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Reds Designate Alan Busenitz For Assignment, Reinstate Tejay Antone

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The Reds announced a batch of moves between games of today’s double-header. Right-hander Tejay Antone was reinstated from the 60-day injured list, righty Lyon Richardson was recalled and righty Carson Spiers has been added as a substitute player. Righties Fernando Cruz, Hunter Greene and Ben Lively were placed on the COVID-19 injured list, while outfielder TJ Hopkins was optioned to Triple-A Louisville. Right-hander Alan Busenitz was designated for assignment and righty Tony Santillan cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Louisville.

Antone is back on the MLB roster for the first time in over two years. The reliever was amidst a breakout 2021 showing, emerging as Cincinnati’s closer late in the season after throwing 33 2/3 innings of 2.14 ERA ball, before his UCL gave out. He underwent Tommy John surgery — the second of his career — and spent all of 2022 rehabbing.

The Reds expressed hope Antone would return by the start of the ’23 campaign. He suffered a setback over the offseason, announcing in February that he’d been diagnosed with a flexor strain. It didn’t require surgery but has cost him the first five months of the season.

Antone has been on a rehab stint since late July. He pitched twice at the club’s complex before heading to Triple-A Louisville for 12 appearances. He was solid if unexceptional for the Bats, turning in 12 innings of four-run ball while striking out 11 and walking five.

It’d be a lot to ask of Antone to immediately rediscover his 2021 form. Yet even average output would be welcome for a Cincinnati relief corps that ranks 15th with a 3.96 ERA and 25th with a 22.5% strikeout rate. The bullpen hasn’t been as catastrophic as it had been for the past two seasons, but it’s still a relative weak point on an offense-first Reds’ roster.

Spiers, 25, also steps into the relief corps, in his case for the first time. The Clemson product is in position to make his major league debut after turning in a 3.69 ERA through 83 innings as a swing option for Double-A Chattanooga. He’s striking out nearly 30% of opposing hitters against an elevated 11.3% walk rate.

Players designated as COVID substitutes are temporarily added to the roster. Spiers won’t assume a permanent spot on the 40-man roster and can be sent back to the minors without first clearing waivers. He’ll help cover for the trio of pitchers affected by an apparent virus spread in the clubhouse.

Busenitz will hit waivers in the next few days. The right-hander has been on and off the big league roster a few times since his contract was selected in mid-May. Busenitz has pitched just five times at the MLB level, allowing two runs in five innings during his first big league work since 2018. Over 43 frames with Louisville, he owns a 4.53 ERA with slightly worse than average strikeout and walk numbers.

Santillan clears waivers after being designated for assignment a few days ago. It’s his first career outright and he has less than three years of MLB service, so he’ll stick in the organization at Triple-A. If the Reds don’t add him back to the 40-man roster by the end of the season, he’d reach minor league free agency.

Reds Reinstate Hunter Greene From 60-Day Injured List

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The Reds have officially activated Hunter Greene from the 60-day injured list, as the right-hander will take the mound to start today’s game with the Blue Jays.  Right-hander Alan Busenitz was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding 26-man roster move, and the Reds also added righty Lyon Richardson to the club’s taxi squad.

Greene last pitched in the majors on June 17, before recurring hip pain sidelined him for what became an absence of over two months.  Both Greene and the Reds wanted the young hurler to be at full strength before returning, so in theory, Greene should be fully recovered and ready to become a big part of Cincinnati’s push for a playoff berth (whether as a wild card or as the NL Central champions).

The starting rotation has been a weak point for the Reds all season, and the front office at least checked in on some notable trade candidates at the deadline but didn’t add any significant arms besides reliever Sam Moll.  Instead, the Reds are hoping to get a boost from their own injured pitchers returning to action, as besides Greene’s activation, Nick Lodolo and Ben Lively are also on minor league rehab assignments.

Greene is the biggest addition of the group, as despite his lengthy IL stint, he is still the Reds’ co-leader in pitching fWAR (1.8).  The former second overall pick had a respectable rookie season in 2022 and then pitched well over 73 1/3 innings this year, posting a 3.73 ERA and an excellent 31.4% strikeout rate.  However, Greene’s walk rate is below average and he has allowed a lot of hard contact, so he isn’t a surefire ace at this point in his career despite his promising beginning.  The Reds’ unexpected rise into contention has put a lot of extra pressure on the team’s young core as they begin their MLB careers, and Greene has more responsibility than most in trying to help stabilize the rotation.

