Early on Wednesday morning, just after 12:40am, Héctor Gómez of Z101 Digital in the Dominican Republic reported that the Cincinnati Reds had called up right-handed reliever Dauri Moreta from Triple-A Louisville. Update: The move is now official. The team has designated reliever R.J. Alaniz for assignment.
If you’ve been following here for the last few months you have probably seen him mentioned a few times. When the season began this year Dauri Moreta was in Double-A Chattanooga, but it wasn’t long before he was in Triple-A pitching with the Louisville Bats. The reliever was promoted after dominating the Double-A South for the Lookouts and when he arrived in Triple-A it just continued.
It’s been perplexing to watch the Cincinnati Reds bullpen blow game after game, lead after lead, nearly all season long while Dauri Moreta has been in the minor leagues pitching like Steve Nebraska. The reliever currently has a 1.02 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A with just 9 walks and 58 strikeouts in 53.0 innings pitched. One of the more incredible stats this year is the fact that he’s had more infield pop ups – 20 – than line drives allowed – 15.
Why the Cincinnati Reds waited until there were just 10 games remaining in the season to make the move to bring in a pitcher who has been as dominant when it comes to not allowing runs in the upper minor leagues as anyone in recent memory – well, your guess is as good as mine because there’s seemingly no logical reason for it. The Reds bullpen hasn’t been good. And it’s not like Dauri Moreta has been in the minors tricking guys with slop/junk. No, Moreta throws 95-97 MPH and touches 99 while showing a good breaking ball and a solid change up. And he throws plenty of strikes.
Cincinnati was going to need to put Moreta on the 40-man roster after the season to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. Now he’s just going to get there a bit sooner, which will get him a nice bump in pay as well as big league action and service time.
Finally! Agree Cabrera should be gone, but the Reds still need to remove a pitcher from the 28 man roster as they can carry a max of 14 pitchers. Moreta takes Cabrera’s roster spot, Garrett to the IL and Lopez recalled would be the best case scenario.
Talk about closing the barn door after the horse has already left.
Time to bring up some Bat’s for experience in Major League. Greene, Lodolo, Lopez, Urbaez etc.
This season so far was fun, Great games hitting for Winker, Nick and break through for India & Stevenson.. Starting pitching was good. BullPen gave away a lot of games early but looks good now. Barnhart had a good year, got some key hits, and his defense best in the NL. Votto had a few good batting streaks against weaker teams, but looked better on defense than last year. Overall, if the powers to be put their heads together, we could be better next year, knowing that we loose Nick, the heart of our hitting lineup this year.
We have to go with what we got, because of our payroll already spent on a few players for the next two years. But I see a possible exciting lineup next year without injuries.,
I don’t really think 10 games will count for much “experience”. The time to do this was at the beginning of the month, when rosters expanded. But of course, we know anyone they called up from Louisville would just ride the pine while Bell continued to sink the season by playing the underperforming “veterans” like Cabrera and DeShields.
As long as the organizational philosophy seems to be “veterans over young players, now and always”, I don’t see much to get excited about for the future.
Agree Jim, fun season watching the Reds. Allot of comeback wins, allot of grit. Allot of moves need to be made in the off season to keep it rolling.
We have some very exciting young players that could and should contribute next year. We also have some dead weight in players like Moose, Shogo, AG and Suarez.
Greene has reached his innings max and is shut down for the year. Lodolo is on the injured list with a sore shoulder. Neither one of them is getting brought up this year.
Especially Lopez.
Let’s see:
Greene has been shut down after reaching his innings limit.
Lodolo has pitched in forever and has only thrown something like 69 innings over the last two seasons.
So two of the four have already been declared done for the year. Who else should come up? Senzel? Antone? They would seem to fit the bill of calling up players who can’t currently play.
You mentioned Votto as if an afterthought, please do your research first before comments.. Votto will end up with 35 homers and close to 100 rbi.. not to mention he missed 30 games to injury.. would have projected out to highest among all players.. oh and He’s 38.. so I call that a huge! again huge! Year..
It’s the Reds’ way
Hey Titantic,
We got those new lifeboats in that you ordered. Oh wait.
hahaha!!!
What a joke. Cincinnati Clowns.
Bases loaded ZERO outs against a rookie and Nick and Votto can’t hit a ground ball or a fly out. They just are not winners and I don’t know why? Cards continue to beat everyone.
