The Cincinnati Reds have activated left-handed pitcher Wade Miley. To create room on the 28-man active roster the Reds optioned catcher Tyler Stephenson to the 40-man player pool.
For Wade Miley, he is returning from the injured list where he was placed after suffering a shoulder injury in his last appearance – a shutout outing where he allowed just one hit in 4.0 innings against Milwaukee. That was nearly a month ago, with the outing taking place on August 27th. Miley made a few appearances at Prasco Park since then. Miley joins Amir Garrett as the only left-handed pitchers on the roster that has 14 total pitchers on it. Look for Miley to join Garrett in the bullpen for the remainder of the year.
“He (manager David Bell) just told me to be ready,” said Miley. “Any moment throughout the game, late in the game, early in the game – he said be ready. I’ve thrown off the mound every other day for the last 3-4 days and everything seems to be fine.”
For Tyler Stephenson, he’s been optioned into the 40-man player pool. The final workout or whatever you would like to call it was today at Prasco Park. With the regular season coming to an end on Sunday, and the playoffs beginning on Monday, the alternate roster sites are coming to a close around Major League Baseball.
Tyler Mahle to start, Sonny Gray to relief
Don’t lose your mind just yet based on the headline above – This is for the weekend only. Well, sort of. Tyler Mahle will make the start on Friday in Minnesota for the Cincinnati Reds. What is likely to follow, though it sounds like the playoff situation could alter the plans depending on how things go, will be Luis Castillo on Saturday and Trevor Bauer on Sunday. That means that Sonny Gray won’t be starting, but that he will be available to pitch out of the bullpen this weekend if needed. Jeremy Rauch of Fox 19 was the first that I saw report it.
David Bell says weekend rotation in MINN will likely be:
Fri- Tyler Mahle
Sat – Luis Castillo
Sun – Trevor BauerSonny Gray will pitch out of the bullpen this weekend. #Reds @fox19
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) September 23, 2020
Why? So Bell thinks that Bauer, twice in a row on 3 day rest is better than a healthy Gray on 4 days rest?
Not surprising. Another LHP in the bullpen is a good thing heading into the playoffs. Let’s just hope we can get through tonight with a win and a strong outing from Bauer. From there, we’ll see what unfolds. One game at a time.
Reds org still apparently believes that somehow pitching quantity in the bullpen will yield quality despite many years of seeing things not work out that way.
If the Reds get into the playoffs, hopefully we will see an adjustment here.
It seems like it would be harder on Gray coming out of the pen on short notice, rather than knowing when to be ready. Backs are tricky!! That said, Mahle has produced. I have no problem with him getting the start. I like Bauer getting two here at the end as well. We will know shortly.
So you think Bauer will be better on his second straight start of 3 game rests, than a 4 game rested Gray? Remember, outside of Gray’s previous two starts, where he wasn’t right, he was pitching just as well as Bauer.
Sounds like that is what he thinks. Thanks
I figured Miley was going to be activated before the playoffs, but I sure didn’t think Tyler Stephenson would go down.
Surprised me also. He now has a short bench. But, depth in the pen. Suggest to me that everyone (pitching) is on a short leash the next 4 games. Kinda makes sense
As long as they bring Tyler back if they make the playoffs. Otherwise I wouldn’t like it at all.
Bell had an opportunity last weekend to pitch Bauer on short rest vs the Sox…..and thus full rest for tonite. I questioned this at the time. But Bell went his direction. I am not a proponent of this 3 day rest stuff. Hopefully it all works out because his judgment is the one that counts. I won’t be surprised if it ends up being a 7-6 game.
So you think Bauer will be better on his second straight start of 3 game rests, than a 4 game rested Gray? Remember, outside of Gray’s previous two starts, where he wasn’t right, he was pitching just as well as Bauer.
So you think Gray will be better on a 4 game rest, than Bauer will be on his second straight start of 3 game rests? I remember, outside of Gray’s previous two starts, where he wasn’t right, he was pitching just as well as Bauer.
They took the wrong Stephenson
I was surprised that the ‘other’ Stephenson wasn’t DFA’d. 8 HR in 9 innings pitched is NOT MLB ready pitching.