The Cincinnati Reds announced this morning that they have placed right-handed starting pitcher Jeff Hoffman on the 10-day injured list with a right shoulder injury that he suffered last night in his start against the Washington Nationals. After walking his 5th batter of the game, Hoffman motioned to the dugout and the trainer and manager came out for a very brief conversation before they all walked back to the dugout. Hoffman then exited the dugout with the trainer to presumably go to the clubhouse to be examined further.
At least for right now the Reds will replace Jeff Hoffman on the roster by calling up reliever Cionel Pérez from Triple-A Louisville. He’s been up and down this year between the two stops. The lefty posted a 7.71 ERA with 14 walks and 12 strikeouts in 14.0 innings with Cincinnati earlier this season. In Louisville he’s made just two appearances with both being a hitless inning each, but both also featured a walk – an issue he’s going to have to improve upon moving forward if he’s going to be effective on the mound in the long run.
Cincinnati has also called up reliever Art Warren. He will only be available in the second game played today against Washington. The game on Wednesday was suspended by rain and will be resumed this afternoon at 2:05pm ET. It will be played to the finish – a full 9-innings. The regularly scheduled game is set for 7:05pm ET but has been changed to a 7-inning contest. With it being a doubleheader or sorts, a 27th man is eligible for the game and the Reds chose for that to be Art Warren. He pitched in two games with Cincinnati last week, throwing 2.0 hitless innings with two walks and two strikeouts. In Louisville he’s struggled. Sort of. His ERA is 8.53 and in 6.1 innings he’s allowed eight hits and two walks – one of which was intentional. But he’s also struck out 15 of the 29 batters he’s faced, making him perhaps the unluckiest pitcher alive as 75% of the base runners he’s allowed have come around to score despite him striking out 52% of the batters he has faced.
Getting back to Jeff Hoffman being placed on the injured list – it would seem at a minimum he will miss two starts. Wade Miley is eligible to return on Sunday. If he does then the Reds can simply keep Vladimir Gutierrez in the rotation to take over for Jeff Hoffman after he starts tomorrow against Chicago. But if Miley isn’t ready to return, then Cincinnati would need a starter to step into the rotation other than Gutierrez – at least for a short period of time.
The average ERA of the call-ups is 8.07; is baseball really this bad?
Check out some of the former Reds being activated at the MLB level- Nate Jones, Cam Bedrosian- so yes the pool is thin. And Warren/Perez will likely be around for between 1 and 3 games before being sent back.
Wonder if any of this could relate to the 3 batter minimum rule for pitchers? For years the joke was any guy who threw left handed could come up with a mediocre specialty pitch to go with a mediocre fastball and be a LOOGY till his arm fell off. Now that role is basically gone so perhaps other guys are also able to hang around longer.
Cam looked pretty good for the A’s
Injuries are up 30% from where they were in 2019 – and that doesn’t even count any COVID-IL stints. Teams need significantly more players right now than they did in the last full season. Lots of guys you normally wouldn’t see out on the fields right now around Major League Baseball.
Cionel and Art are back. And apparently Antone is still in relief.
Can the callus play in the first game? Guessing no..
Perez can. Warren can’t – he’s only eligible for the 2nd game.
Not often does a guy get called up and be eligible to pitch in relief for the guy he was called up for.
The pickings are slim at Louisville. There isnt much there on the relievers side and every day players are horrible as well. Rodriguez is basically the only one hitting decent. The kids from AA down need to hurry up.
who is down in AA that can hit?
Senzel out 4-6 weeks for knee surgery.
Yes. We wrote all about it yesterday. https://www.redlegnation.com/2021/05/26/cincinnati-reds-outfielder-nick-senzel-to-have-knee-surgery/
Ouch! It’s still early but the Bats record thus far is really too bad to mention. Of course the money dried up this year but I still thought it odd that almost all the off-season energy seemed to be going toward shoring up the Bats rather than the Reds. Its not surprising that those guys haven’t had much impact at the MLB level but it seems like their impact at AAA isn’t much better. Makes one wonder who is primarily responsible for making those acquisitions (Krall, Bell and/or some anonymous “committee”). Looking at the roster, I would wager than half of that team was acquired in the last year. Maybe there are other factors??
Terrible loss for Hoffman and the Reds. I know he was an easy target for Reds fans on this site, but in my book he was not in the top 10 of problems with this team. I was excited when they traded for him and thought he could be another diamond in the rough – especially getting out of Coors Field.
He did have command issues – nothing like last night – but this guy was far from a “bum” like he was described by some here. He was top10 draft pick out of college by Toronto. He was a top prospect for Colorado. He just needed to learn out to pitch.
For this team, he was cheap #5 starter with a sub 4.50ERA with upside. That is a huge asset for this team because they can spend $$ in other areas. Any team would love that for their #5.
The issue with this team is the under-performing “Stars” need to play at their expected level. I am talking to you Senzel, Suarez, Castillo, Garrett, etc.
Then a team like Cincy could carry a developing Hoffman or India and still have coverage.
Anyways – this is a lost season, play the young guys and keeping building for the elusive future.
But every time I have been south of the border, I heard that tomorrow never comes. The Reds rebuild, reload, reboot (pick your own) seems to eternally prove this true.
Agree on Hoffman to a pt. I wouldn’t consider Senzel a star too many games missed & lack luster performance thus far. Votto (24M) Moose (14) Suarez 10-11M yet Suarez’s R & RBI production is = to or better than high $$$ contracts
Looks like a prime time to move Tejay Antone into the rotation, if your going to do it now is as good as time any, when you have a need.
Perez again. What was it someone said a few days ago about doing the same thing over & over expecting a different result? I’m not up on current 40 man roster rules but can’t he be removed from the 40 man without exposing him to waivers or FA? He’s young. Let someone else take his place and see where they go. All he really has on his side is that he’s a lefty. I’d rather have seen his slot used by Rodriguez.