The Cincinnati Reds have placed right-handed reliever Tejay Antone on the 10-day injured list with a right forearm strain. Taking his place on the roster, at least for now, is utility man Max Schrock who is coming up from Triple-A. The team also announced that Michael Feliz has been released.
If you are going to look for any sign of good news with Tejay Antone it’s that the team used the word strain. The words strain and sprain are often, mistakenly, assumed to be the same. There are a few differences between the two, but to boil it down rather easily: A sprain is a tear of a ligament. A strain can be a tear of a muscle or tendon, but can also be just an overstretching of a muscle or tendon. Antone has already had Tommy John surgery. So having a sprain, which would be a tear of a ligament in his pitching arm, would likely require Tommy John surgery again, and the recovery rate from a second one of those is not exactly great.
All of that isn’t to say that this couldn’t still be something serious for Tejay Antone. But that we’re talking more about a muscle or tendon instead of his UCL in his already surgically repair elbow is at least a glimmer of hope down the road. We’ll likely know more about this over the next few days.
As for the replacement coming in being a position player….. it’s both surprising an unsurprising. The team had an off day on Monday, meaning that the bullpen was generally fully rested entering the week. It had nine men in it at the time, and most times you can get by with an 8-man bullpen. You can really give it a go if you can add two more players in a week when rosters expand. Or, if you need to make a move before then due to usage circumstances, it’s a move you make when needed.
For now the team is adding to their bench. Max Schrock is back. He’s had success with Cincinnati this season in limited action. In 22 games he’s hit .311/.367/.578 in 49 plate appearances. In 38 games with Triple-A Louisville this year the lefty has hit .289/.333/.461. He was optioned back to Triple-A earlier this month. In the two weeks since then he’s hit .289/.347/.533. Schrock has crushed right-handed pitchers this year to the tune of a .924 OPS between the two levels. But against lefties he’s only posted a .551 OPS. Defensively he can cover you just about anywhere except short, center, or catcher. He’s even pitched a few times in his career.
Start Schrock in LF put Shogo in for defense late in the game if needed
Won’t happen. Schrock will ride the bench and PH.
Great. David Bell came through with a position player as I hoped for in my last post. Schrock is the obvious choice and the team has to see if he’s playoff roster ready. I think he is. The manager moves coming down the stretch will be critical. I believe they will best the Padres so getting the roster in the right position for a one game playoff is everything at this point. Besides, remember that the underdog in a one game playoff has 1.5 – 2 times better chance of advancing than in a 3 game series.
The manager does not make the final rosters decision. That is the GM’s call. The manager can have input but that is not Bell’s decision alone.
I really don’t know the answer on this but I would fathom you don’t either. If you are saying that David Bell wants a certain player for the one game playoff roster only to be denied, that seems ridiculous. Its not like big money is changing hands here. Nick Krall may have moved up quite impressively in the Red’s organization but to say that he has more expertise than Bell for on field decisions is not logical at all.
armchair GM’s like you are clueless
BTW calling up a player is not an on-field decision, it is a personnel decision. A data dumpster you are.
With the Cardinals winning today and 4 games with the Pirates coming up the Reds need to win 3 of the next 5 to keep them in the rear view mirror going into next weeks series in Cincinnati with the Birds.
I’m thinking Shogo should only start against the junkball pitchers, as anyone with quality fastball/slider wrecks him. And visa-versa to some extent AA. I’ve not paid real close attention to whether or not that is how Bell is doing it, but I think it’s worth considering above solely the handedness of the pitcher.
Maybe (hopefully) Schrock will steal some ABs until Winker gets back. I’m not on the Barrero/CF bandwagon.
Burnes beat on him like an old drum last night. I think there was a basic miscalculation in how Akiyama’s offensive skills would translate to the US game which has been magnified by some earlier than anticipated age related decline in skills.
He is clearly a fundamentally sound player who is short on physical skills for MLB at this juncture. Even on defense, while he covers the territory, his arm does not play well at CF or RF.