Excited for him, but likely too little, too late for the team.
My bet is lorenzen is hurt. Or maybe Shutting down guitierrez and doing a bullpen day for his next start.
Lorenzen hurt? Surely not!
The Reds front office and coaching staff has essentially blown the 2021 season. Game after game bone headed decisions has resulted in losses. The Reds have easily lost 20 or more games they should have won. They make the same mistakes over and over. Small market teams can and do win. Cincinnati used to be a winner. Marge Schott was a winner. Pete Rose was a winner. Please give us winning baseball or sell the team to someone that will.
I will say the Reds banked on patching a pen and sneaking into the playoffs whereas the Brewers sought help and moved pieces (albeit fringy top guys) to proactively address issues.
The Reds faded and now the Brewers are on cruise control into the playoffs.
And injuries can’t be blamed. Not solely.
The Brewers? Its the cards that out smarted the Reds and now control the wild card.
Exactly right. At the trade deadline, the Reds set their sights on the Brewers. They banked on patching up the bullpen and a few players returning healthy as being enough to catch the Brewers. Wrong! The Brewers didn’t sit idly by and acquired Escobar (bats 3rd!) and an aging bullpen piece. The Cards did absolutely nothing other than acquiring 2 give-away retreads in Lester and Happ to replace bodies on a starting staff ravaged by injury. Kind of a lightning in a bottle approach similar to Cabrera.
Come September, the Brewers further increased their lead on the Reds (no surprise!), and the Reds picked up ground on the Cards while the Pads just totally collapsed. We all know the September story. Cardinal stars have hit and Reds stars have not. Lester and Happ have looked 10 years younger while Miley, Guit., Wink, Moose, Stephenson, and Naquin have provided little. Call ups like Barrero, Schrock, Lopez, and Deshields have not provided any significant help.
I blame management and their short sightedness in our not putting up a better fight against the Brewers. The why as to why we are failing against the Cubs, Pirates, Tigers, Cardinals, and Marlins I don’t know. But it sure is not uplifting for 2022 losing every series to these Division bottom feeders.
Agree with everything you said.
The Reds will never be a winner as long as they have incompetent managers! The way Bell used the entire pitching staff was an absolute joke!!
What will it take for Reds fans to realize all that is happening with the franchise is that they are making the owners richer. It’s a BUSINESS. Period !!!
A positive attitude is fine as long as it’s based on REALITY. When those with a positive attitude consider the naysayers who CAN see reality as being negative they only frustrate themselves.
I just can’t understand WHY a team of professional ballplayers need a head coach anyway. Think back when you played sandlot ball. Did your team have a manager? Maybe the Reds should start a new trend and have players pick a CAPTAIN and together with the players input make decisions. Results can’t be any worse than they have been for past 10-20 years.
One final thing: the reason Reds fans wont be seeing a WS is because they won’t STOP supporting the team. They fear the owner will move the team out of Cincinnati. That kind of thinking only creates more income for the owners ENSURING things won’t change.
There is no use in hoping Bell is fired. There isn’t a manager alive who could make a WS team for these owners. So why hope for a change of Bell or even a new GM for that matter.
For the last 20 years I have put blame for things right where it belongs: on the fans. They and they alone are FEEDING the problem. Starve the owners out by cutting their earnings. If their decision is to move the team then just wave “Bye” as they go.
Life isn’t all about baseball. Losing the team wouldn’t be the end of the world. The MLB has plenty of teams. Now that we have live streaming I am shifting my focus to following my favorite player(s) rather than a particular team. Much less stress in life. No more anxiety or depression. Try it !
Best thing that can happen is that the 2022 season is cancelled whatever the reason. If this doesn’t happen then I suggest fans try what I said in the previous section: follow players not a specific team .
I agree with a lot of what you write. The Reds have chosen being fan friendly, embracing the past, over winning consistently. I’d rather sweep the Dodgers than go to another “bark in the park” or “Johnny Bench night”
no offense get well soon
I remember a lot of fist fights in the sandlot over who got to play and where. And our egos weren’t nearly as big as professionals, nor were millions of dollars on the line. There absolutely has to be someone with authority calling the shots, whether you like it or not.
Not only that, but did any of those sandlot teams ever make it to the WS?
