in a deadline swap sending Kevin Kiermaier to the Dodgers, the veteran southpaw posted a 2.01 ERA in 31 1/3 innings. He’s a soft-tosser, sitting just 86.5 mph with his heater, but Yarbrough can pitch multiple innings in relief and has a decent track record even beyond last year’s overall 3.19 earned run average (4.21 ERA in 768 MLB innings). He’s allowed three runs with and 8-to-1 K/BB ratio in 6 2/3 innings in camp.

Braves: RHP Buck Farmer, RHP Hector Neris

Farmer was already reassigned to minor league camp on Sunday, so there’d seem to be a good chance of him taking his out. The 34-year-old turned in a terrific 3.04 ERA in 71 innings for the Reds last year but was probably hampered by his age, pedestrian velocity and subpar command in free agency. With a 3.68 ERA in 193 innings over the past three seasons in Cincinnati, he should find an opportunity somewhere — even if it’s not in Atlanta.

Neris is still in Braves camp. He signed well into camp and thus has only pitched one official inning so far, which was scoreless. (Neris is pitching today as well.) He’s looking to bounce back from a 4.10 ERA and a particularly poor performance in save opportunities last year. Prior to his nondescript 2024, Neris rattled off a 3.03 ERA in 208 innings from 2021-23 between Philly and Houston, saving 17 games and collecting 67 holds along the way.

Brewers: 1B/OF Mark Canha, OF Manuel Margot

He’s had a brutal spring, but the 36-year-old Canha has been an above-average hitter every year since 2018, by measure of wRC+. He’s just 2-for-23 in Brewers camp, but he’s slugged a homer and walked as often as he’s fanned (four times apiece). Milwaukee has Rhys Hoskins at first base, but Canha could chip in at DH and offer a right-handed complement to lefty outfielders Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell.

Margot hasn’t hit well in a tiny sample of 35 spring plate appearances, but he’s outproduced Canha with a .250/.314/.375 slash. He’s coming off a dismal .238/.289/.337 showing in Minnesota, however, and hasn’t been the plus defender he was prior to a major 2022 knee injury. Like Canha, he could complement Frelick and Mitchell as a righty-swinging outfielder, but Canha has been the far more productive bat in recent seasons.

Cubs: RHP Chris Flexen

The Cubs reassigned Flexen to minor league camp after just 3 2/3 innings this spring. He was hit hard on the other side of town with the White Sox in 2024, though Flexen quietly righted the ship after an awful start. He posted a 5.69 ERA through nine starts but logged a 4.62 mark over his final 21 trips to the mound, including a tidy 3.52 earned run average across 46 innings in his last eight starts. Flexen may not bounce back to his 2021-22 numbers in Seattle, but he’s a durable fifth starter if nothing else.

Diamondbacks: INF/OF Garrett Hampson, RHP Scott McGough

The D-backs don’t really have a backup shortstop while Blaze Alexander is sidelined with an oblique strain, which seems to bode well for Hampson. He’s hitting .235/.333/.324 in camp and can play three infield spots and three outfield positions. He had a bleak .230/.275/.300 performance in Kansas City last year but was a league-average hitter for the Marlins as recently as 2023.

McGough was reassigned to minor league camp yesterday after serving up six runs in 4 2/3 innings of spring work. That wasn’t the follow-up to last year’s gruesome 7.44 ERA for which the 35-year-old righty or the team had hoped.

Giants: C Max Stassi, RHP Lou Trivino

Stassi is battling Sam Huff, who’s on the 40-man, for the backup catcher’s role while Tom Murphy is injured. The 34-year-old Stassi is hitting .300/.364/.700 with a pair of homers in 22 spring plate appearances. He’s a plus defender with a scattershot track record at the plate.

Trivino hasn’t pitched since 2022 due to Tommy John surgery and a separate shoulder issue. He also hasn’t allowed a run in 8 1/3 spring innings. (9-to-4 K/BB ratio). Trivino’s scoreless Cactus League showing, his pre-injury track record and his familiarity with skipper Bob Melvin — his manager in Oakland — all seem to give him a real chance to win a spot.

