The Cincinnati Reds seem to have set their 25-man roster
There weren’t many decisions to be made with the 25-man roster as the Reds headed to Atlanta for the final two spring training games of the year. Both spots that were to be determined were in the bullpen, and those spots have gone to Robert Stephenson and Wandy Peralta. Here’s how the 25-man roster breaks down for opening day, assuming no injuries or other transactions:
Rotation
Bullpen
- Zach Duke
- Amir Garrett
- David Hernandez
- Jared Hughes
- Raisel Iglesias
- Michael Lorenzen
- Wandy Peralta
- Robert Stephenson
Catchers/Infielders
- Tucker Barnhart
- Curt Casali
- Derek Dietrich
- Kyle Farmer
- Jose Iglesias
- Jose Peraza
- Eugenio Suarez
- Joey Votto
Outfielders
Nick Senzel to be in a walking boot for 1-2 weeks
This morning the Reds announced the Nick Senzel would be in a walking boot for 1-2 weeks after spraining his ankle in a minor league game back in Goodyear on Sunday afternoon.
Cincinnati Reds (8-18-5) Starting Lineup:
- Jesse Winker – Center Field
- Kyle Farmer – Shortstop
- Scott Schebler – Right Field
- Curt Casali – Catcher
- Derek Dietrich – Left Field
- Brian O’Grady – First Base
- Christian Colon– Third Base
- Josh VanMeter – Designated Hitter
- Luis Gonzalez – Second Base
- Anthony DeSclafani – Starting Pitcher
Here’s the minor leaguers that are also on the roster today that could be available:
Pitchers
Catcher
Infielders
Outfielders
Atlanta Braves (15-16) Starting Lineup
- Ender Inciarte – Center Field
- Ronald Acuna Jr. – Left Field
- Freddie Freeman – First Base
- Nick Markakis – Designated Hitter
- Ozzie Albies – Second Base
- Brian McCann – Catcher
- Johan Camargo – Third Base
- Matt Joyce – Right Field
- Dansby Swanson – Shortstop
- Sean Newcomb – Starting Pitcher
Where to Watch/Listen/Follow the games
The game begins at 1:10pm ET. You can listen to it on 700 WLW. You can watch the game on Fox Sports Ohio and MLB.tv.
Hopefully Senzel recovers quickly.
Just wanted to make a quick comment on his whole situation. People are comparing his situation to Kris Bryant, it’s hardly the same though. Bryant was objectively better in the minors
In AA he had an OPS of 1.160 and AAA 1.036 in 297 PA at each level.
Senzel topped at .973 in AA with 209 AB in 2017, and only had 171 AB last year in AAA.
Bryant was well and beyond a step above Senzel and had the consistent performance to prove he was ready.
The injuries with Senzel, coupled with a position change make absolute since from the perspective of a baseball team trying to win games giving him more AAA playing time. It just also works out to be a good money decision as well. I believe Senzel will be a really good player(though his reddit AMAs saying he pays no attention to advanced metrics is concerning), and letting him get a bit more CF experience in games that don’t matter to the Reds is a good thing.
1) If you wait until a player hits like Kris Bryant before they make the bigs leagues, no one would ever make it.
2) Kris Bryant played AAA in the PCL which historically is a hitter’s league. (BTW, Bryant’s 161 wRC+ in AAA isn’t far off of Senzel’s 149)
3) The Reds other options in CF — Schebler and apparently Winker — are neither experienced center fielders nor even average defensive outfielders. Defensively, the Reds would have nothing to lose in placing Senzel in CF opening day.
** Most importantly, Senzel is the Reds 2nd most talented hitter who has already tore through the minors. He needs to be in the big leagues to progress further. This was certainly service time manipulation with meaningless spring stats and a position change providing nominal cover. All of this in moot though with his recent injury.
If Senzel made the team, you would have 2 of Winker, kemp, or Schebler on the bench everyday. Senzel may be no better than Schebler in CF on defense and probably not a better hitter right now. He may be the future but you give up service time for no gain, That’s just dumb.
@Gaffer, this is the crux of the disagreement. I believe Senzel is and will be a better hitter (and all around player) than Schebler. He is young and already a well rounded hitter. He was excellent in AA and AAA last year. He is a rare young prospect who has no holes in his game. He thinks he’s ready. Prospect evaluators think he’s ready. Projection systems think he’s ready. And yet so many Reds fans prefer Schebler, a nominally starting corner outfielder who hasn’t had an above average season in his career. He is a 4th outfielder on a good team starting a over a potential rookie of the year candidate and future all-star.
Totally agree on the strike zone. It’s the first time I’ve really watched any action this spring and I was appalled, as I usually am, at the strike zone.
Clearly. Players don’t see free agency as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow anymore. Chances are pretty decent that if the Reds decide to try to extend any of the people with expiring contracts that they will be very willing to listen and consider offers.
Keuchel’s agent is Scott Boras? correct? Not sure about Kimbrell. But it could be a play by Boras to demand the moon, not get it, then claim owner collusion.
Far fetched as the players would have to be okay with that sort of plan too.