Could not agree more Jim
Hes not an MLB player and his bat to ball skills and on base skills in his prior league dont translate to mlb
Reds have seen alcantara and Burnes last 2 games. Both elite pitchers
I think that Akiyama and the Reds will work out some face-saving agreement whereby he returns to play in Japan next year. It probably won’t save the Reds much if any money, but I think that an in-season DFA would be touchy for both sides.
He probably could have adapted to the American game better if he had come over here when he was 22, but it has to be very difficult to adjust to MLB-caliber power pitching at his age. He is good defensively and a good baserunner, and by all accounts a good clubhouse guy, and I respect him for taking a shot at it over here.
Agree and the frustrating part is, the Reds won’t give up trying to get some value from him, and it probably continues until mid-next season. But it’s already way beyond that at this point, with one year and $8M left. Win some (Castellanos, Miley), lose some (Akiyama, Moose).
Cut bait Reds. Give the roster spot to someone that can help, and prevent Bell from writing his name on the card.
Correct JW. He was totally overmatched last night.
Needs happen Old Big Ed. Can we do that with Suarez , Moose and Garrett also?
@ ATH
Reds just proved with doolittle how they handle mistakes. They wait till 85% of the sunk salary is sunk
Akiyama will be all the rage this offseason per Phil Castellinis marketing machine
He will be DFA’d about this time in 2022. Reds are counting on a several month labor issue so reds can skip paying salaries to Akiyama and Moose and Suarez in 2022 till late spring/summer
OBE, I bet they are hoping for a several month work stoppage. That will save them a ton of money with Suarez, Moose, Votto, and Miley’s contracts. Half of that cumulative amount will save them over 30 million if there is a 3 month work stoppage. I bet they hope Castellanous opts out also. That will save them another 34 million.
Glad to see they’re going with a more balanced roster. 9 just always seemed like 1 too many relief pitchers.
Thanks God. At least Freeman was not called up! He can continue being the Bats fourth hitter…
I agree Schrock could be an option to start tonight in LF so I guess Moose will be at 3b after hit well in last 2 games…
Winker’s IL stint ends today. Has anyone heard if he’s expected back tomorrow?
Bell said it would be delayed when he got hurt. Non baseball activities then some rehab. Atleast 2 more weeks from what I understand
Thanks for the heads up. Not good news.
Not with the team on the road. Doing rehab in Cincy. Not doing baseball activities yet. At least 2 weeks per Bell today.
I like Schrock! I think he can help and a 8 man pen gives everyone a chance to get enough work to stay sharp! Now Bell can pinch-hit, pinch-run, etc and not run of bodies so quickly.
Bad for Tejay, obviously if the desire and availability was there, he should’ve been a starter.
Wanted Hunter to get a call up, but he only pitched 5 shutout innings with 65 pitch count. I wonder is he getting shut down soon.
Or perhaps they are saving the pitches/ innings for later (September). We can always hope.
Hunter skipped a turn in the rotation because of his shoulder earlier this month. While I imagine that they would love to be stretching him out and building more innings for a future full starter’s load, his arm may get treated gingerly these last weeks of the season.
Dauri Moreta deserves a shot…been saying it here for a while
+100
I just read likely castellanos opt out after this season sucks but very understandable of why. He been good for us and he be 30 why not go for one last big contract. I hope this owner of the reds bring him back. I feel if not schrock be a good young cheap option to look into. Disappointed bullpen blew it last night
They bring up Max Schrock (which is OK) but I wonder if they have considered bringing up a third catcher. A third catcher would allow Stephenson to get in the lineup every day. Barnhart and Stephenson in the lineup together might be better a better offensive combination (left and right handed batters), then having Schrock in the lineup.
It would help if Votto could play another position besides 1B (however that ship sailed years ago) or if Stephenson could play some outfield (LF). Also, if the DH comes into play, then Votto or Stephenson could DH (Winker too), although the real problem is that the Reds can’t get enough offense from LF when Winker is out. For next season, the Reds are going to have figure out how to get consistent offense from the outfield when Winker or Castellanos is out.
They’ll bring another catcher up with the September call ups.