Update: This move didn’t last very long. Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez has been placed on paternity leave, and the Reds have brought back Aristides Aquino to the active roster. Original story below.
The Cincinnati Reds needed to get their roster back to 28 players following the double header on Monday after adding Nick Senzel to the roster for the day after he had been on the injured list for the previous month. Adding Senzel likely meant that an outfielder was going to be the group from which someone would be removed from the roster following the day and that’s exactly what happened as the team chose to send Aristides Aquino back to the alternate roster at Prasco Park.
On Sunday in St. Louis, Aristides Aquino came through with a 2-run homer for Cincinnati as they beat up the Cardinals bullpen in a 10-5 win and picked up a series win for the first time in a month. The outfielder played in game one of the double header on Monday, going 0-3 in the game and having his triple-slash line fall to .179/.361/.321 on the year in his 15 games played (28 at-bats).
PLAYOFFS?! YOU KIDDING ME? PLAYOFFS?!
If you are of a certain age, you must recall the famous Jim Mora post game interview where he gets into a short tangent about playoffs. Well, that’s certainly how many Cincinnati Reds fans have felt for most of this season. After a win on opening day…. well, things certainly haven’t been going the way that anyone expected. But after taking two of three from the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend and then sweeping a double header against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, all of a sudden the Cincinnati Reds are one game out of a playoff spot.
The Reds moved into third place in the National League Central, too. With their two wins, and the Brewers two losses, Cincinnati jumped a half-game ahead of Milwaukee and into third place. In the wild card race, which goes to the best two records in each league among teams that are not in 1st or 2nd place in their division, the Phillies and Giants are currently the 7th and 8th seeds. Philadelphia is 23-23, while San Francisco is 23-24. The Reds would be 1.5 games back of the Phillies and they are 1.0 game back of the Giants.
Matt Bowman to have Tommy John surgery
The Cincinnati Reds announced that right-handed reliever Matt Bowman would have Tommy John surgery later this week. He had been on the injured list this year. He was removed from the 60-man player pool on Monday afternoon, which leaves the Reds overall player pool at 59 players. Here’s what the updated alternate roster look like:
| Pitcher | Pos | Hitters | Pos |
| R.J. Alaniz | RHP | Mark Kolzsvary | C |
| David Carpenter | RHP | Francisco Peña | C |
| Brandon Finnegan | LHP | Alex Blandino | INF |
| Hunter Greene | RHP | Tyler Callihan | INF |
| Ryan Hendrix | RHP | Christian Colón | INF |
| Jay Jackson | RHP | Matt Davidson | INF |
| Joel Kuhnel | RHP | Robel García | INF |
| Nick Lodolo | LHP | Rece Hinds | INF |
| Riley O’Brien | RHP | Jonathan India | INF |
| Lyon Richardson | RHP | Alfredo Rodriguez | INF |
| Tony Santillan | RHP | Aristides Aquino | OF |
| TJ Friedl | OF | ||
| Travis Jankowski | OF | ||
| Michael Siani | OF | ||
| Mark Payton | OF | ||
| Nick Williams | OF |
Was there another outfielder that could have realistically been optioned instead?
Don’t think so, but, Winker could have been ILed retroactive to his last appearance to kick the can down the road.
What we’ve seen on this positive spurt (4 wins in 5 games) with Winker sidelined is right now the mix on the team is such that Akiyama playing regularly is a key.
Where does that leave for Winker to play with Senzel back? DH, you say? I don’t think so. Their best team right now is Glavis at 2B, Moose at 1B and Votto DH with Akiyama and Castellanos on the corner OF spot and Senzel/ Goodman in CF. Catcher is Stephenson w/ Casali backing him up.
Note I said best TEAM not best 9 or 10 individual players.
I will start regaining some confidence in this manager if that is the regular lineup he starts playing. Until then…
So in other words i won’t hold my breath.
Winker has to be in at DH. Most games remaining your bench will be 2 catchers Casali/Stephenson. 1 OF Goodwin’s. 1. INF Galvis and a guy who wants to play all 9 spots—Farmer.
IF? A lefty starts (like Keuckel) you may see Stephenson and Goodwin start. I say may!!
Well if you want to go best team then Winker plays RF and Castellanos sits. Castellanos is terrible in the field and might be worse than Winker. Castellanos is heading for Mendoza line fast and has no confidence at the plate. He might be worse at swinging at off speed off the plate than Aquino.
