Mike Minor

Which Free Agents Remain For Teams Seeking Rotation Help?

By Anthony Franco | December 28, 2022 at 5:52pm CDT

With the holiday slowing down what had become a very rapid offseason, it works as a natural point to take stock of what players clubs could target in the coming weeks. On Monday, MLBTR looked through the remaining free agent relievers coming off the best 2022 campaigns (one of whom has since signed a major league deal). Now we’ll take stock of the rotation options who are still out on the open market.

There aren’t as many starting pitchers for clubs to sort through as there were bullpen targets, with 19 remaining hurlers who tallied at least 20 rotation innings this past season. We’ll look at the top half of that group by various metrics to determine who teams figure to prioritize as they seek starting pitching depth.

Note: all figures cited, including league averages, are looking solely at pitchers’ outings as starters.

ERA (league average — 4.05)

Johnny Cueto (RHP), 3.29
Michael Wacha (RHP), 3.32
Wade Miley (LHP), 3.34
Bryan Garcia (RHP), 3.54
Zack Greinke (RHP), 3.68
Devin Smeltzer (LHP), 4.02
Zach Davies (RHP), 4.06
Aníbal Sánchez (RHP), 4.28
Drew Hutchison (RHP), 4.52

Strikeout rate (league average — 21.6%)

Chase Anderson (RHP), 24.6%
Matt Swarmer (RHP), 22.4%
Bryan Garcia, 20.2%
Michael Wacha, 20.2%
Chris Archer (RHP), 19.2%
Wade Miley, 18.4%
Zach Davies, 17.9%
Chad Kuhl (RHP), 17.8%
Mike Minor (LHP), 16.7%

Strikeout/walk rate differential (league average — 14.1 percentage points)

Michael Wacha, 14.2 points
Matt Swarmer, 13.1 points
Dylan Bundy (RHP), 11.1 points
Chase Anderson, 10.6 points
Johnny Cueto, 10.5 points
Wade Miley, 9.2 points
Michael Pineda (RHP), 9 points
Aaron Sanchez (RHP), 9 points
Zach Davies, 8.8 points

Ground-ball rate (league average — 42.5%)

Wade Miley, 54.2%
Aaron Sanchez, 51.3%
Chase Anderson, 50.9%
Dallas Keuchel (LHP), 50.2%
Jared Koenig (LHP), 47.2%
Chris Archer, 43.7%
Zach Davies, 42.9%
Johnny Cueto, 42.5%
Zack Greinke, 41.3%

FIP (league average — 4.04)

Johnny Cueto, 3.76
Wade Miley, 4.00
Zack Greinke, 4.03
Michael Wacha, 4.14
Chase Anderson, 4.37
Chris Archer, 4.49
Aaron Sanchez, 4.61
Dylan Bundy, 4.66
Zach Davies, 4.83

Innings pitched

Johnny Cueto, 153 1/3
Dylan Bundy, 140
Zack Greinke, 137
Chad Kuhl, 137
Zach Davies, 134 1/3
Michael Wacha, 127 1/3
Chris Archer, 102 2/3
Mike Minor, 98
Drew Hutchison, 89 2/3

Reds Decline Mike Minor’s Mutual Option

By Darragh McDonald | November 8, 2022 at 1:45pm CDT

The Reds announced they have declined their end of a mutual option on left-hander Mike Minor, making him a free agent. He’ll receive a $1MM buyout instead of a $13MM salary for next year.

Prior to the 2021 season, Minor signed with the Royals on a two-year contract with a club option for 2023. In the event Minor was traded, that club option would become a mutual option, which indeed came to pass when the Royals flipped him to the Reds for Amir Garrett going into 2022.

In the first year of that deal, Minor made 28 starts for the Royals and tossed 158 2/3 innings. His 5.05 ERA certainly didn’t elicit much excitement, though there were reasons to think he could have deserved better. His 22.3% strikeout rate was just a shade under league average among starting pitchers that year, though his 6.1% walk rate was almost two ticks below the 7.8% par. His 66.4% strand rate was also much worse than the 72.5% median, leading advanced metrics to come in better than his ERA, such as a 4.38 xERA, 4.29 FIP, 4.32 xFIP and 4.20 SIERA.

