Late on Wednesday night the Cincinnati Reds made several roster moves, with perhaps the most notable one being the addition of their #1 overall prospect Hunter Greene to the 60-man player pool. The organization also added minor league catcher Mark Kolozsvary to the player pool. Cincinnati officially selected the contract for reliever Nate Jones – though we knew that was going to happen as the team announced he made the opening day roster the other day. Alex Blandino was also optioned to the Prasco Park roster.
Let’s start with Hunter Greene – we knew that this was likely to happen after he announced on his social media (and then deleted it a few hours later) that he was in Cincinnati. The cat was out of Schrodinger’s Box at that point, so to speak. All that was left, presumably, was his passing a COVID-19 test so he could be cleared to join the team. After recovering from Tommy John surgery that he had last April, Greene is already back to throwing 102 MPH. The right-handed starter is now the youngest player in the Reds player pool – still just 20-years-old.
Mark Kolozsvary might be a name you aren’t familiar with. He’s not on any of the Cincinnati Reds top prospect lists. The former Florida Gator spent the 2019 season behind the plate for the Daytona Tortugas in the Florida State League. In his 79 games he hit .188/.341/.321 on the season. His glove is ahead of his bat at this point in his career. The now 24-year-old is well known for his defensive work behind the plate with a strong arm, a good ability to frame pitches, and strong at blocking balls in the dirt.
The move to option Alex Blandino to the Prasco Park “alternative site” roster helps set the roster for Opening Day a bit more. With the likelihood of 16 position players on the team, Blandino was fighting for one of the final utility spots on the team. His ability to play around the infield (and he’s even had a very limited amount of time in the outfield in his career) gave him the kind of defensive flexibility that stands out. But sometimes it’s not always as simple as that – the team is deeper than it’s been in a long time and Blandino seems to have been at least one of the odd men out here.
It would seem to me that the emergence of Farmer as a legitimate SS, and Davidson’s power as a RH off the bench meant Blandino didn’t have a role. Blandino did make a heckuva play last night though, hope he stays ready.
So who’s the 16 (15?) position players on the OD roster? Who is DFA’d to make room for Davidson?
Barnhart, Casali, Farmer, Votto, Moose, Galvis, Suarez, VanMeter, Davidson, Winker, Ervin, Senzel, Castellanos, Akiyama, Jankowski and…?
The only 40-man position players are Aquino (already optioned) and Stephenson (not going to come up to be 3rd C). There was some talk of adding Pena, but another DFA would have to occur on top of the one to add Davidson.
I realize that the DH and the new 3 batter rule mean fewer substitutions this year, so perhaps a reduced need for Blandino. But it’s really the outfield that’s (over) loaded so I’m a bit surprised at the choice of Davidson over Blandino. Maybe Farmer and VanMeter are enough backup for the infield but I’d have kept Blandino. On the plus side neither one was going to get much playing time, and Davidson probably won’t survive the 30 to 28 cut, let alone the 28 to 26 change. And maybe the best news of all is that there are so many stronger players ahead of both of them that if everyone stays healthy the first 12 hitters or so are all very very capable. I’ll say again that I’m disappointed that it’s such a short season – too much “small sample” variability for my tastes – because I think over 162 games, if healthy, this team is a division winner. Let’s hope the same is true over 60 games.
Tomorrow night! Go Reds!
Doug, with Stroman going down and the Mets desperate for SP… would you offer Mahle or DeLeon and if so, what would you ask for in return?
I’m open to trading anyone if the deal makes sense. But honestly, I haven’t looked at the Mets enough to really figure out what would make sense. You’d ask for more for Mahle. For DeLeon, given what you had to give up to get him – you probably are looking at a solid, but unspectacular prospect.
They just sent Brian Dozier to their practice squad so likely could be had for DeLeon. His power would play well at GABP, solid bench player with more experience than JVM. He could backup Moose at 2B and Moose could slide over to 3B to give Suarez an occasional break without missing a beat. Mahle and Sims are ahead of DeLeon for the middle innings eaters anyway.
Romano is a Connecticut boy and the Mets were his boyhood team, Would be a great fit for Mets and super opportunity for Sal.
Sal Romano in Queens would certainly be a match. Like Johnny Franco.
Good!
So the 30 man roster is really down to 1 spot now. In defending order Colon, Aquino, Rodriguez, Garcia if it’s a position player.
Ugh, autocorrect. “Descending”
Davidson might be tied with Colon at #1
From the Reds – Disco to the 10 day IL retroactive to Monday with a mild right teres major strain
Here we go again