Reds Acquire Sam Moll From Athletics

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The Reds have acquired left-hander Sam Moll and international cap space from the Athletics, according to announcements from both clubs. The A’s will receive pitching prospect Joe Boyle in exchange. To make room for Moll on their 40-man roster, the Reds transferred Hunter Greene to the 60-day injured list.

Moll, 31, has spent the past three years serving as an effective reliever in the Oakland bullpen. From 2021 to the present, he’s made 106 appearances, allowing 3.65 earned runs per nine innings. His 24.9% strikeout rate and 50.6% ground ball rate are both strong, though his 11.5% walk rate is a few ticks higher than league average.

2023 has been a strange season for him, as his 4.54 ERA is higher than the previous two campaigns despite so much stuff going right in terms of his under-the-hood numbers. His 27.1% strikeout rate, 11.2% walk rate and 52% grounder rate are each improvements over recent years. It seems a .340 batting average on balls in play and 68.2% strand rate have helped some extra runs across the plate, as his 3.25 FIP and 3.71 SIERA are both career bests.

MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a look at Moll’s season and highlighted his increasing use of a four-seam fastball. Dating back to mid-May, he has a 3.80 ERA in 23 2/3 innings, striking out 30.9% of opponents against an 8.2% walk rate, still getting grounders on over half the balls allowed in play. He has a 2.35 FIP in that time and a 2.97 SIERA.

The Reds have leapt into contention this year on the strength of their young core of position players, currently sporting a record of 58-49 that has them atop the National League Central, half a game ahead of the Brewers coming into today’s action. Left-handed relief was an obvious area for the club to add, since Alex Young has been their only southpaw reliever for much of the year. Reiver Sanmartin recently underwent UCL surgery and won’t be back any time soon. Moll is a long-term option for the Reds, as he is slated to finish this season with between two and three years of service time, meaning he can be retained for four seasons beyond the current campaign and isn’t even slated to reach arbitration until after 2024.

The A’s had little reason to hang onto Moll, despite those years of control. He didn’t establish himself at the big league level until his age-29 season and is now 31. The A’s have been leaning hard into a rebuild recently, with their 30-77 record the worst in the majors. Ownership is going to be focused on moving the team to Las Vegas in the immediate future and might not make the necessary investments to get the club back into competitive shape for a while.

Instead, they have exchanged him for Boyle, a 23-year-old right-hander who is listed at 6’7″ and 240 pounds. He was drafted by the Reds in the fifth round of the 2020 draft and got a brief professional debut in the lower levels of their farm system in 2021. He split last year between High-A and Double-A, tossing 100 2/3 innings over 23 outings with a 2.86 ERA. He struck out 36.5% of batters but also issued walks at an eyebrow-raising 20% clip. He’s made 19 more Double-A starts this year with similar results, striking out 31.5% of opponents while walking 19.4%, leading to a 4.50 ERA.

Both Baseball America and FanGraphs currently list Boyle as the #20 prospect in the Reds’ system. The book on him seems to be that he has excellent stuff but worrisome control, which matches the stat line. He has a triple-digit fastball and quality breaking stuff as well, but will need to greatly rein in his command in order to be effective.

Greene will now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his placement on the injured list due to hip pain, which was on June 18, officially keeping him out until August 17. He’s expected to make a rehab start this weekend with a planned return in late August.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Reds’ Reiver Sanmartin Undergoes UCL Surgery

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Reds reliever Reiver Sanmartin underwent surgery to repair his UCL earlier this month, the team informed reporters (including C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic). It isn’t clear if he underwent a full Tommy John procedure or something like the modified internal brace surgery, but it appears as if his season is over.

Sanmartin is already on the 60-day injured list. He landed on the shelf at the start of May with a stress reaction in his elbow. Apparently, there was also ligament damage that needed to be corrected. Assuming he’s done for the season, he’ll remain on the 60-day IL through year’s end.

The 27-year-old has pitched in parts of three seasons with Cincinnati. He owns a 5.77 ERA through 82 2/3 career frames. Sanmartin has induced grounders at a lofty 53.5% clip but posted worse than average strikeout and walk numbers. He’s controllable through 2028, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Cincinnati waived him at the start of the offseason rather than carry him on the 40-man roster throughout the winter.

The Reds provided updates on a few other injured pitchers (via Rosecrans). Hunter Greene will begin a minor league rehab stint next weekend; the club hopes he’ll be ready for the majors by August 20. Nick Lodolo is targeting an MLB return at the end of next month, beginning a rehab stint at a similar time as Greene. Vladimir Gutierrez and Tejay Antone are each beginning rehab work of their own after missing the entire season to date.