Mariners: RHP Shintaro Fujinami, RHP Trevor Gott, 1B Rowdy Tellez

Fujinami’s command has never been good, and he’s walked more batters (seven) than he’s struck out (four) through 5 2/3 spring innings. He’s also plunked a pair of batters. He’s looking to bounce back from an injury-ruined 2024 season but might have to take his first steps toward doing so in Triple-A.

Tellez has had a big camp and looks like he could have a real chance to make the club in a part-time DH/first base role, as explored more yesterday. Gott is on the mend from Tommy John surgery performed last March and won’t pitch until midseason. He’s unlikely to opt out.

Mets: RHP Jose Ureña

Ureña was torched for seven runs in his first 1 1/3 spring innings after signing with the Mets on Feb. 27. He bounced back by striking out all three opponents he faced in an inning this past weekend, but he hasn’t helped himself otherwise. Ureña’s 3.80 ERA in 109 innings with Texas last year was his first sub-5.00 ERA since 2017-18 in Miami.

Padres: 1B Yuli Gurriel, INF Jose Iglesias

Both veterans have a legitimate chance to make the club. Gurriel has had a productive spring (.296/.321/.519) at nearly 41 years of age, while Iglesias is out to a 5-for-18 start since signing in mid-March. Gurriel could split time at first and DH, lessening the need to use Luis Arraez in the field. Iglesias could see frequent work at second base, shifting Jake Cronenworth to first base and pushing Arraez to DH. The Padres probably wouldn’t have put a hefty (relative to most minor league deals) $3MM base salary on Iglesias’ deal if they didn’t see a real path to him making the roster.

Pirates: LHP Ryan Borucki

Borucki was great for the Pirates in 2023 and struggled through 11 innings during an injury-marred 2024 season. The 30-year-old southpaw has allowed one run in eight spring innings. His five walks are a bit much, but he’s also fanned 11 of his 33 opponents.

Rangers: SS Nick Ahmed, RHP David Buchanan, RHP Jesse Chavez, OF Kevin Pillar, RHP Hunter Strickland

Ahmed has more homers in 28 spring plate appearances than he had in 228 plate appearances in 2024 or 210 plate appearances in 2023. He’s popped three round-trippers already and slashed .286/.310/.607. With a crowded infield and versatile backups like Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran, Ahmed might still have a hard time cracking the roster.

None of the three pitchers listed here has performed well in limited work. Buchanan had a nice run as a starter in the KBO in the four preceding seasons, while Chavez has been a mainstay in the Atlanta bullpen for much of the past few years. Strickland had a nice 2024 in Anaheim but signed very late and retired only one of the five batters he faced during his long spring outing.

Pillar may have the best chance of the bunch to make the team. He’s hitting .273/.333/.394 in 39 plate appearances. Outfielders Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia have been banged up this spring, so some extra outfield depth could make sense.

Rays: DH/OF Eloy Jimenez

Jimenez homered for the second time yesterday, boosting his Grapefruit line to .263/.300/.447. He’s coming off a dreadful season in 2024, but from 2019-23 the former top prospect raked at a .275/.324/.487 pace, including a 31-homer rookie campaign (admittedly, in the juiced-ball 2019 season). Durability has been a bigger factor than productivity. If the Rays can get Jimenez to elevate the ball more, he could be a bargain; he’s still only 28.

Red Sox: LHP Matt Moore, RHP Adam Ottavino

Moore signed on Feb. 20 and has only gotten into two spring games so far, totaling two innings. Ottavino has pitched four innings but allowed five runs. He’s walked five and tossed a pair of wild pitches in that time. Both pitchers have long MLB track records, but they’re both coming off lackluster seasons.

Reds: LHP Wade Miley

Miley underwent Tommy John surgery early last season and contemplated retirement upon learning his prognosis. He wanted to return to one of his former NL Central clubs in free agency, and the Reds clearly offered a more compelling minor league deal than the Brewers. He’s not going to be a realistic option until late May, and it seems unlikely he’d opt out while his rehab is still ongoing.

Rockies: RHP Jake Woodford

Woodford isn’t an Article XX(b) free agent, but MLBTR has learned that he still has a March 22 opt-out. He made his fourth appearance of Rockies camp yesterday, tossing 2 2/3 innings with an earned run. Woodford has allowed seven runs on 11 hits and three walks with five punchouts and a nice 47.2% grounder rate in 10 2/3 frames this spring. He has experience as a starter and reliever. The righty doesn’t miss many bats but keeps the ball on the ground and has good command. He’s a fifth starter/swingman who’s out of minor league options.

