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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.

Reds, Alex Young Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Reds are bringing back left-handed reliever Alex Young on a minor league deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. The Wasserman client gets a non-roster invite to MLB camp.

Young was a productive member of the Cincinnati bullpen in 2023. He made a career-high 63 appearances and worked to a 3.86 earned run average through 53 2/3 innings. That was a strong return on a small investment, as Young had inked a minor league contract the preceding offseason. He held his roster spot into July before Cincinnati flipped him to the Giants for outfielder Austin Slater. It didn’t wind up being a significant move for either team. Slater appeared in eight games before the Reds dealt him to the Orioles. Young didn’t pitch in the majors for San Francisco, who lost him on waivers to the Mets within two weeks.

The 31-year-old southpaw pitched 13 times for New York. He allowed five runs across 13 2/3 innings. New York opted not to tender him a contract in November, sending him back to free agency in the process. Young didn’t find a major league roster spot but made a strong enough impression during his previous stint in Cincinnati that the Reds will give him a look in Spring Training.

Cincinnati has a pair of left-handers locked into Terry Francona’s bullpen: Sam Moll and Brent Suter. Young and Reiver Sanmartin are among their non-roster options from the left side. Veteran righty Bryan Shaw, a longtime Francona favorite, will also be in camp as a non-roster invitee. The Reds could have two or three middle relief spots for up grabs. Alexis Díaz, Emilio Pagán, Tony Santillan, Moll and Suter will all be in the Opening Day bullpen if healthy.

National League Non-Tenders: 11/22/24

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The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on National League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

Onto the transactions…

  • The Braves non-tendered outfielder Ramón Laureano, left-hander Ray Kerr, as well as right-handers Griffin Canning, Huascar Ynoa and Royber Salinas, which you can read more about here.
  • The Brewers parted ways with lefty reliever Hoby Milner, who’d been projected at $2.7MM for his final arbitration season. The typically reliable southpaw was tagged for a 4.73 ERA in 64 2/3 innings this year.
  • The Cardinals have non-tendered right-hander Adam Kloffenstein, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat (Bluesky link). The righty only just made his major league debut in 2024 and was not yet arb-eligible. He immediately becomes a free agent without being exposed to waivers.
  • The Cubs have non-tendered infielder Nick Madrigal, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN (X link). Madrigal has hit .251/.304/.312 for a 76 wRC+ over the last three seasons with the Cubs and was projected for a $1.9MM salary next year. Chicago also announced they non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, which comes as a bit of a surprise after he reached base at a .357 clip this year. Patrick Wisdom, Adbert Alzolay, Brennen Davis and Trey Wingenter — all of whom were designated for assignment earlier this week — were also dropped.
  • The Diamondbacks non-tendered lefty reliever Brandon Hughes, per a club announcement. The 28-year-old southpaw allowed 16 runs over 17 2/3 big league innings this year. He wasn’t eligible for arbitration but would’ve occupied a 40-man roster spot if offered a contract.
  • The Dodgers are non-tendering right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. and left-hander Zach Logue, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times (X link). Both pitchers are still in their pre-arbitration years, so this was more about the Dodgers sending them to free agency without exposing them to waivers, as opposed to cost cutting. Perhaps the club will look to re-sign them on minor league deals.
  • The Giants only made two non-tenders, parting with lefty Ethan Small and righty Kai-Wei Teng. Teng had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Small, who was in his pre-arbitration years, spent the season in the minors or on the injured list.
  • The Marlins had zero non-tenders. They offered contracts to everyone on the 40-man roster.
  • The Mets dropped a trio of players from the 40-man roster: relievers Grant Hartwig and Alex Young and outfield prospect Alex Ramirez. Young was the only member of that group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The southpaw pitched well in a depth role, but the Mets didn’t want to keep him around at a $1.4MM projection. Hartwig made four appearances this year, while the 21-year-old Ramirez (a former top prospect) had a .210/.291/.299 showing in Double-A.
  • The Nationals announced that they have non-tendered right-hander Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey, which you can read more about here.
  • The Padres dropped four players from the roster: righties Luis Patino and Logan Gillaspie, outfielder Bryce Johnson and infielder Mason McCoy. Patino, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer, was the only member of the group who’d been eligible for arbitration. The other three cuts are simply about roster maintenance. The Padres could try to bring anyone from that group back on minor league deals.
  • The Phillies will not be tendering a contract to outfielder Austin Hays, which MLBTR covered earlier today.
  • The Pirates are expected to non-tender first baseman/outfielder Connor Joe and outfielder Bryan De La Cruz, per Alex Stumpf of MLB.com (Bluesky link). They are also non-tendering right-hander Hunter Stratton, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (X link). Joe was projected for a salary of $3.2MM next year and De La Cruz $4MM. Stratton had not yet qualified for arbitration. Joe has been around league average at the plate in his career but doing more damage against lefties. De La Cruz has hit .253/.297/.407 in his career for a wRC+ of 90. Startton had a 3.58 ERA this year but his season was ended by knee surgery, giving him an uncertain path forward.
  • The Reds have non-tendered right-hander Ian Gibaut, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Bluesky link). The righty was projected for a salary of $800K. He spent the vast majority of 2024 on the injured list due to arm trouble and only made two appearances on the season.
  • The Rockies moved on from starter Cal Quantrill and second baseman Brendan Rodgers, which MLBTR covered here.

