Freddy Galvis got out to a late start in spring training after having a sore shoulder. When he did begin playing he was limited to designated hitter. Then the Cincinnati Reds starting shortstop tweaked his left quad the other day, had an MRI, and is now projected to miss the next 5-7 days according to Jesse Borek of MLB.com.
The Reds are sort of a walking infirmary right now. Nick Senzel just got back into the lineup this afternoon after having shoulder surgery last September – and he’s limited to participating as a designated hitter right now as he continues his throwing program. Eugenio Suarez hasn’t yet been cleared to play in games after his shoulder surgery earlier this year, and when he does return he too will be limited early on in his action to designated hitting.
But one of issues that the Reds face with regards to Galvis that they don’t with Senzel or Suarez, is that they don’t have a good option to play in his place. The Reds have some outfield depth, and if they do need a third baseman they’ve got options there, too. But at shortstop it’s Freddy Galvis and then a few guys on the 40-man roster who can sort of play backup shortstop, but aren’t guys you’d like to see there on a daily basis. For the Reds sake, the hope has to be that Galvis recovers just fine and is good to go when the season begins – Opening Day is now three weeks away.
On the 40-man roster it seems that the options would be Kyle Farmer or Alex Blandino. Blandino has significantly more experience at the position as a professional, but Farmer has been talked about as the backup shortstop by manager David Bell. If the Reds have to go to someone else in the organization, that’s when they may have to look at guys like Alfredo Rodriguez or Blake Trahan – both of whom are not on the 40-man roster. While Jose Garcia is lighting up pitchers early on this spring, it’s unlikely they’d add him to the 40-man roster and put him at shortstop out of the gate given that he’s never had a single at-bat above A-ball.
Jose Iglesias signed for more than that with Baltimore. Why would he have signed for that here?
What i liked about Jose Iglesias was his durability. I think the only games he missed last year was when he was on paternity leave. I would feel much better about this team if he was our starting shortstop instead of Galvis. Just seems so injury prone
That’s two pretty different views …
And the answer is: Since Galvis started playing regularly as a 25 year old in 2015 he has appeared in 151, 158, 162, 162, and 147 games (this past year). Seeing how he moved from Toronto to Cincy mid-season, chances are he had yet another very healthy year in 2019.
Mike Leake, never played a single game in the minor leagues. He was called up and did a pretty nice job.
Wondering if it is possible they would allow Garcia to play SS. Is Rodriguez good defensively at least? I don’t like the idea of Farmer playing SS any significant time. He might be ok batting but I doubt he will be very adequate defensively. I don’t feel like Farmer is an everyday player either.
Is there anyone on the scrap heap they could add with experience at SS?
Rodriguez is a very good defensive shortstop. The odds that the Reds let Garcia play shortstop in March when games actually count are probably 1000-to-1.
So you’re saying he has a chance.
Love it George.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Christmas
sure wish we would have signed Brock Holt. What did he sign for 3 Million? Knowing that Senzel and Suarez coming back from arm injuries with him still available seems very short sighted. Were we worried about losing some of this stellar 40 man placements like Josh Smith, Tejay Antone, Matt Bowman and Ryan Hendrix?
Or perhaps Brock Holt was waiting for the Sox to make him an offer to return, cause maybe he really wanted to stay in Boston.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, not claiming Villar was the biggest mistake of the offseason.
You mean trading for Villar? He was likely claimed by more than one team, and possibly the Reds too.
Well, hope he gets better quickly because the options behind him aren’t stellar at all. And while Galvis isn’t my ideal option he’s a lot better than anyone else currently in the roster.
One had to think we were on thin ice already trying to “go for it” without addressing the most glaring area of upgrade on the roster, and also not to having much of a backup plan in place. For what ended up amounting to not much money at all, it would have been nice to have Holt, Iglesias, etc as a backup option in on the roster.
I figured that the SS position would be a big factor as to whether or not the Reds would push for the playoffs, I just didn’t think we’d be in this spot this early.
Here’s hoping for better health!
Iglesias or Holt were not coming here to be back up shortstops. They just weren’t. They wanted to play as much as possible and the Reds were confidently saying that Galvis was the guy. I guess they could have offered $5MM-$6MM for one of them, but that wasn’t going to happen.
Alfredo Rodriguez will be fine if it comes to that. His defense is big league ready, and he won’t have to hit a ton with this lineup’s potential. Galvis is going to sit down to heal for a week. Let’s stop talking like the season is doomed already.