Before the start of the game tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cincinnati Reds made several roster moves. The team recalled right-handed reliever José De León, who had been with the team on the taxi squad for this road trip. He’s taking the spot in the bullpen that’s been vacated by Tyler Thornburg, who has an elbow sprain (more on this later) and was placed on the 10-day injured list. The team also announced that infielder Matt Davidson cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier in the week and accepted being outrighted to the alternate roster at Prasco Park.
Let’s start out with Tyler Thornburg. On Thursday night in Chicago he left the game during his outing after injuring his elbow. Today the team announced he had a right elbow sprain. To quote Will Carroll, a sprain is a tear. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Thornburg will need Tommy John surgery. The Reds have had some success in rehabbing elbow tears (both Michael Lorenzen and Anthony DeSclafani fall into this category) without surgery. How bad the injury is will matter here – and for now we don’t have that information.
José De León was one of two pitchers on the taxi squad and in St. Louis with the team. The Reds, needing a pitcher to take over a spot in the bullpen tonight, opted for De León over Sal Romano, who is not on the 40-man roster. For De León, he’s pitched in three games for Cincinnati this season. The one on August 29th went quite well as he threw 1.2 perfect innings with three strikeouts. The other two outings are one’s he like to forget, as he allowed eight runs in 1.2 innings on August 6th and then four runs in 0.2 innings on August 30th. In both of those outings he also walked four batters.
Matt Davidson will remain in the organization after clearing waivers and accepting an assignment to Prasco Park as a part of the Reds alternate roster. Including the three players on the taxi squad in St. Louis, who will head back to Prasco Park when the team arrives in Cincinnati, there are now 27 players on the alternate roster with Davidson joining them.
Nick Senzel unlikely to join the Reds this weekend
Nick Senzel has been working his way back, joining the Reds alternate site on September 1st. He’s been improving and getting closer, but it seems that he’s unlikely to be joining the team during this weekend’s series in St. Louis according to manager David Bell.
David Bell said it “doesn’t look like” Nick Senzel will join the team in St Louis #Reds
— C. ???????????? (@ctrent) September 11, 2020