Mets Select Joey Lucchesi

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The Mets selected left-hander Joey Lucchesi between games of today’s double-header. He is the starter for the second game of the twin bill against Atlanta with left-hander Alex Young optioned in a corresponding active roster move. Tim Britton of The Athletic was among those to relay the news on X. The Mets transferred right-hander Christian Scott to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot, per Mike Puma of The New York Post on X.

The Mets and Atlanta came into today’s double-header effectively in a three-way tie with the Diamondbacks. Each of the two clubs playing today only needed to win one game in order to clinch a playoff spot. The Mets won a thriller in the first game, emerging victorious 8-7. They had planned to start Luis Severino in the second game if they still needed to win but will instead hold him back for the Wild Card round tomorrow.

Lucchesi, 31, will get the ball instead. The lefty has been with the Mets since January of 2021, coming over from the Padres in the three-team mega trade that sent Joe Musgrove to San Diego, David Bednar to Pittsburgh and more. The southpaw required Tommy John surgery that summer, which resulted in him missing most of 2022. He has largely been used as optionable depth since then.

This year, his big league results prior to today consisted of just one spot start. He tossed 4 1/3 innings against the Phillies on May 15, allowing five earned runs. He was optioned back to the minors after that outing and later designated for assignment when the Mets acquired Phil Maton in July.

Lucchesi cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse. As a player with more than three years of service time, he could have rejected that outright assignment in favor of free agency. However, since he has less than five years of service, heading to the open market would have involved walking away from what remained of his $1.65MM salary.

Naturally, he accepted that outright assignment and gets his roster spot back today. The Mets likely plan on just using Lucchesi for this one outing, as they have Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, David Peterson and Tylor Megill as starting options for the postseason.

If Lucchesi survives on the 40-man all winter, he could be retained for 2025 via arbitration. However, he will be out of options next year and will therefore have less appeal to the club as a depth option, which should make him a candidate to be bumped from the roster at some point. He has a 4.70 earned run average in 115 Triple-A innings this year.

As for Scott, he underwent a Tommy John and internal brace hybrid procedure recently, so he will miss the remainder of this year and likely all of 2025 as well. He will spend most of that time on the 60-day IL, though there’s no injured list during the offseason, so he will need to retake a roster spot for at least a few months.

Mets To Select Pablo Reyes

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The Mets are poised to select the contract of infielder Pablo Reyes when rosters expand tomorrow, per a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post. A corresponding active roster move won’t be needed due to roster expansion, and the Mets’ 40-man roster already has a spot open to accommodate Reyes after the club designated outfielder Ben Gamel for assignment earlier this month.

Reyes, who will celebrate his 31st birthday on Thursday, began the season as a member of the Red Sox but was designated for assignment and outrighted to the minors after he cleared waivers. Once Reyes had been removed from the 40-man roster, the Mets worked out a deal with Boston to acquire the versatile infielder in a cash deal back in May. Since then, Reyes has been playing for the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse with fairly strong results. In 57 games with Syracuse, Reyes has slashed .285/.364/.470 while splitting time between second and third base as well as shortstop.