@JB Hear what you are saying but they might be too LH at the plate if they put Winker in for Castellanos in RF. Only (potential) right hand power bat left would be Saurez (eh, maybe Senzel but not till we see it).
But to really stir the pot, AA in RF 😉 Better defense for sure than Castellanos. Offense ??? maybe a wash; maybe better; maybe worse.
A team might just do that if they were reaching the conclusion AA was as good as Castellanos now and projects no worse over time to help Casellanos decide to leave town.
Should have been Senzel
Not an Acquino fan until someone does something with that batting stance. Wonder what his trade value is.
I imagine similar things were said about the great open stance hitter, Mel Ott, who played 22 years for the New York Giants and has a lifetime batting average of .304. The Reds will never know what Aquino can do if they don’t give him a real chance. I sense some dissension in the front office on how to deal with AA. And how are the Reds closed stance hitters doing this season?
As I have continually said, he gets no chance. Chris Welch was talking about Akiyama getting better as he got more playing time, but when he was talking about Aquino he said he had to take advantage of the opportunity. What does he have to do, get a home run every trip to the plate? He is having good at bats, his first trip to the plate yesterday was a great example, with him just missing another homer. Sorry, but I would rather see him than Goodwin.
I feel your pain Jimbo. I will never understand why this kid hasn’t been given a shot. In 262 MLB plate appearances, he has hit 20 HR and driven in 52 runs. Yes, he strikes out a little too much. Who on this team does not? He seems to be doing much better in drawing BB’s this season. Yes, I know, small sample size. In Between the DH and outfield rotation, this would have been the perfect year to see what he can do. I think if they would just have given him enough ab’s to get into a groove, he could have really made a difference this year. Any small chance the kid has gotten, he seems to have a knack for getting big time hits. Something this team could use alot more of!
The thing about front offices. When they make a move like acquiring a player on trade they want to be proven correct. So, Goodwin is going to play. I am sure the word got back to Bell to start using Archie too, which we have seen the past two days.
He’ll be back soon. Senzel will likely be back on the DL in no time. Seems to be his pattern.
One slight edit: the Brewers didn’t lose 2. They split with the Cards in a DH. So the Reds gained a game on each.
Wouldn’t that be a half game on each?
Never mind.
As I look back if a player is called up and if has some success he is automatically gone. Why is this? The Reds Front Office have some strange ways of trying to run & ruin the team.
URGENT REDS…KEEP STEPHENSON PLAYING EVERY DAY AS THE STARTING CATCHER.
Exactly……….and we knew this over a month ago, yet here we are. Looking at 2021, I would suppose Tyler would be the starter. Barnhart has one more year on his deal w/ a club option and Casali is under control for 2 more seasons via arbitration. Do you keep all 3???
I do and I have TS practice at 1B to platoon with Votto for 2021. He needs to be at C or 1B every day.
Move Barnhart for what he will bring in the off season. Next year he makes $3.75M with a 2022 buyout of $500K against a salary of $7.5M. The $4.25M guaranteed Barnhart should come within an eyelash of buying them Casali thru the additional year (2022) as backup.
Keep Farmer as a general utility guy including at catcher. This allows them to slide Stephenson down to 1B to rest Votto (or DH if it is still in NL) and reduce the wear on him.
They may have to send some money or a lottery pick type prospect with Barnhart to do the deal; but, it is both the best baseball and business move.
The Reds have a knack for not utilizing players when they’re hot.
I hope they win regardless of their boneheaded roster moves and idiotic everyday starting lineups.
GO REDS
Yep, Garcia, a couple of hits in the first game. Stephenson, a pinch hit HR. So bench the two young guys you contributed. Are we supposed to believe that Garcia, age 22, has less left in the tank than Votto, age 37? Just another example of why Bell isn’t the guy. But at least they won in spite of Bell’s ineptitude.
Stop, you are making too much sense!
+10
So true!
YES!
Winker, Senzel, Akiyama do have an option. Castellanos and Goodwin do not. Ty Steve, Farmer, and Garcia are the only other position players with an option. Aquino’s .683 OPS was the lowest of the outfielders.
IN how many at bats? You have to give him at least semi normal playing time to really see. Just unfair. And sorry, just dont like Goodwin. He’ll do well, and then some kind of mental lapse.
We don’t have “normal” playing time right now. We have 11 games where we need to go 7-4 at least. Aquino hasn’t been hitting any better than anyone else.