Going into 2022, the Reds did some roster clearing, mostly for financial reasons. Wade Miley was put on waivers and claimed by the Cubs, while Sonny Gray was traded to the Twins. They held onto Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, but it was still expected that those guys would likely be moved later, which did indeed come to pass at the trade deadline. Taking all that into consideration, they needed a veteran to maintain a steady presence in the rotation and acquired Minor to be that guy.

There was some logic to this, as Minor had made at least 28 starts in the previous three full seasons as well as 11 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. Unfortunately, that durability didn’t carry over into 2022, with Minor making multiple trips to the IL due to shoulder issues. He did end up taking the ball 19 times in 2022, though he was not able to be very effective when he did. He posted a 6.06 ERA on the year, with a diminished strikeout rate of 16.7%. Based on that disappointing season, it’s no surprise that the Reds have turned down their end of the bargain. Minor turns 35 years old in December and has also mulled retirement.

Despite losing Minor and the aforementioned traded pitchers, the rotation is one of the more interesting parts of the roster for the rebuilding Reds. Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft all made their debuts in 2022 and each showed varying levels of promise. That could give the club a strong nucleus of starters to build around as they look to move towards their next competitive window.

Pitching Notes: Berrios, Giolito, Eovaldi, Minor

By Jacob Smith | September 24, 2022 at 11:28am CDT

The Toronto Blue Jays may have some difficulty carving out a role for José Berríos in their postseason rotation. Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star pointed out in a Thursday opinion piece that in a scenario that sees the Jays go to a third game in the AL Wild Card Series, Berríos could find himself coming out of the bullpen.

Berríos has not been the pitcher Toronto had hoped he would be since the club gave him the second largest contract in franchise history in terms of total value last offseason. Nearly a season into his seven-year, $131 million extension, the twenty-eight year old right-hander has struggled to turn out quality outings with any consistency. Excluding a rough rookie season, Berríos is posting career worsts in ERA, WHIP, K/9, HR/9, BABIP, and HardHit%. He is also not trending in the right direction, accumulating a 6.92 ERA in the month of August and conceding six earned runs in just two innings to the Rays on Thursday night.

Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman are the presumptive choices for the Jays’ first two games of the best-of-three Wild Card Series. If that series goes to a decisive third game, barring injury, manager John Schneider will likely face a choice between starting Ross Stripling, who has had an excellent 2022, or Berríos.

More on other pitching situations from around the league…

White Sox righty Lucas Giolito is another tenured AL ace that has not pitched to his potential in 2022. His 5.05 ERA, 1.477 WHIP, and 9.9 H/9 are his worst since he broke out in 2019. After a September 16th start in which he gutted out 4 2/3 innings of one run ball, Giolito told James Fagan of The Athletic that his stuff was “obviously just like, not really there,” as it has been for most of the season. He continued on to cite a lack of fastball velocity as a chief contributor to his 2022 struggles. Giolito’s four-seam velocity has averaged 92.9 mph this season, a full 1.5 mph slower than his 2019 peak. The Sox can retain him for one more season via arbitration before he is scheduled to reach free agency as a 29-year-old, with Giolito surely hoping to find a way to have a better campaign in his platform year.
Nathan Eovaldi, who will be a free agent this offseason, alluded to his desire to re-sign with the Red Sox in an interview with Chad Jennings of The Athletic. “I love being here,” Eovaldi said. “It’s the front office, it’s the coaching staff, the training staff. Here, they all want to win.” It is unclear whether the 32-year old fits into Boston’s future plans. The Red Sox are on the precipice of a potentially turbulent offseason in which Eovaldi and DH J.D. Martinez are free agents and the contracts of superstars Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts have yet to be resolved. Boston’s uncertain future, in addition to the fact that Eovaldi spent so much of his 2018 pact with the Red Sox on the IL, casts some doubt on the notion that Red Sox will share Eovaldi’s interest in a reunion. However, with Rich Hill and Michael Wacha both headed into free agency as well, the club will certainly be looking to fill some rotation holes for 2023.
Reds lefty Mike Minor told Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he is considering retirement at the conclusion of the 2022 season. “I’d have to feel good, and I’d have to want to play and want to be away from my family again,” Minor said. Three years removed from an All-Star nod with the Rangers, Minor battled injuries for the first two months of 2022. In total, he has thrown 98 innings to the tune of a 6.06 ERA for a non-competitive Reds team. Minor will face free agency this offseason should he elect to return to the big-leagues for a 12th year.