Impressive as that slash line is, it can hardly be expected that he’ll post anything close to that down the stretch for New York. After all, Reyes has participated in parts of six MLB seasons and sports a career slash line of just .248/.309/.349 in 572 trips to the plate. His best stretch of his career came with the Red Sox last year, when he posted a roughly league average .287/.339/.377 slash line in 185 trips to the plate as a part time player. With that being said, if Reyes can post a slash line around that level while playing strong defense all around the infield, he’ll be a useful addition to a Mets infield mix that currently has only a slumping Jose Iglesias to back up the club’s primary infield of Mark Vientos, Jeff McNeil, and Francisco Lindor.

Reyes won’t be the only player joining the Mets in the aftermath of tomorrow’s roster expansion, as manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including those at SNY) that left-hander Alex Young will be recalled tomorrow to act as the club’s extra pitcher. Young, 31 next week, was claimed off waivers from the Giants back in July and has looked extremely good in nine innings of work at the major league level between the Reds and Mets this year. In that limited sample size, the lefty has a 1.00 ERA with a 21.6% strikeout rate.

While that’s certainly not enough of a sample size to project much off of, it’s worth noting that the lefty also has a strong 2.81 ERA in 31 appearances at the Triple-A level this year and pitched to a 3.36 ERA in 88 appearances in the majors between 2022 and ’23. At the very least, Young figures to offer the Mets another intriguing left-handed option down the stretch in a bullpen that currently only features Danny Young in terms of southpaws.

Mets Place Christian Scott On Injured List With UCL Sprain

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July 24: The Mets’ plan for Scott is to rest and rehab for the time being, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The hope is that he can return before season’s end. Given the timing of the injury, it’s sensible enough to try for the rest/rehab route even if surgery has been considered as an option. Surgery might knock Scott out until the end of the 2025 campaign anyhow, so the Mets will go with a non-surgical treatment in hopes that he can return late in the year and then have the offseason for further rest.

July 23: The Mets announced that right-hander Christian Scott has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right UCL sprain, retroactive to July 22. Left-hander Alex Young was recalled in a corresponding move.

At this point, it’s unclear how severe Scott’s sprain is or how long the Mets expect him to be out, but it’s a concerning development nonetheless. The ulnar collateral ligament is the one replaced in Tommy John surgery and a sprain, by definition, involves some degree of stretching or tearing.

That’s not to say that Scott is definitely going under the knife, as pitchers are sometimes able to return from a UCL sprain via non-surgical means. For a recent and perhaps best-case example, Mason Miller of the Athletics was diagnosed with a mild UCL sprain in May of last year. He missed a few months of the season but was back with the club by September and has been one of the best relievers in baseball here in 2024.

But avoiding the scalpel can also be a temporary measure, as seen in the case of Kyle Bradish of the Orioles. He was diagnosed with a UCL sprain in Spring Training this year but was reinstated from the IL by early May. But after eight starts with the O’s, he was back on the IL and then required Tommy John surgery.

Further updates will reveal more about Scott’s absence but, as mentioned, it’s not good news either way. The young pitcher’s stock has been skyrocketing over the past two years, as he posted a 2.57 ERA in the minors last year. Across 87 2/3 innings at three different levels, he struck out 31.9% of batters and walked just 3.6%.

He’s continued pitching well in the minors this year and has also made his major league debut. His first nine starts at the big league level haven’t been outstanding, as he has a 4.56 ERA and a 19.8% strikeout rate, but that’s a fairly small sample size and he’s obviously still just getting his feet wet in the majors.

The Mets were undoubtedly hoping that he would continue his development, putting up better numbers as he went along, but that will be on pause for an undetermined amount of time. Even losing him for just a few months will take him out of the club’s rotation plans for the stretch run. The Mets are currently 51-48 and clinging to the final Wild Card spot in the National League. As they look to keep that spot, they will do so without Scott in their rotation mix for now.