Hunter Greene Likely Out Into August

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The Reds’ surge toward to the top of the NL Central has been one of the top storylines in Major League Baseball this month, and the fact that they’ve done so with negligible contribution from their starting rotation is a remarkable testament to the core group of position players in Cincinnati. Reds fans hoping for a swift return from right-hander Hunter Greene, placed on the injured list last week due to discomfort in his right hip, will have to hope others can pick up the slack on the starting staff for quite some time, however. General manager Nick Krall told the team’s beat last night that Greene is headed to Arizona for a strengthening program and will need to follow that with a throwing program of four to six weeks in length (link via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer). That makes a return sometime in August a best-case scenario.

Greene, 23, leads the Reds with 73 1/3 innings pitched and has been their most consistent starter throughout the 2023 season. He’s made strides over his 2022 rookie season, largely by scaling back the number of home runs he’s allowed (1.72 HR/9 in 2022, 1.10 in 2023). Greene’s 31.4% strikeout rate is right in line with last year’s excellent 30.9% mark, and while his 9.7% walk rate remains north of the league average, his punchouts have helped him to offset that below-average command. Of the 82 pitchers in MLB this year with at least 70 innings, only three — Spencer Strider, Shohei Ohtani, Kevin Gausman — have a higher strikeout rate than Greene. Only five — Strider, Shane McClanahan, Luis Castillo, Pablo Lopez and Blake Snell — have posted higher swinging-strike rate’s than Greene’s 14.3%.

Suffice it to say, a prolonged absence from Greene isn’t what an already dismal Reds’ rotation needed. Even with Greene’s solid production leading the group, Cincinnati starters rank 28th in the Majors with a 5.88 ERA, leading only the Rockies and A’s in that regard. The Reds’ rotation has MLB’s eighth-highest walk rate (8.8%) and has allowed home runs at the third-highest clip of any starting staff in the game (1.68 HR/9).

Greene and fellow sophomore starter and former top prospect Nick Lodolo, who’s dealing with a stress reaction in his tibia, will now be sidelined beyond the Aug. 1 trade deadline. That leaves Cincinnati with a patchwork rotation currently led by top prospect Andrew Abbott, who’s posted a pristine 1.21 ERA through his first five turns on a big league mound.

The rest of the group has struggled immensely this year. Righty Graham Ashcraft impressed early with a new cutter and improved movement on his slider, but he’s been torched for 47 runs in his past 33 innings. Veteran Luke Weaver has made 12 starts, allowing at least four runs in eight of them and at least three runs in ten of them; he’s averaging five innings per appearance and sitting on a 6.86 ERA. Prospects Brandon Williamson (5.82 ERA in 38 2/3 innings) and Levi Stoudt (nine runs in seven innings) have both debuted this year despite shaky numbers in the upper minors. Neither has found much success yet, though Stoudt’s sample is obviously quite limited.

Depth options like journeyman Ben Lively and righty Connor Overton are both on the injured list as well, the latter after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The Reds signed former Cubs righty Alec Mills to a minor league deal last month, and he’s already been selected to the big league roster despite pitching just 11 minor league innings on the season. The 31-year-old Mills pitched to a 5.66 ERA in 136 2/3 innings for Chicago in 2021-22.

Given the context of their current rotation, it’s hardly a surprise that Krall has already publicly acknowledged a desire to add pitching via the summer trade market. It’s similarly unsurprising, however, that Krall indicated within last night’s comments that the asking prices on the nascent trade market are beyond the team’s comfort zone. “Right now the conversations are in places that we are not – where we don’t want to go,” said Krall.

Trades of major significance this time of year are rare, though certainly not unprecedented. But, with the expansion of the playoff field to a dozen teams, there are very few clubs that are decidedly out of the playoff picture. Several of the teams who fit that bill — A’s, Rockies, Royals — are in their current predicament in large part due to a lack of starting pitching. Today’s brand of MLB front office tends to wait until closer to any and all deadlines — trade deadline, non-tender deadline, Rule 5 protection deadline — before making decisions, preferring to gather as much information as possible. Jumping the market this early would likely come at a steep cost — one that Krall and his group have thus far deemed prohibitive.

Reds Place Hunter Greene On Injured List, Designate Kevin Herget

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The Reds have officially reinstated Joey Votto from the 60-day injured list, as was reported earlier this afternoon. Starter Hunter Greene was placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to June 18, due to right hip pain. To clear a 40-man roster spot for Votto, Cincinnati designated righty Kevin Herget for assignment.

Greene has been battling hip discomfort for a few weeks. Cincinnati skipped one of his starts earlier in the month to give him extra rest. This’ll be his first IL stint of the season, as the pain returned during Saturday’s start against the Astros.