Reds Place Mike Minor On Injured List

By Steve Adams | September 23, 2022 at 12:22pm CDT

The Reds announced Friday that left-hander Mike Minor has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to soreness in his left shoulder. Cincinnati also reinstated righty Connor Overton from the 60-day injured list and, in order to make room for him on the 40-man roster, transferred outfielder Nick Senzel to the 60-day IL. Senzel suffered a fractured toe earlier in the week, which was already known to be a season-ending injury, given the timing.

Minor’s placement on the injured list essentially ends his season and quite likely ends his time as a member of the Reds organization. Acquired from the Royals prior to the 2022 season, the veteran southpaw began the season on the injured list due to problems in that same left shoulder. The Reds initially suggested Minor’s shoulder issue would not keep him out long, but he suffered an April setback and wound up missing the first two months of the season. He’ll now miss the final couple weeks as well.

All told, Minor’s potentially lone season in Cincinnati lasted 19 starts and 98 innings, during which time he struggled to a 6.06 ERA with a 16.7% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate. Home runs have increasingly become a problem for Minor in recent years, and the move to the Great American Ball Park — one of the game’s most homer-happy venues — unsurprisingly exacerbated the issue. Minor yielded a hefty 24 home runs in those 98 innings — 15 of them coming at home — for an average of 2.20 HR/9.

The Reds technically hold a $13MM club option over Minor for the 2023 season, though given this year’s struggles, they’ll surely pay the $1MM buyout on that option. It’s always possible the two parties could seek to renegotiate a new contract, but that net $12MM price tag for the Reds seems particularly steep for Minor, given that his struggles extend well beyond the 2022 season. Minor’s last healthy, productive season came in 2019, when he tossed 208 1/3 innings of 3.59 ERA ball for the Rangers. Since that time, he’s pitched 313 1/3 innings of 5.46 ERA ball across parts of three seasons.

As for Overton, his return from a stress reaction in his lower back will give the Reds a late look at a journeyman right-hander who enjoyed solid results early in the season, albeit with questionable underlying numbers. Overton, 29, pitched 24 2/3 innings out of the Cincinnati rotation earlier this year, logging a pristine 1.82 ERA but with just an 11.2% strikeout rate against a 7.9% walk rate. Opponents recorded an average exit velocity of 91 mph against him, and 44.4% of the balls hit against him were at 95mph or greater.

The Reds are Overton’s sixth MLB organization (to say nothing of a stint on the independent circuit) in what’s now a nine-year professional career. Selected by the Marlins in the 15th round of the 2014 draft, Overton has pitched in the minors with Miami, Washington, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Toronto and now Cincinnati. He made his big league debut in 2021, pitching to a 4.70 ERA in 15 1/3 innings between the Pirates and Blue Jays. In parts of seven minor league seasons, Overton has a 3.98 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate.

Justin Wilson Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

By Anthony Franco | June 3, 2022 at 1:44pm CDT

Reds reliever Justin Wilson underwent Tommy John surgery today, the team informed reporters (including Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer). Cincinnati also reinstated starter Mike Minor from the 10-day injured list to make his season debut, optioning outfielder TJ Friedl to Triple-A Louisville in a corresponding move.

Wilson has been on the IL since late April with what the team had called elbow soreness. Cincinnati transferred him to the 60-day IL last week, suggesting he wasn’t close to returning, and he unfortunately required a reconstructive ligament repair. It’ll obviously end his 2022 season and quite likely cost him the bulk or all of next year as well, given the standard 14-16 month recovery timetable.

The veteran southpaw has typically been a durable and effective middle innings option throughout his career. He’s exceeded 50 frames in six of his 11 big league campaigns. Aside from last season, he hasn’t posted an ERA above 4.20 in any season, and he’s the owner of a career 3.41 ERA. Wilson’s control has waffled at times, but he’s typically missed a fair amount of bats and handled hitters from both sides of the plate.

Wilson had the worst season of his career last year, however, allowing more than seven earned runs per nine over 21 first half appearances with the Yankees. The Reds acquired him midseason — assuming the remainder of his salary to incentivize New York to part with Luis Cessa — and he turned things around a bit in the second half. Wilson had a solid 2.81 ERA in 16 innings for Cincinnati, but his strikeout rate was still a few points below his typical level.