Kodai Senga is expected to come off the IL this week, joining the rotation alongside Sean Manaea, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino and David Peterson. The club also has Tylor Megill on optional assignment and José Buttó and Adrian Houser currently in the big league bullpen. It was reported a few weeks ago that the club had enough healthy rotation options that they were considering trading someone from that group while still trying to compete this year. Reporting from this week threw some cold water on that and this news about Scott perhaps makes that even less likely, though the club at least has a number of solid rotation options to press forward even if their trade options have been diminished.

On top of the immediate impact of subtracting from the club’s rotation depth, it’s less than ideal for a developing starter to be missing significant time. That’s true even if it’s just a few months but it would obviously be even more true if Scott ends up requiring surgery and perhaps missing all of 2025.

Mets Claim Alex Young, Designate Tyler Jay

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The Mets announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed left-hander Alex Young off waivers from the Giants and optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse. Fellow lefty Tyler Jay was designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

It’s a quick turnaround for Young, whom the Giants acquired just last week in the trade that sent outfielder Austin Slater and cash to the Reds. San Francisco seemingly hoped to pass Young through waivers and retain the southpaw as a depth option, but the Mets didn’t allow that to happen and will keep Young on their 40-man roster for the time being. The unusual sequence leaves the Giants with no return of which to speak for Slater, a 2014 eighth-rounder who’s been a solid role player for them over the years before struggling to career-worst results at the plate in 2024.

Young, 30, has pitched in parts of six big league seasons — including a brief two-inning stint with Cincinnati earlier this season. The former second-round pick has a career 4.40 earned run average in 264 big league innings and has fanned 19.5% of his opponents against an 8.5% walk rate. Though he debuted as a starter with the 2019 Diamondbacks, Young has worked primarily as a reliever since that time and hasn’t started a game since 2022.

Young didn’t allow a run in his two innings with the Reds this season, and he’s been excellent in 24 2/3 Triple-A frames as well, logging a tidy 2.19 ERA with a 23.5% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate between the affiliates for the Reds and Giants. The southpaw has a shaky 4.99 ERA in 209 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level, although that’s skewed by a pair of dismal debut campaigns in Triple-A with the D-backs in 2018-19. He’s pitched well at the top minor league level in each of the past three seasons now.

This is Young’s final minor league option year. The Mets can shuttle him between Syracuse and Queens for the remainder of the season, but Young would need to stick on the big league roster in 2025 and beyond. He crossed four years of big league service time earlier this season while on the 60-day injured list with a back issue, meaning he can be controlled for another two seasons, through the 2026 campaign, if he makes a good impression on his new club.

For Jay, this will be the second time this season the Mets have designated him for assignment. He was also DFA’ed after making his big league debut back in April. He stuck with the organization after clearing outright waivers.

The 30-year-old Jay was the No. 6 overall draft pick out of Illinois back in 2015 and for years ranked as one of the more promising arms in the Twins’ system. He dealt with repeated shoulder and neck injuries throughout his time in Minnesota’s system, however, and eventually underwent thoracic outlet surgery. He was out of affiliated ball at one point, before parlaying a showing with the Joliet Slammers of the independent Frontier League into a minor league look with the Mets.

Jay has only pitched 4 2/3 big league innings for the Mets this season. He’s surrendered four runs on seven hits and three walks with three strikeouts in that time. He’s spent the remainder of the season in Syracuse, working to a strong 2.40 ERA with a below-average 18.6% strikeout rate but a sensational 2.5% walk rate. The Mets will either trade Jay or place him on outright waivers in the next five days. Waivers would then be an additional 48-hour process. If he goes unclaimed, Jay will have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, as is the case for any player who’s been outrighted multiple times in his career.

Reds Acquire Austin Slater

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The Reds and Giants have swung a late night deal with just over three weeks to go until the trade deadline. Per an announcement from both clubs, the Reds have acquired outfielder Austin Slater from San Francisco in exchange for left-hander Alex Young. Cincinnati is also receiving cash considerations as part of the deal. The Giants optioned Young to Triple-A following the transaction.

Slater, 31, has been in the Giants organization for more than a decade. His professional career began when he was selected by the club out of Stanford in the eighth round of the 2014 draft, though he wouldn’t make his big league debut with the club until his age-24 season in 2017. Slater was largely a part-time player during his first few years in San Francisco, and he amassed just 544 plate appearances in the majors between 2017 and 2019. In that limited playing time, he posted a decent .254/.335/.368 slash line that was good for a 92 wRC+ while splitting time between all three outfield spots, first base, and even making brief cameos at both second and third base.