There’s no indication the Reds are overly concerned. As C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic notes (on Twitter), the Reds’ scheduled off day on Thursday means they won’t need a fifth starter until next Tuesday. By that point, right-hander Graham Ashcraft would be eligible to return from his own IL stint. Cincinnati skipper David Bell recently said the club anticipates Ashcraft being ready to come off the IL when first eligible (via MLB.com injury tracker).

Still, the Reds will have to navigate a couple weeks without arguably their best starter. Cincinnati has already been without Nick Lodolo for a while, and he’s not likely to return until August. The Reds’ young position player core has carried them to an eight-game win streak and within half a game of the lead in the NL Central. A temporary rotation of Ashcraft, Andrew Abbott, Ben Lively, Brandon Williamson and Luke Weaver is well below-average for a club battling for a playoff spot, though.

Herget has been working in long relief this season. He’s tallied 22 innings across 13 appearances, pitching to a 5.73 ERA while striking out only 11.5% of batters faced. Herget has thrown plenty of strikes but hasn’t missed many bats and has given up a lot of hard contact.

After a three-outing debut season with the Rays last year, Herget has gotten a career-high MLB workload in Cincinnati. He’ll likely land on waivers within the next week. The 32-year-old has cleared outright waivers before in his career, so he’d have the ability to test minor league free agency if he goes unclaimed.

Reds Sign Hunter Greene To Six-Year Extension

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

The salary structure breaks down as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Injury Notes: Olivares, Greene, Wheeler

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The Royals announced today that outfielder Edward Olivares was reinstated from the 60-day injured list, with first baseman Nick Pratto getting optioned in a corresponding move. Olivares went on the IL in mid-July due to a left quad strain. The club already had a vacancy on its 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move was required in that department.

The injury was ill-timed for Olivares, 26, as he seemed on the verge of a breakout prior to that. In 36 games this year, he’s hit .303/.358/.434 for a 125 wRC+. With just over two weeks remaining until the offseason, he will try to get back into a groove and go into the winter with a strong finish. He’ll jump into the outfield mix with Michael A. Taylor, Drew Waters, Kyle Isbel, Hunter Dozier and Nate Eaton, with catcher MJ Melendez occasionally heading onto the grass as well.

Other injury updates from around the league…

  • The Reds announced that right-hander Hunter Greene was reinstated from the 15-day injured list. He is slated to start the second game of today’s doubleheader. Fellow righty Raynel Espinal was optioned in a corresponding move, while righty Kyle Dowdy is serving as the “29th man” for the twin bill. One of the top prospects in the game coming into this year, Greene hasn’t exactly been dominant in his MLB debut. He has a 5.26 ERA through his first 102 2/3 innings in the big leagues, though with a very strong 28.8% strikeout rate. Since the Reds have traded away established pitchers like Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle this year, they will need the prospects to step up and form the core of the next rotation. It’s possible there’s already a decent nucleus in place, with Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft all showing some signs of promise this year.
  • The Phillies have been without Zack Wheeler for almost a month but he could return this week without a rehab assignment, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. The tentative plan is for the righty to start Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jays, though probably not for very long. His most recent work was throwing two innings in a simulated game, which he will be gradually building on over the final two weeks of the regular season. As Gelb notes, Wheeler could potentially be lined up to start the first game of the Wild Card playoff round, but the Phils will have to make it there first. The club is in decent position to make the postseason since they are currently in possession of the second of three NL Wild Card spots, 1.5 games ahead of the Padres and 3 ahead of the Brewers. Getting Wheeler back will be tremendously helpful, assuming he doesn’t have any rust from his absence. Through 138 innings on the season, he has a 3.07 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 44.1% ground ball rate.

NL Notes: Gilbreath, Eflin, Greene, Flaherty, Miley

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The Rockies announced that left-hander Lucas Gilbreath has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left elbow flexor strain. In a corresponding move, right-hander Alex Colome went the other direction, getting reinstated from the IL. Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets that Gilbreath will undergo an MRI.

While the severity of the issue still isn’t known, it’s at least enough for Gilbreath to miss the next couple of weeks. An issue to a pitcher’s throwing elbow is always somewhat worrisome, though the club will surely get more information before deciding how to proceed. The Rox are in the basement of the National League West and won’t be in contention down the stretch, meaning there will be little incentive to rush him back to the mound.

Gilbreath has been an effective southpaw for Colorado over the past couple of seasons, registering a 3.78 ERA, not too shabby for someone who plays their home games at Coors Field. In 85 2/3 career innings, he has a 25% strikeout rate and 45.7% groundball rate, though an elevated 13.2% walk rate.