Royals: C Luke Maile, RHP Ross Stripling

Maile is a glove-first backup who’s had a nice spring at the plate but has done so on a team with a healthy Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin. His path to a roster spot doesn’t look great. Speculatively, his former Reds club, which just lost Tyler Stephenson to begin the year, would make sense if they plan to add an outside catcher. Maile’s .214/.294/.329 performance over the past three seasons is light, but he’s already familiar with the bulk of Cincinnati’s staff. He’s a fine backup or No. 3 catcher for any club, Kansas City included.

Stripling notched a 3.01 ERA in 124 innings for the 2022 Blue Jays, but it’s been rough waters since. He was rocked for a 5.68 ERA across the past two seasons, spending time with both Bay Area clubs, and has been tagged for 11 runs on 14 hits — four of them homers — with just two strikeouts in six spring frames. He’ll likely need a strong Triple-A showing, be it with the Royals or another club, to pitch his way back to the majors.

Tigers: LHP Andrew Chafin

Chafin surprisingly commanded only a minor league deal this offseason and has struggled to begin his third stint with the Tigers. He’s been tagged for eight runs in four spring innings, walking six batters along the way. It’s a rough look, but the affable southpaw notched a 3.51 ERA in 56 1/3 MLB frames last year and touts a 3.12 mark across the past four seasons combined.

White Sox: RHP Mike Clevinger, INF Brandon Drury, OF Travis Jankowski

The ChiSox signed Clevinger for a third time late this spring and are trying him in the bullpen. He’s responded with four shutout innings, allowing only one hit and no walks while fanning six hitters. His 2025 White Sox reunion is out to a much better start than his 2024 reunion, wherein he was limited to only 16 innings with a 6.75 ERA thanks to elbow and neck troubles.

Drury could hardly be doing more to secure a spot with the Pale Hose. He’s decimated Cactus League pitching at a .410/.439/.821 pace, slugging three homers and seven doubles in only 41 plate appearances. He’s coming off a terrible 2024 showing with the Angels but hit .263/.313/.493 from 2021-23. It’d be a surprise if the Sox didn’t keep him.

Jankowski started the spring with the Cubs, was granted his release and signed with the Sox. The hits haven’t been dropping, but he has six walks in 25 plate appearances. The White Sox already have Michael A. Taylor in a fourth outfield role. Andrew Benintendi, who missed three-plus weeks with a fractured hand, was back in the lineup yesterday, making Jankowski something of a long shot.

Yankees: RHP Carlos Carrasco

With a nice spring showing and several injuries in the Yankees’ rotation, Carrasco looks to have a good chance at making the roster. Jack Curry of the YES Network already reported it’s “likely” Carrasco will be added this weekend. Carrasco has a 1.69 ERA with 15 strikeouts and seven walks (plus four hit batters) in 16 spring innings. He tossed five shutout frames yesterday.

Andrew Abbott To Begin Season On Injured List

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Reds manager Terry Francona provided members of the media, including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, updates on the club’s pitching plans to start the season. Left-hander Andrew Abbott will start the season on the injured list. That will allow right-hander Carson Spiers to have a rotation spot to start the year. Meanwhile, righty Graham Ashcraft will head to the bullpen. Fellow righty Lyon Richardson has been optioned to Triple-A, per a club announcement from earlier today.

Sheldon emphasizes that Abbott hasn’t experienced a setback, just that the Reds have been moving him along gradually. At the start of camp, about a month ago, Abbott relayed that he was a bit behind schedule, taking things slowly after he finished 2024 on the injured list due to a shoulder strain. He thought he still had a chance to be ready by Opening Day but Francona said the club wouldn’t rush him to just meet that specific target.

“I don’t even think about that just because I think that’s where you make mistakes, when you put an artificial deadline,” Francona said last month. “We’re going to do what’s right for every player. If somebody isn’t ready, whether it’s him or somebody else, we’ll figure out a way to make it work until they’re ready.”