The shortened 2020 season saw Slater break out in a big way, as he posted an excellent 150 wRC+ for the Giants while appearing in 31 of the club’s 60 games that year while playing mostly right field and DH for the club. That offensive explosion earned Slater a larger role in the following years, and while most of his playing time still came against left-handed pitching he fashioned more of a proper platoon role for himself as opposed to the reserve outfield role he had been utilized in previously. Slater took to the increased responsibilities quite well, and between the 2020 and 2023 seasons the lefty masher hit a solid .259/.352/.421 (118 wRC+).

That line goes from solid to sensational when looking exclusively at his production against southpaws, against whom he mashed to the tune of a .285/.380/.486 line with a wRC+ of 141. That production against left-handed pitching was good for 17th-best in baseball during that four year period, on par with star hitters such as Jose Altuve and Xander Bogaerts.

While the Giants leaned heavily on Slater as a platoon partner for a primarily left-handed outfield featuring sluggers such as Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Conforto, and Joc Pederson during those years, Slater’s playing time was further cut down by injury woes. Since the start of the 2020 campaign, Slater has made seven trips to the injured list for groin, hamstring, wrist, and hand issues as well as multiple concussions. Slater also required elbow surgery last offseason to remove a bone spur and relieve nerve pain.

It’s possible that lengthy list of injury issues has helped to contribute to what has been a difficult 2024 season for the 31-year-old, as he’s hit just .200/.330/.244 in 112 trips to the plate this season surrounding a month-long stay on the IL due to a concussion earlier this year. Those struggles ultimately paved the way for youngsters Heliot Ramos and Luis Matos to squeeze Slater out of playing time in the Giants outfield, as Ramos has stepped up to become a regular fixture in center field while Matos serves as a righty complement off the bench for Yastrzemski and Conforto.

In acquiring Slater, the Reds are surely hoping they can coax some of that lefty-mashing ability he flashed in previous years out of him in order to make him a quality platoon partner for the club’s many left-handed hitting outfielders. Slater’s main competition for playing time in that role figures to be Stuart Fairchild, who has slashed a lackluster .224/.298/.347 (81 wRC+) in 189 trips to the plate this year. In the short term, however, both Fairchild and Slater figure to get plenty of reps alongside Will Benson and Spencer Steer in the club’s outfield mix thanks to the absences of Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl, and Nick Martini. Fraley is currently on the family medical emergency list and will likely return within a few days, but both Friedl and Martini are on the injured list and are facing potentially lengthy absences.

In exchange for parting ways with Slater, the Giants are receiving some left-handed bullpen help in the form of Young. Once a second-round pick by the Diamondbacks in the 2015 draft, the lefty made his big league debut back in 2019 and generally struggled at the major league level in a swing role with Arizona and Cleveland. That changed in 2022, when Young was acquired by San Francisco in a cash deal with the Guardians and began pitching in a short relief role full-time. The lefty performed quite well during his first stint with the Giants and posted a 2.39 ERA and 2.96 FIP across 26 1/3 innings of work before being non-tendered by San Francisco the following November.

Young eventually caught on with the Reds on a minor league deal prior to the 2023 season and has remained with the club ever since. He posted solid results in middle relief with the club last year, pitching to a 3.86 ERA despite a lackluster 4.99 FIP. While Young’s 21.2% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate were both perfectly solid, he allowed a whopping ten homers during his 53 2/3 innings of work with the Reds last year.

Young has spent most of the 2024 season at the Triple-A level for the Reds, although he’s posted impressive numbers both in his two scoreless innings at the big league level and in his larger body of work in the minors. In 23 appearances with the club’s affiliate in Louisville this year, Young has posted a sparkling 1.19 ERA while striking out a solid 25.3% of batters faced. Unfortunately, the lefty hasn’t been able to get much playing time in the majors with the Reds this year thanks to the club’s deep bullpen, which features each of Justin Wilson, Sam Moll, and Brent Suter as quality left-handed options.