Yep – that pretty much explains it. Can’t send Farmer down – way too valuable. Don’t want to send down Ty or Josey (do want to start them more). Leaves AA as the odd man out and hope you get Winker back in good shape since he’s taking up a spot that can’t play right now anyway.
There is always the IL for Winker
Interesting thought about tonight—Lorenzen starting. Why not “hope” he goes 3 and bat him. DH for Tucker (if he is at C). Probably will be
Can only DH for the pitcher,the DH rule does not allow to DH for non-pitcher positions.
You are correct! Totally different rule than high school DH
This is surprising. I figured they would IL DeLeon as based on what Brantley said when the Cardinals pitcher failed the 3 batter rule on Sunday, he said that that the pitcher must go on the 10 day IL for failure to comply with the 3 batter rule.
Maybe Brantley was wrong or I misheard what he said.
With the Outfields being healthy AA is the odd man out.
Or maybe there will be a pitching move today?
Recall that Senzel was technically the added player for the DH yesterday. Perhaps they had to make a move last night or send him back to Prasco.
Things could develop further today depending on what happens health wise with others right up to game time. As long as it is to replace a player placed on IL, Aquino could be immediately recalled.
I agree with the ideas, give away Barnhart to play Stepenson 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 4 as catcher in 2021 with Casali 25-33% backup.
Casali, is Arb-3 in 2021, his full 2020 salary would have been just under 1.5 mil, He will be above that but less than $2 mil for 2020.
i usually agree with you Jim,
Let Stephenson be just a catcher, I do not understand asking a player to play out of position on defense, he has been only catching in the minor since 2015, taking 5 years to learn the position to be ready for MLB and one of the 1st actions is to have him play someplace else. Why take the chance of hurting his confidence by playing him out of position which could impact his overall game performance.
My thinking is that an athletic competent catcher will pick throws just fine at 1B and be able to knock down groundballs and run to the bag with them. The thing with pitchers covering is always challenging with even with most full time 1Bs.
Assuming Stephenson is hitting well, spotting him at 1B several times a month saves wear and tear on his body and/ or gets him another 20 to 25 starts across the season.
Devin Mesoraco made 109 appearances behind the plate (105 starts) in his breakout season (2014) prior to his body starting to break down. I think that’s probably about where most teams want their catcher nowadays if he is also seen as a major offensive force.
This may be a bit presumptuous; but; Buster Posey has never made more than 123 game appearances as a catcher in a season despite averaging around 130 starts a season from 2012 thru 2018. During this run he averaged close to 30 appearaces a year at 1B.
Mesoraco had congenital issues with his hips that are only apparent early in life when you spend your life as a catcher. Another example of the snake-bit Cincinnati sports teams lol
Yeah, I tweeted a couple of days back that if I were Reds I would be getting Stephenson somewhere this off season to have all 4 of his major ball/ socket joints preemptively checked. It is in his best interest as well as the team’s. If he seems a future risk, move him to 1B or corner OF now while he is still young and athletic.
I would tell Stephenson to be prepared his body to play more like Molina or Relmuto at catcher 135 to 145 games a year than anyone else and hit 280 ish with 15 to 20 HRs.
I am a believe that usually athletes get nagging injuries because they do not put the correct effort into the preparation (see Bauer and what he puts his body through to prepare for a game and season), there are always the freak accidents as well.
I also think that if I have spent the resource to train someone for 5 years to do a job, I have to give them the opportunity to own that job before I start asking them to learn another.
Just my ideas/thoughts, no right or wrong answers
Stephenson is a catcher Garcia is a a shortstop Votto plays first base get use to for the next 3 years
Red Tuesday Lineup has posted. Winker back in at DH. Moose 2B, Votto 1B, Castelllanos RF. Go light a bunch of candles for the Reds right side defense.
Suarez out since this post (Paternity leave).
Moose at 3B for 1st time, Galvis @ 2nd,
Reds have not faced Musgrove this year.
His 2020 splits are RHB AVG = 333 (43 PAs), LHB Avg = .190 (53 PAs).
RHP OPS = .959, LHB = .756.
His career splits favor LHB.
Reds start 5 LHB, 1 Switch hitter and 3 RHB.
I guess it is time to go with certain players and no more platoons at least for tonight or using Career vs season numbers.
Hoping for a Reds win to go with Cards, Phillies and Giants losses.
I do not believe that we have enough candles.
Those 3 players are allergic to leather. So is Suarez.
RHP Jose De Leon to the IL. RHP RJ Alaniz called up. To make room on the 40 man roster for Alaniz, OF Nick Williams DFA’d.