Eugenio Suárez is likely to be the Cincinnati Reds shortstop according to Reds General Manager Nick Krall. Speaking to the media this afternoon he showed some confidence in Suárez and the transition back to shortstop.
“It’s looking like he’s going to end up being the everyday shortstop,” said Krall on Saturday afternoon. “I feel good about it. He’s played well, he’s moved really well at short. He’s made all of the plays in the field. He’s done everything you need him to do and I’m excited about it.”
While the defense has been the focus for Suárez over the last week and a half as he’s tried to get reacclimated with shortstop after years of playing third base, his bat has been playing fairly well in Arizona, too. He’s hitting .278/.381/.500 with six extra-base hits in 14 games played.
Nick Senzel is day-to-day
Outfielder Nick Senzel is day-to-day with a mild groin strain. Nick Krall noted that he expects him to be ready for Opening Day. It’s been a strong showing this spring for the center fielder. Senzel has hit .324/.419/.541 with six walks and eight strikeouts in 43 plate appearances for the Reds, including two doubles and two home runs.
Reds cut Osich & Delmonico
The Reds released reliever Noé Ramirez earlier this afternoon. A few hours later the team announced more cuts, but these were just moves to send players to the minors. Left-handed reliever Josh Osich and outfielder/first baseman Nicky Delmonico were both reassigned to minor league camp.
Josh Osich had been picking up plenty of strikeouts, fanning 11 of the 34 hitters that he faced this spring. But guys were doing damage against him when they did make contact as he posted a 6.43 ERA in 7.0 innings where he allowed eight hits and five walks. Nicky Delmonico had hit well in his 28 plate appearances. The 28-year-old had a .292/.357/.458 line with three walks, five strikeouts, and four doubles on the spring for Cincinnati.
That leaves the roster at 34 players. A few more days to get down to the 26-man roster.
We all might as well accept this and make the best of it. Yes, our defense at SS won’t be stellar this year, but it assures us of having Garcia season for at least one more year. Here’s hoping Moose returns to solid defensive form and India picks it all up faster than MLB pitchers figure out him.
It’s almost baseball season … the one where the games count.
Are you saying Suarez has no defense capabilities? I thought he did well at 3rd and now returns to return to his original position
For all those that say Spring Training performance doesn’t mean anything I imagine Noe would disagree.
I hope we win and Nick Krall looks like a genius. Really.
If the Reds can trade Aquino, I say go for it. After watching him in the minor leagues I think the team does know what he is. He has intriguing potential, but has never been able to put it together for more than a couple of months. The Reds need hitters who will get on base, and Aquino is more of a strike out/home run kind of guy.
Aristides Aquino = Edwin Encarnacion. Please front office, haven’t you learned anything? We let Encarnation go for the same reasoons and he became a dominant major league power hitter for a decade.
I said before, “Why not?” I mean, if we are going to look to make IFers who have never played the OF before CFers, then why wouldn’t we consider moving a former SS-turned 3rd baseman back to SS? The latter seems much more possible than the former.
Don’t get me wrong. I still wish we had Lindor, Story, or someone else. But, when we need help on offense, we have to consider what we have.
I’m nervous about Senzel. I know they say it’s not major right now but they guys history just doesn’t stand up to that comment.
As for Suarez I am honestly thrilled he has been giving the keys to SS. All the other options looked pretty meh…. I know he is not going to have the best range but I feel like he will get to a lot more balls then we think.
Today’s cuts don’t really surprise me
Senzel is officially injury prone – there is no other way to see it. Now CF depth in the organization looks very weak. I can’t see how we can let Aquino go with Senzel as the only “healthy” center fielder. Until Shogo gets back – from the always challenging hamstring – we have to keep Aquino to play center field. We let Strange-Gordon go – who could have filled in at CF for a bit. Also pretty much guarantees we keep Naquin as he can play a passable CF for a few games.
I think you may be forgetting about Mark Payton and he’s on the 40-man, unlike Naquin, and that could be a big deal in the scenario we’re looking at.
I’m encouraged by the Red’s infield with Suarez at shortstop and Jose Garcia gets a year to work on his offensive skills.
Kyle Holder is coming out anytime. Personally I can guarantee it. Who needs a option C SS and a player who can barely hit , plus he is getting old too. We need to keep players like Kyle Farmer,(Dee Gordon) and Jonathan India to step up not a older veteran who can’t play well anymore.
Aristides Aquino = Edwin Encarnacion. Please front office, haven’t you learned anything?
Too much time has passed to correlate AA and EE. Encarnacion was a hitter in his time with the Reds. But oh that defense with those wild throws over the first baseman’s head. But AA has been around a long time and has had a good career.
Too many double letters. I meant EE.
I think AA actually has more power than EE and Encarnacion was a feared power hitter in the big leagues for a decade. And Aquino’s glove is much better. I’m just saying….we had a dominant power hitter once and we let him go, hopefully we don’t do it again.
Also let go of Wladimir Balentien (hit 60 homers in 130 games in Japan in 2013) and Wily Mo Pena, who both had inane power. Problem was they couldn’t use it often enough against big league pitching. That is kind of the same problem Aquino has. His raw power is huge, but being able to utilize it consistently is a problem.
Edwin never had contact issues at all. He didn’t have strikezone judgement issues either. He just didn’t tap into his full power potential until later on.