The Cincinnati Reds announced that infielder Christian Colón has cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. The team has outrighted him to the alternate site roster at Prasco Park. Colón had struggled in his time with the Reds in 2020, going 3-23 with a double, stolen base, walk, and three strikeouts in 24 plate appearances over the span of 11 games played. With Colón remaining in the player pool, the organization is now at 60 players overall between the big league and Prasco rosters.
That wasn’t the only news of the day, though. We still do not know whether or not the Cincinnati Reds will be resuming games on Tuesday in Kansas City or not as they await test results to return from Major League Baseball after a player tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday’s tests, leading to the postponement of games on Saturday and Sunday for the Reds and Pirates.
The Reds management, though, has gone ahead and announced the rotation moving forward. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic had the fastest hands among the beat writers today, edging out the others on the updated rotation order if the team resumes games on Tuesday.
Luis Castillo will pitch first and then be followed in the rotation by Trevor Bauer, Sonny Gray, Anthony DeSclafani, and Wade Miley. That is a change up of what things would have looked like if the weekend games against the Pirates hadn’t been cancelled. The rotation then would have gone Bauer, Castillo, Miley, DeSclafani, Gray. It’s unclear why Bauer is being pushed back yet again – he last pitched on August 7th against Milwaukee, meaning the earliest he’ll pitch is a full 12 days later – but it does set up the rotation, assuming no postponements or injuries moving forward for the rest of the month to look like this:
| Date | Opponent | Starter |
| 18-Aug | Kansas City | Castillo |
| 19-Aug | Kansas City | Bauer |
| 20-Aug | St. Louis | Gray |
| 21-Aug | St. Louis | DeSclafani |
| 22-Aug | St. Louis | Miley |
| 23-Aug | St. Louis | Castillo |
| 24-Aug | Milwaukee | Bauer |
| 25-Aug | Milwaukee | Gray |
| 26-Aug | Milwaukee | DeSclafani |
| 27-Aug | Milwaukee | Miley |
| 28-Aug | Chicago (NL) | Castillo |
| 29-Aug | Chicago (NL) | Bauer |
| 29-Aug | Chicago (NL) | Gray |
| 30-Aug | Chicago (NL) | DeSclafani |
| 31-Aug | St. Louis | Miley |
With the addition of Christian Colón to the Prasco Park roster, here’s how that looks as of today:
| Player | POS | Player | POS |
| RJ Alaniz | RHP | Mark Kolozsvary | C |
| Jesse Biddle | LHP | Francisco Peña | C |
| David Carpenter | RHP | Tyler Stephenson | C |
| José De León | RHP | Alex Blandino | INF |
| Brandon Finnegan | LHP | Christian Colón | INF |
| Hunter Greene | RHP | Jose Garcia | INF |
| Ryan Hendrix | RHP | Robel García | INF |
| Joel Kuhnel | RHP | Rece Hinds | INF |
| Nick Lodolo | LHP | Jonathan India | INF |
| Alex Powers | RHP | Alfredo Rodriguez | INF |
| Sal Romano | RHP | Aristides Aquino | OF |
| Tony Santillan | RHP | Stuart Fairchild | OF |
| TJ Friedl | OF | ||
| Mark Payton | OF | ||
| Boog Powell | OF | ||
| Nick Williams | OF |
Let’s also note that there’s a chance that the alternate site rosters could soon be expanding by 15 players.
Perhaps they moved Bauer so he pitches against Milwaukee and Chicago.
That would at least make sense.
And Bauer/Gray both pitch the DH against the Stupid Cubs.
I personally have been very hard on Colon. It is obvious he does not belong on the roster in MLB games. Obviously no other team thinks that as well
On a brighter note. Somebody in the Reds Org see him in a different light. They say he is a great teammate. He has been thru everything. He came up as a catcher. They can use him in the short term at Prasco for that. I believe (just a hunch) it goes deeper than that. In the long run maybe they see him as a coach. Catchers make great coaches Bochy/Ross/—go back long Berra. Even Oliver is now a Coach. I think it is a smart move to keep him in the Org. Again, just a hunch. Maybe one day we will see him managing an MLB team.
Yes. On a personal level I’ve heard he’s been through a lot and certainly wish him the best. Maybe he will make a great coach some day.
Where did you see he was a catcher. I was under the impression he was always an infielder. He was a very high draft choice after being an all-american shortstop, I believe. I have never heard of him catching before.
My bad, and you are right. I overstated that. What I should have said is the Reds see him as a catcher (backup). He came up as a SS. As most do. Eric Davis/Kyle Farmer etc etc. My point was he thinks like a catcher. His mind is in the game. My bad.
If he even finds his way back to our active roster then we sill start to hear conspiracy theories. lol
Doug brings up a great question as well. If they expand the roster by 15. Who gets those spots? Would that be the Reds telling us “these are what we think are our next best 15 prospects?” I don’t think they would go out and pick up has beens off the street. Will be interesting to see who gets those spots.
Do the Reds have a Big Klu type first base prospect in the farm system?
Big bell. Ibandel Isabel. Man if they could work with him with his plus, plus, plus power to make more consistent contact.
I hope they put him at Prasco and get him some good coaching and good reps angainst good pitchers. He could be a game changer
I loved Billy and Jose and Tucker as well but the Reds just can’t make a decision on some guys.A lot of it has to do with it they hate to admit they may have missed it on a player and they don’t feel they have anybody to take their place so they give them years of chances regardless of just how awful they perform.Others players who don’t perform soon and I mean soon just get thrown to the curb.Oh they keep them in the organization because they know somebody else will gobble them up in a heart beat but they won’t get much of an opportunity.This is all on the Reds and how they develop players.Billy.Jose and Tucker lasted because of one or both of the reasons I listed.Aquino killed MLB for a couple of month offensively and then fell off the grid and has not been given a look since.Billy lasted 5 years being just terrible on offense.Peraza has his moments but his last year was just awful and Tucker has never ever hit.Go figure it.