The Fresno State product exercised a $2.3MM player option for this season, but he made just five appearances before landing on the shelf. He’ll hit free agency at the end of the year. Wilson turns 35 years old this summer and surely won’t be ready for next Opening Day, so he seems a likely minor league deal recipient assuming he wants to continue his career. It’s not uncommon to see pitchers recovering from a major procedure ink multi-year minors pacts if they’re expected to miss most or all of the first season.

In more fortunate injury news for Cincinnati, Minor is slated to make his first start for the team tonight against the Nationals. The Reds acquired the veteran southpaw from the Royals for reliever Amir Garrett during Spring Training, aiming to backfill a rotation that was dealt a hit when Cincinnati sent Sonny Gray to Minnesota. It was surprising to see the Reds assume around $7.3MM in salary after they subtracted Gray and Wade Miley to cut costs, but the front office clearly felt Minor would be in line for a bounceback after a rough 2021 season.

Unfortunately, Minor was quickly diagnosed with shoulder soreness and wound up missing the first two months of the campaign. His was among a series of early-season injuries for the Reds, contributing to an atrocious start. Cincinnati sits at 18-32, ahead of only the Nationals in the NL. Their 5.91 rotation ERA is MLB’s second-worst (again, only better than Washington’s). Minor figures to join Tyler Mahle, Luis Castillo and rookies Hunter Greene and Graham Ashcraft in the starting five for skipper David Bell.

NL Central Notes: Minor, Woodruff, Suzuki, Miley, O’Neill

By Mark Polishuk and TC Zencka | May 29, 2022 at 9:44am CDT

Mike Minor is finally set for his 2022 debut, as Reds manager David Bell told reporters that the veteran southpaw is scheduled to start Cincinnati’s game on Friday against the Nationals. Acquired in a trade with the Royals in March, Minor developed some shoulder issues during Spring Training and then had a setback in his rehab process in April. However, with four outings completed in his rehab assignment, Minor is ready to take the hill and participate in what will be his 11th Major League season.

More injury updates from around the NL Central…

Brandon Woodruff left Friday’s game prior to the fifth inning due to right ankle irritation, though both Woodruff and Brewers manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that the problem may not be serious enough to keep the right-hander from making his next start on Wednesday. With Freddy Peralta already on the injured list and the rotation further stretched by a doubleheader on Monday, losing Woodruff for even one outing would be a setback for the Brewers, though the club obviously isn’t going to risk pushing the right-hander if he isn’t ready.
Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki suffered a sprained left ring finger in Thursday’s game, which kept him out of the lineup yesterday. It isn’t yet clear whether or not Suzuki will require a visit to the 10-day IL, as Suzuki indicated to reporters (including NBC Sports’ Gordon Wittenmyer) that his finger was feeling only a little better. Suzuki has a solid .245/.344/.432 slash line in his first 163 MLB plate appearances, though he has cooled off considerably after a great start.
The Cubs are also monitoring Wade Miley, whose start yesterday was scratched due to shoulder soreness. There is some hope Miley will be able to start one of the games in Monday’s doubleheader, but that will depend on how he fares after a long-toss session today. Miley has only made three starts this season, as some elbow inflammation arose during Spring Training and delayed his Chicago debut until May 10.
Tyler O’Neill received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder after additional testing revealed some fluid buildup, the Cardinals outfielder told reporters (including Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat). O’Neill has been on the 10-day IL since May 20 due to a shoulder impingement, and after some rest, he hopes to begin a rehab assignment sometime this week. After what appeared to be a breakout 2021 season, O’Neill has slumped out of the gate this year, slashing just .195/.256/.297 over 133 plate appearances.

Reds’ Connor Overton Diagnosed With Stress Reaction In Back

By Anthony Franco | May 23, 2022 at 2:36pm CDT

Reds starter Connor Overton has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in his lower back, he tells Mark Sheldon of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’s expecting to be sidelined for six-to-eight weeks.