That thinking still seems to be the plan. Rather than try to force Abbott to be ready for the first week of April, they will just let him be ready whenever he’s ready. Since it seems to have been sort of a borderline call, perhaps he will only miss a very short time. IL stints can be backdated by three days, even at the start of the season, meaning he could be back as soon as 12 days into the campaign.

For now, the club will proceed without Abbott. Four rotation spots will be taken by Hunter Greene, Brady Singer, Nick Lodolo and Nick Martinez. As mentioned, the fifth will go to Spiers, who posted a 5.46 earned run average in a swing role last year. For what it’s worth, his numbers have been good in camp. He’s allowed three earned runs in 10 innings, with ten punchouts and four walks.

He likely won’t have a firm grip on a rotation spot. As mentioned, Abbott could return fairly quickly. The Reds also have Richardson and Connor Phillips as healthy options on the 40-man. Rhett Lowder is another, although he was slowed by elbow soreness early in camp and has an uncertain status at the moment. Prospect Chase Petty isn’t on the roster but should be in the Triple-A rotation and pushing for a promotion this year. Spiers has options and could be pushed to Triple-A himself at some point, or perhaps to the bullpen.

As for Ashcraft, he’s generally been a passable back-end starter of the ground ball variety. In 60 starts over the past three seasons, he has a 4.91 ERA. His 16.6% strikeout rate is subpar but his 7.6% walk rate is good and he’s kept 50.2% of balls in play on the dirt.

It was reported earlier in camp that the club had some hope that Ashcraft could thrive in a bullpen role. Per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic, Ashcraft said today that he’s excited about the move, hoping that his stuff plays up in shorter stints. His fastballs (four-seamer, sinker, cutter) have generally averaged in the 95-98 mile-per-hour range in his career. He hasn’t translated that into many punchouts yet but perhaps the relief role will allow him to find an extra gear.

Photo courtesy Sam Greene, Imagn Images.

Reds’ Alex Young Seeking Second Opinion; Elbow Surgery Possible

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Left-hander Alex Young, in camp with the Reds on a non-roster deal this spring, is headed for a second opinion on an elbow injury, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Tommy John surgery is a possible outcome, per the report.

Young has pitched with the Reds in each of the past two seasons. Cincinnati flipped him to San Francisco last July in a deal netting outfielder Austin Slater. The Mets wound up claiming Young off waivers and non-tendering him in the offseason, at which point the Reds re-signed him to his current minor league pact.

Though he’s bounced around the league in journeyman fashion of late, Young has been quietly effective across the past three seasons. He’s pitched 96 big league innings between the Guardians, Giants, Reds and Mets during that time and turned in a 3.28 ERA with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.

Young has had a rough camp in 2025, though the elbow injury likely explains his struggles. He made his spring debut on Feb. 22, tossing a scoreless outing, and then was out of game action until March 4. He got back into another game on March 8 but allowed a combined six runs in two innings between those two final appearances before getting imaging performed on his ailing elbow.

Young has pitched in parts of six major league seasons and has more than four years of MLB service. In 277 2/3 innings, he has a career 4.34 ERA with 24 holds and a save.

Bryan Shaw Reassigned To Reds Minor League Camp, Will Report To Triple-A

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The Reds announced a series of roster cuts this morning, most notably including right-hander Bryan Shaw. Shaw, 37, signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati back in December, but it is customary for non-roster veterans to have opt-out opportunities built into their contracts even if they (like Shaw) don’t qualify as Article XX(B) free agents who receive uniform opt-out opportunities as mandated by the league’s collective bargaining agreement.

Given this reality, it’s typical for a veteran who is reassigned to minor league camp to explore alternate options in free agency rather than report to the minors and stick with their current club. That’s not the path Shaw is taking, however, as MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon writes that Shaw has decided to stay with the Reds organization and report to Triple-A Louisville when the season begins. That news was relayed to reporters by manager Terry Francona, for whom Shaw pitched in seven seasons with Cleveland.

“He wants to stay,” Francona said, as relayed by Sheldon. “The guy has pitched 16 years. I’ve seen him have springs like this and then he goes out and throws in 81 games and faces the middle of the order all the time. That just wasn’t the position he was in this spring and he’s inconsistent with the strike zone. His stuff is still fine. And we were thrilled he wants to go to Triple-A. He can still do it.”

