The Cincinnati Reds just announced two roster moves prior to the game on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Right-handed reliever Tyler Thornburg has been called up from the Prasco Park roster and added to the 40-man roster (and 28-man active roster). To make room on the 40-man roster for Thornburg the team designated infielder Christian Colón for assignment.
Tyler Thornburg pitched in 16 games with the Boston Red Sox last season. All of those appearances came out of the bullpen and he posted a 7.71 ERA in 18.2 innings while allowing 21 hits, four home runs, walking 10 batters, and picking up 22 strikeouts. In the 2018 season he made 25 appearances with the Red Sox and posted a 5.63 ERA in 24.0 innings. From 2012-2016 he pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers and posted a 2.87 ERA in 219.2 innings with 91 walks and 220 strikeouts in 144 games. He did not pitch at all during the 2017 season (Major or Minors).
For Christian Colón, his time with the Reds in 2020 is complete. The infielder went 3-23 (.130) with one walk and one double in 11 games during the season for Cincinnati. The now 31-year-old went 3-6 with the team last September in a late-season call up.
Cincinnati will get a little bit of bullpen help, even if they may only need it for one day as there are likely to still be some arms that may not be available to pitch tonight if needed, by bringing up Tyler Thornburg. With Tyler Mahle coming on in relief the other day and throwing multiple innings, he likely still needs a day or two off. Last night also saw both Cody Reed and Michael Lorenzen stretched out beyond their norms, throwing multiple innings each in relief after Anthony DeSclafani only lasted 2.0 innings in his start – likely making both of them unavailable today, too.
The bench is a little bit shorter now. The non-starting catcher of the day, Matt Davidson, Kyle Farmer, Josh VanMeter, Phillip Ervin, Travis Jankowski, and one of the non-Nick outfielders are the group for now. That group should be plenty for just about any night, even with David Bell making plenty of substitutions throughout the game.
Me too. Tyler Stephenson and AQUINO need to be up.
I would like that too. Moose will take a pitchers spot when he comes back. Of course Aquino can take Jankowski’s spot. Stephenson, although I’d like for him to, probably will not be up simply because they won’t send Casali down or DAF. I don’t believe they will think like I and some others do. That is that Farmer is the only backup in game infielder we need. Both Senzel and Suarez have flexibility in a pinch. If they did think that way then VanMeter could go down for Stehphenson. I will reiterate. With the DH we don’t have to be making so many in game moves with our position players. We need BATS. We need our BEST players on the active roster. We can make that work if we’re willing to think outside the box a little.
Lorenzen available to bat and run. Rather have him involved than Colon.
Jankowski is a much better baserunner and defender than Shogo is. On a 28 man roster you can have both guys.
Timbo, normally I would agree. But not with this manager. You really need to “Bell” proof this roster.
Yes, but he cannot hit way out of a wet paper bag.
If Janko is a MUCH better defender and baserunner than Aki I haven’t seen it. Aki is good too….plus offense.
I cannot agree more with the “stop substituting so much” comment. Playing by the numbers, while sometimes does make sense, many times this year have come back to bite us later in the game at even more critical junctures than when the moves were made. Plus I think it’s psychologically negative to the players, and actually putting some of the younger ones (Ervin, Van Meter, even Shogo – new to MLB) into more difficult (pinch hitting) roles. Not sold on Bell’s “feel” of the game, aside from when to pull his starters. His irregular roles within the bullpen and pinch hitters are costing the team, IMO.
Colon never made sense to me. Blandino offers similar defensive flexibility with a better bat and some pinch running options (thinking about extra innings here, along with Jankowski and Lorenzen). Tyler Stephenson and Aristides Aquino are much better hitters, and Jose Garcia could get some valuable MLB experience since he wouldn’t be missing any minor league games. Any of those guys would have been a better choice than Colon. Christian seems well liked but there were and are much better options for the 28th spot.
And Thornburg had a nice debut tonight. Welcome to Cincinnati.