Overton has earned a spot in the Cincinnati rotation in recent weeks. Signed to a minor league contract over the offseason, he was selected onto the big league club on the final day of April. The 28-year-old has since taken four turns through a rotation that has been without rookie left-hander Nick Lodolo due to a lower back strain. Overton has averaged north of six innings per start, tossing 24 2/3 cumulative frames with an impressive 1.82 ERA.

That run prevention mark was sure to rise, as the soft-tossing Overton isn’t missing many bats. He’s fanned only 11.2% of opposing hitters on a minuscule 5.3% swinging strike rate. The Old Dominion product has filled up the strike zone and induced a fair amount of harmless infield fly balls, though, leading to some early success. Overton was also excellent over four appearances with Triple-A Louisville, posting a 2.84 ERA with elite strikeout and walk numbers (29.7% and 2.7%, respectively) across 19 innings.

Cincinnati is soon to welcome back veteran southpaw Mike Minor from an injured list stint that has cost him the entire season to date. Minor is on a rehab assignment with Louisville, where he’s taken the ball three times. Manager David Bell told reporters (including C. Trent Rosecrans of the Athletic) that Minor will need one more start with the Bats before returning to the big leagues.

The Reds play on each of the next seven days, so they’ll need to cover one of Overton’s scheduled outings with a bullpen game or a spot start. By next week, it seems Minor might be able to step into the starting staff alongside Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, Hunter Greene and Vladimir Gutiérrez.

Mike Minor Shut Down Following Setback In Shoulder Rehab

By Steve Adams | April 18, 2022 at 9:42am CDT

After letting Wade Miley go via waivers and trading Sonny Gray to the Twins in the offseason (amid other cost-cutting moves), the Reds attempted to restock the rotation in a trade that sent reliever Amir Garrett to the Royals in exchange for veteran southpaw Mike Minor. Not long after the trade, the Reds revealed that Minor was battling some shoulder issues and expected to begin the season on the injured list, though skipper David Bell suggested at the time that the shoulder soreness was not overly concerning.

Minor went on a rehab assignment last week, but the lefty suffered a setback in his first appearance with Double-A Chattanooga. Per The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans, Minor has now been shut down for the time being and returned to Cincinnati. He’s back into a rest-and-rehab program and will need to build arm strength back up whenever he’s cleared to begin throwing. At present, there’s no timetable for Minor’s return.

It’s a depth blow to a Reds rotation that is also without top starter Luis Castillo, who’s also been sidelined thanks to shoulder issues. Castillo’s work early in camp was delayed by shoulder soreness, but he’s said to be healthy now and is throwing to hitters as he ramps up toward a rehab assignment of his own. The Reds have previously expressed optimism that Castillo could return late this month. With both Castillo and Minor shelved, Cincinnati has been deploying Tyler Mahle, Reiver Sanmartin, Vladimir Gutierrez and top prospects Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo as its starting five.

The setback to Minor figures to only further rile a fanbase that wasn’t happy with the Reds’ offseason direction. Cincinnati let Miley go on waivers to spare a $1MM buyout on a $10MM club option they weren’t going to exercise — the Cubs claimed him and happily picked that option up — but months later took on about $7.3MM in salary to acquire Minor on the heels of a less-productive season. Of course, Cincinnati couldn’t have known early in the offseason that they’d manage to successfully jettison the remaining three years and $35MM on Eugenio Suarez’s contract. The money saved in the Jesse Winker/Suarez trade with the Mariners surely played a role in the Reds’ decisions to acquire Minor and sign free agents Tommy Pham, Donovan Solano (also currently on the injured list) and Hunter Strickland.

Minor, 34, is in the second guaranteed season of a two-year, $18MM contract originally signed with Kansas City. The Reds hold a $13MM club option on him with a $1MM buyout, though the Royals agreed to pay that buyout as part of the trade. Over the past two seasons, Minor has a 5.18 ERA in 215 1/3 innings, albeit with much more palatable strikeout and walk rates (23.2% and 6.7%, respectively).

NL Central Notes: Happ, Cardinals, Sims, Solano, Castillo, Minor

By Mark Polishuk | April 9, 2022 at 11:08pm CDT

Cubs left fielder Ian Happ was removed from today’s 9-0 win over the Brewers after being hit in the left kneecap by a Trevor Gott pitch during the seventh inning. X-rays were negative, as Happ told NBC Sports Chicago’s Tim Stebbins and other reporters after the game. “It’s going to be pretty stiff [Sunday], I’m sure, but right now it’s not too bad,” Happ said. It would seem as if Happ is questionable for tomorrow’s lineup, and since the Cubs don’t play on Monday, Happ has some more time to heal up and receive further treatment to determine if an IL trip could be necessary.