Shaw, 37, was a second-rounder by the Diamondbacks back in 2008 who made his big league debut during the 2011 season. Since then, the veteran reliever has posted a 3.96 ERA (109 ERA+) with a 4.05 FIP throughout his career, which has seen him throw 764 1/3 innings of work across 14 MLB seasons. He’s struggled with ineffectiveness over the past three seasons, however, pitching to a lackluster 5.00 ERA with a 4.54 FIP across 108 frames with the Guardians and White Sox. That decline in performance has seen Shaw’s opportunities at the big league level begin to dry up somewhat; he pitched in just five big league games for the White Sox last year before spending the rest of 2025 in the Angels organization at Triple-A Salt Lake, for whom he posted a solid 4.14 ERA even in the tough offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.

After a lackluster spring where he posted a solid enough 4.05 ERA in seven appearances but walked (9) more batters than he struck out (7), Shaw is once again ticketed for Triple-A at least to begin the season. The fact that the veteran is sticking around in the minors is welcome news for the Reds, however, given the club’s relative lack of relief depth on the 40-man roster. While some arms set to serve as rotation depth like Carson Spiers and Lyon Richardson could theoretically be used out of the bullpen, right-hander Yosver Zulueta is the only full-time reliever on the club’s 40-man roster not already projected to make the club’s Opening Day bullpen. Given the frequency with which injuries pop up across a 162-game season, that should leave plenty of room for even players not yet on the 40-man roster such as Shaw to make a case for themselves at Triple-A and pitch their way onto the big league club over the course of the coming campaign.

Jose Trevino Avoids Fracture On Right Thumb

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4:55pm: Wittenmyer reports that today’s CT scan showed no fracture, and that Trevino will likely avoid the injured list. He’s currently considered day-to-day by the club.

4:23pm: Reds catcher Jose Trevino was pulled from yesterday’s game after being struck on his throwing hand by a foul tip. As noted by Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Trevino was sent for “precautionary” x-rays that came back inconclusive yesterday. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon noted today that Trevino was being sent for a CT scan on his thumb, though results of that latest round of testing have not yet been reported.

Losing Trevino would be a devastating blow to Cincinnati, as they’ll already be without primary catcher Tyler Stephenson to start the season due to an oblique strain. That left Trevino as the club’s starting catcher to open the season, with Austin Wynns likely to slot in as the club’s backup. Acquired from the Yankees for veteran reliever Fernando Cruz over the offseason, Trevino hit a lackluster .230/.279/.361 in three seasons with the Yankees but offered a strong glove behind the plate.

If Trevino also misses time, Wynns may need to be supplemented with an external addition given the club’s lack of depth options behind the plate. Will Banfield and Michael Trautwein are both in camp as non-roster invitees, but neither has played in the majors before and each has less than 100 games of experience at even the Triple-A level. Adding a new catcher into the fold isn’t something the Reds seem keen on doing, as Wittenmyer notes that manager Terry Francona expressed a strong preference to keep the catching corps in-house.

“We don’t want to do that. I think we value guys that know our pitchers,” Francona said, as relayed by Wittenmyer. “And again, I don’t think it’s going to be a terribly long time (without Stephenson). But having somebody try to come in right now, hoo-boy, that’s a pretty big ask, trying to put down the right fingers and why you’re doing it.

An injury to Trevino could complicate that desire to avoid an external addition, particularly if Trevino requires a lengthy absence. Fortunately, the early signs seem to be positive about Trevino’s ability to play come Opening Day. Trevino himself seems confident he won’t need a trip to the injured list, as he told reporters (including Wittenmyer) that he “could play today.”

Of course, Trevino’s confidence that he can play doesn’t necessarily guarantee that he’ll avoid an injured list stint. That will surely depend to at least some extent on the results of today’s testing. If the Reds do end up needing to pursue an external option behind the plate, Yasmani Grandal is the best catcher still available in a fairly shallow market for catching talent. It’s also possible some non-roster veterans like Tucker Barnhart and Omar Narvaez could be made available in the coming weeks if they don’t break camp with their current clubs.

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