Seems like something bad keeps happening to Senzel every time the Reds hold him down.
Wasn’t surprised by Bob because he has no options left and because the Reds won’t risk him finally getting it someplace else.Peralta earned his spot and maybe he has finally got it.Lets play real baseball.
I was figuring mid to late May. And hoping no other injury or a return of vertigo gets in the way. By then, he might even be past the super-2 deadline. But time to see what the kid can do at the big league level.
Famer goes oppo for a two-run shot !!!!
Read Pirates’ rotation is MLB top ten, while Reds’ is still far away. As it looks they’ll fight each other to stay out of the cellar, I hope Wood will join it soon. Gray and Disco have looked sharp this spring, cannot say the same about Roark or Mahle. Still waiting for Castillo to take the next step.
Roark & Mahle each were pretty good except one poor outing.
I’ve been wondering about Keuchel, my perhaps whack-o idea …
Maybe the Reds could offer him a lucrative three (or even four — yikes) year contract, but give him an opt-out after the second year. If he sees a chance to chase a better deal in two years, he can go for it. … In the meantime, he has a few years to get paid well, further establish his value. And if he doesn’t see a better deal in the offing, he can stay put for the duration of the deal and not have to worry about a contract for another year or two ….
Zach Duke, getting his work in ….. yikes
The one game I went to in Arizona Duke gave up a bomb and i mean bomb to Jose Abreu. Nothing to be overly ashamed of but that ball went a longggggg way.
First candidate to be DFA, there’s still time to pull Wisler back from waivers.
Nice to see Casali keep hitting … I wonder if the presence of Farmer as a third catcher means Casali could be used as a pinch hitter more often …
The Reds should start Kyle Farmer at 1B. His .979 OPS in ST is 400 points higher than Votto’s! Farmer is spring training all-star!
Other Reds ST all-stars: Aristides Aquino (1.009 OPS), Scott Schebler (1.121), Philip Ervin (1.218), Jose Iglesias (.917), Jose Peraza (.962), and my personal favorite Christian Colon (.905). All of these guys should be starting opening day because they rocked the spring. Who could stop a lineup with 7 >900 OPS players? No one that’s who.
Also: Tanner Roark and Sonny Gray for Cy Young!
Oh and Jimmy Herget, Matt Bowman, Wandy Peralta, and Ian Kroll are the new Nasty Boys!
I was a little confused after Scooter went down and they didn’t bring Senzel right back up to man 2b. They seem to want him to be a long term fix in center. Why? Maybe they think India is going to move up very quickly, like next year. Seems improbable, but why would you move a supposedly strong infielder to a new position and stay firm with that given the circumstances?
Why indeed JB? Service time manipulation, plain and simple. And now ironically he’s hurt so it’s all moot, but many of us including me think it’s ridiculous that the Reds somehow claimed that the best man for the spot that opened up when Gennett got hurt was not Senzel, but Kyle Farmer. If you listen to the most recent Redleg Radio podcast you’ll see that Chad Dotson and Jason Linden agree with you too. It was a service time manipulation, which is fine, but the Reds insist on pretending it’s anything but. Ridiculous bit of course now a moot point.
It’s service time manipulation to send a guy that’s played 44 games at AAA, is coming off an injury that cost him half a season, and is playing a position he’s never played professionally back down to work on some things? Good grief. It’s not like they are running Willy Taveras out there every day in the meantime.
My point was rather that they seem stuck on him playing the outfield now. Their response when asked about Senzel was that he was going to stay in AAA and work on cf as if he’s the long term answer there, which makes me think they’re leaving second open for India in the very near future. Yeah I get the service time, but it doesn’t sound like Senzel is going to take second when Scooters gone after this year.
The Reds’ 11th Spring Training Commandment: Thou shalt not win.
What a way to lose…..ouch
I guess they took that spring training stats don’t mean anything a little too seriously
Nobody is going to confuse Herget with Dibble today
How many of those had Iglesias/Lorenzen/Hughes in pitching?
I’m often wrong about baseball and the Reds, but I’ll boast just a tiny bit on the last roster spots: I called it a couple of days ago that the last bullpen slots would go to Stephenson and Peralta. I really hope that Johnson and Cotham found something in Peralta’s delivery or pitch mix that has been adjusted and that his spring effectiveness is real. If so, welcome to the Reds again Wandy. If not, it’s just another case of being distracted by that shiny new spring thing. Won’t be the last time. Say after me: spring results do not matter!
Spring results do not matter!
At least they are in the right time zone.
Jimmy Herget has a lot of work to do. That being said the Reds do have a solid pen and above average starters who have to manage the game to the 6th inning. The offense is as good as there is in the division so this season will boil down to the pen, defense, and the pen. I predict 84 wins IF they do not suffer any big injuries to the hitters. DeSclanai, Castillo, Roark and Gray are all good enough to help the team win provide the defense doesn’t throw it all over the place or misplay balls. Wood coming back should have shot at 15 wins with this bullpen and offense. Bell SHOULD be good for 5-8 wins over Bryan Price and his handling of the bullpen. The talent is much improved and hopefully it show with a record over 500