The Cubs/Brewers series has thus far seen seven batters hit by pitches over two games, which has some a frequent occurrence in recent meetings between the two division rivals. The result was a skirmish that saw both benches and bullpens empty after Andrew McCutchen was hit by a Keegan Thompson pitch in the eighth inning, but ultimately nothing but harsh words were exchanged.

Luis Castillo, Mike Minor To Begin Season On Injured List

By Steve Adams | March 28, 2022 at 4:55pm CDT

4:55pm: Bell told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that Castillo and Minor will indeed both start the year on the IL.

9:44am: Reds right-hander Luis Castillo is “expected” to begin the season on the injured list after being slowed by some shoulder soreness early in camp, writes MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. Meanwhile, manager David Bell told reporters yesterday that Castillo is “quite a bit ahead” of newly acquired left-hander Mike Minor, who is battling shoulder troubles of his own. Bell said the team is set to meet with some of its ailing players today to establish a more concrete rehab plan for each.

News of Castillo’s barking shoulder first surfaced earlier in camp, and it’s worth emphasizing that the team believes he’s healthy now. However, Castillo has been behind schedule in an already truncated Spring Training and has yet to pitch in a Cactus League game. Opening Day is less than two weeks away at this point, and it seems the 29-year-old righty simply won’t have time to sufficiently build up to readiness for the early portion of the season. Placing Castillo on the injured list would set him up to miss multiple turns through the rotation, but he could still be back in the fold for the Reds by mid-to-late April.

The likelihood of a Castillo trade had already plummeted in recent weeks, with general manager Nick Krall publicly stating he didn’t expect to trade Castillo or right-hander Tyler Mahle (who has since been named the team’s Opening Day starter). Now, with some shoulder issues on top of the Reds’ public disinclination toward trading him, it seems all but certain that Castillo remain a Red for at least the early portion of the season. Should the team struggle, of course, his name will be featured prominently in summer trade rumblings once again.

As for Minor, it’s not yet clear just how much time he’ll be expected to miss. Bell suggested that Minor is dealing with soreness that the team does not believe to be overly concerning, but added that the veteran lefty’s shoulder is going to “take some more time.”

Acquired in a surprising swap that sent reliever Amir Garrett to the Royals and saw the Reds take on about $7MM in salary — the first time this winter that Cincinnati had added, rather than subtracted, from the payroll — Minor joined his new club in hopes of rebounding from a rough 2020-21 showing.

The 34-year-old Minor has posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the past two seasons, working to a combined 5.18 ERA in 215 1/3 innings between the Rangers, A’s and Royals in that time. Minor still notched solid strikeout and walk rates during that time, but home runs have become increasingly problematic for him. Considering he’ll move from the spacious Kauffman Stadium to the homer-happy Great American Ball Park, that’s not an encouraging trend, but the Reds clearly have some confidence they’ll be able to help curtail the issue.

With Castillo and Minor both sidelined for some time to begin the year, the Reds’ Opening Day rotation is going to feature quite a few untested arms. Mahle will take the ball on Opening Day and likely be followed by 26-year-old Vladimir Gutierrez, who held his own with a 4.74 ERA in 114 innings/22 starts as a rookie last season. Options already on the 40-man would include Tony Santillan, Reiver Sanmartin and Riley O’Brien. The Reds have several non-roster veterans and journeymen in camp, including Zack Godley, Ben Lively, Brandon Bailey and Connor Overton. Prospects like Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Brandon Williamson and Graham Ashcraft could all get a look, too. Right-hander Justin Dunn, acquired in the Jesse Winker trade, is expected to miss “months” with a shoulder injury that Reds knew about at the time of the trade.

Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote over the weekend that Greene, in particular, appears to have a shot at breaking camp in the Reds’ rotation, though no final decisions have been made just yet. Greene showed well in his first start of the spring though and has already drawn praise from Bell, who noted that the former No. 2 pick has “settled in” and impressed the club while “pitching with confidence” thus far.

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