That made Young expendable enough that the Reds were willing to part ways with him, and it’s easy to see how the lefty could impact a Giants bullpen that has leaned heavily on Erik Miller to act as a secondary lefty reliever behind high-leverage arm Taylor Rogers. Miller, a 26-year-old rookie with a 3.51 ERA and 4.49 FIP in 41 innings of work this year, features a much more pronounced platoon split than Young has in recent years, and the spacious outfield of Oracle Park should be a great fit for Young that helps to curtail his proclivity for giving up homers.

San Francisco is also sending cash to Cincinnati in the deal alongside Slater, a fact that could factor into the club’s final luxury tax calculation later this year. Prior to the swap, RosterResource indicated that the Giants have a luxury tax payroll of just under $254MM, or just over $3MM below the second threshold of the luxury tax. Slater is making $4MM this year, while Young is earning a salary of $1.16MM. Depending on the amount of cash the Giants are including in the deal, it’s possible that the trade provides the additional benefit of offering the club additional financial wiggle room below the second luxury tax threshold.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Reds Designate Brett Kennedy For Assignment

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The Reds announced today that they have activated left-hander Alex Young from the 60-day injured list, with right-hander Brett Kennedy designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Kennedy, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Reds in the offseason. He was just selected to the roster last week but he didn’t get into a game in the interim. The club likely wanted Kennedy around in case someone was needed to throw multiple innings of long relief. But in four of the past five games, Cincinnati starters threw at least 5 1/3 innings. The one exception was Nick Martinez, who tossed 4 1/3 behind opener Brent Suter while Carson Spiers pitched another 3 1/3 in relief.

Prior to having his contract selected, Kennedy made eight Triple-A starts with a 6.86 earned run average in 40 2/3 innings. His 18.9% strikeout rate in that span was a bit below average but he limited walks to just a 4.7% clip.

The Reds will now have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright, meaning he would have the right to reject another such assignment in favor of electing free agency. His major league experience consists of 26 2/3 innings with the 2018 Padres and another 18 frames with the 2023 Reds. In the 44 2/3 combined innings, he has a 6.65 ERA, 12.8% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.

Young, 30, started the year on the IL due to a back issue. He had a solid season in Cincinnati last year, posting a 3.86 ERA over 63 appearances. He struck out 21.2% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.5% clip and got grounders on 48.8% of balls in play. That included some leverage work, as he picked up one save and 13 holds. He’ll give the club a third lefty in the bullpen alongside Suter and Sam Moll.

Reds Claim Peyton Burdick

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The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed outfielder Peyton Burdick off waivers from the Orioles and optioned him to Triple-A Louisville. Left-hander Alex Young was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Cincinnati — or rather, Louisville for now — marks the latest stop in an eventful year for the increasingly well-traveled Burdick. The Marlins originally designated him for assignment back in February and traded him to the Orioles for cash. Baltimore subsequently designated Burdick themselves, losing him to the White Sox via waivers. When Chicago designated Burdick yet again, the O’s re-claimed him. He’ll now join a Reds organization that has been without center fielder TJ Friedl since spring training due to a broken wrist.

Miami selected Burdick with the No. 82 overall pick back in 2019, and he posted huge numbers up through the Double-A level as he climbed the ranks in their system. His bat has stalled out in Triple-A and the big leagues, but Burdick’s blend of easy right-handed pop, speed and an ability to play all three outfield positions still make him an intriguing depth pickup for the Reds at a time when bench outfielders like Stuart Fairchild and Bubba Thompson have failed to produce. Cincinnati’s bench, in general, has been a weak spot; utility infielder Santiago Espinal and backup catcher Luke Maile have both been well below-average at the plate as well.

Burdick is just a .200/.281/.368 hitter with a huge 38% strikeout rate in the majors, although that comes with a notable small-sample caveat, as he’s tallied just 139 plate appearances. He’s hit for a low average but shown power and plate discipline in the upper minors, slashing .212/.324/.426 in 1021 Triple-A plate appearances. Burdick has gone down on strikes in 33.2% of his Triple-A plate appearances as well, but scouting reports have long been enamored of his plus-plus power and above-average speed. He batted .182/.333/.455 in 69 plate appearances with the Orioles’ Triple-A club in 2024.

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