Some other injury notes from the Senior Circuit…

  • Phillies right-hander Zach Eflin is still trying to get back on the mound this season, having been on the injured list since late June due to a right knee bruise. Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer tweets that Eflin might be able to throw a bullpen this week, with the aim of eventually returning as a reliever. Given that there’s just over a month remaining in the regular season, it would be difficult for him to build back up to a starter’s workload in time to make a significant contribution. The righty has quietly been an effective member of the rotation, having registered a 4.21 ERA over 98 games, 93 of them starts, going back to the beginning of the 2018 season. He is highly likely to reach free agency this year, as he and the Phils have a mutual option for 2023, with those provisions almost never being triggered by both parties. The club currently holds the second of three Wild Card spots in the National League and a postseason run could give Eflin more time to showcase his health before reaching the open market.
  • Reds righty Hunter Greene is set to head out on a rehab assignment, reports Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He’s been out of action for over three weeks now due to a strain in his throwing shoulder, though appears to be slated to return after a couple of rehab outings. The highly-touted rookie is known for his tremendous velocity, though he’s yet to put it to great use at the big league level. He currently owns a 5.26 ERA after 102 2/3 innings in the majors, despite a strong 28.8% strikeout rate. When batters don’t strike out, they appear to be making good contact, as Greene’s barrel percentage is only in the league’s 10th percentile while his hard hit rate is in the 30th percentile. He’ll look to finish the season on a positive note before the winter begins. Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft are all under 25 years old and showed intriguing skills in their debuts this year. The Reds will surely be hoping to maximize the talents of that trio in order to have a strong foundation of starting pitching to build around in the future.
  • Righty Jack Flaherty is going to throw another rehab start on Wednesday before rejoining the Cardinals on Labor Day, tweets Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. After an elite season in 2019 wherein he threw 196 1/3 innings with a 2.75 ERA, Flaherty is now in his third straight injury-limited campaign. He’s made just three starts this year in between IL stints due to shoulder injuries. If he’s able to return and flash his 2019 form, he’d be a tremendous difference maker for the Cards down the stretch and into the postseason. The club is currently 5 1/2 games ahead of the Brewers in the race for the division crown. Flaherty hasn’t allowed more than one earned run in each of his last three rehab outings.
  • Cubs lefty Wade Miley is still looking to make his way back to a mound before the season is out, speaking to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times about his year. “I can’t shut it down,” Miley said. “If I want to keep playing baseball beyond this year, I have to prove to people that I’m not broke. And I don’t feel like I’m broke by any means.” After throwing 163 innings with a 3.37 ERA with the Reds last year, he was claimed on waivers by the Cubs but has been limited to just four starts and 19 innings here in 2022, due to various ailments, primarily in his throwing shoulder. He will be hoping to return to action and show some effectiveness before the end of the season, when he will become a free agent and turn 36 years old in November.

Reds Place Hunter Greene On 15-Day Injured List

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TODAY: It doesn’t appear as though Greene will need surgery, according to multiple reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer).  The exact results of Greene’s MRI aren’t known, nor his timetable for a possible return.

AUGUST 5: The Reds announced they’ve placed righty Hunter Greene on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 2, with a strain in his throwing shoulder. Reliever Ryan Hendrix has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.

Greene, who turns 23 tomorrow, has spent the year in the rotation after breaking camp with the big league club. The former second overall pick has made his first 20 starts at the major league level, working to a 5.26 ERA across 102 2/3 innings. Only Josiah Gray has allowed more home runs than Greene’s 23, but he’s also flashed the promise that made him one of the sport’s top pitching prospects. He’s averaging an absurd 98.7 MPH on his four-seam fastball and eclipsing triple-digits with regularity. Unsurprisingly, Greene has missed bats on an above-average 13.5% of his offerings and is striking out an excellent 28.8% of opponents.

It’s not clear how long the Reds anticipate Greene being out, but the mention of a shoulder injury certainly isn’t ideal. Cincinnati is looking ahead to 2023 as they sit near the bottom of the National League, so there’s no reason not to proceed with caution for a player so vital to the franchise’s long-term future.

Manager David Bell will have to patch things together on the mound. Along with Greene’s absence, Cincinnati shipped off Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle within the past week. Nick Lodolo, Mike Minor and Graham Ashcraft have established rotation roles, while the club brought up Robert Dugger as at least a spot starter for tonight. They’ll need to do the same on Sunday against the Brewers, when Greene had been slated to take the ball.

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