Well said.I decided years ago I won’t give ownership my hard earned money I wish a lot more would do it
The losing stops now,championship baseball will return to Cincinnati… Yeah ok whatever
Jim, nice to see the kind words for Tucker B. I cannot believe all the people on this site who constantly belittle and call for the replacement of TB. It has even reached a state of lunacy recently where people are trying to make a case for TS as a better defensive player. Yea, Yea I saw that idiotic stat about DRS. If you even halfway believe TS is better defensively , I have to seriously question your level of baseball knowledge.Tucker, quite possibly has won more games for the Reds than anyone on the roster. I have no idea how many balls in the dirt with men on base he has saved, but it is a whole bunch. Add in the fact that he gives us a good righty, lefty combo and they have almost the same number of AB’s. TS is not being overlooked. Of course Tyler should be playing against lefties for Votto, but that is another story all together.
Calling for a rising star to replace a quality veteran is not the same as belittling him. Everyone understands that Barnhart is very good defensively. That doesn’t mean it is wrong to call for his replacement, nor is it an attack of Barnhart. And it’s absolutely not unreasonable to think Stephenson is the better option.
And I’m not putting my opinion on the matter out there, but if you think blocking balls is all that makes a defensive catcher, I seriously question your baseball knowledge. The absolute #1 defensive purpose of a catcher is to call a game and work with the pitchers to carry out a game plan of getting opposing hitters out. That dwarfs any other defensive stat for catchers and it isn’t even close. Not saying TS is better at that than TB. But the fact that you didn’t mention it in your rant about defense tells me a lot.
Who was catching for the Reds Tuesday night when the Pirates scored 2 runs to take a 3-2 lead which shaped most of what came afterwards One of the biggest plays of that inning was the eventual 3rd run advancing to 2nd base when the throw toward home on the 2nd run was not cut off despite the Reds clearly having no play at the plate. Who’s job was it to call the cutoff? The catcher’s, Barnhart. Basic baseball not executed.
Well said. Just count the times with Barnhart behind the plate when the count goes from 0-2 or 1-2 in the Reds favor to 2-2 or 3-2 before the plate appearance is resolved. He calls a game like either he doesn’t trust his pitcher’s stuff even when it is outstanding, or he wants to throw extra pitches to try and set the batter up for next time around.
>>>Well said. Just count the times with Barnhart behind the plate when the count goes from 0-2 or 1-2 in the Reds favor to 2-2 or 3-2 before the plate appearance is resolved. He calls a game like either he doesn’t trust his pitcher’s stuff even when it is outstanding, or he wants to throw extra pitches to try and set the batter up for next time around.
YES to all you just said!!!!!!!
They need to bring Tucker back but at less than 7.5 million. The only flaw I see in Tucker’s game is he has a weak arm. That is offset somewhat by a quick release and good mechanics behind the plate.
The issue is, if they bring Barnhart and DB both back, Barnhart will still be seen as #1 and TS will remain “stuck” behind him. That does not move the development of TS or the franchise forward.
Scott Hatteberg had a 120 OPS+ playing 1B for the Reds in 2007, the year Votto made his first MLB appearance in September. The following season, Hatteberg was a part time player by the middle of April and was released in early June.
The parting was actually somewhat amicable with the Reds saying they wanted Hatteberg to have the opportunity to catch on somewhere else of his choosing and Hatteberg speaking highly of Votto. But at age 38, Hatteberg chose to call it a career.
If the Reds really believe Tyler Stephenson is the generational talent he appears to be, it is time to cut the strings with Barnhart. There is too much baggage there for Stephenson, Barnhart, and the team to have a potential soap opera over who is the #1 catcher, the aging fan favorite from a losing era with middle of the road career stats or the hope for a brighter future ahead with the new star guy.
The Reds will have Mark Kolozsvary at AAA as a long term backup for TS and should have no issue in finding a reliable (and cheap) backup guy for a year or 2. Meanwhile, Barnhart at age 31 can get on with his baseball life elsewhere.
No, Jim, the gold gloves have not. Has Castellanos’ plus-.300 BA and extra-base hits done it? I get that you don’t like Tucker as a player, and I disagree. The Reds and every other team need two quality catchers, and they have that.
And how many Gold Gloves has TS won? Some people don’t let facts get in the way of their theory.
And have those Gold Gloves made the Reds a winning franchise?
Would think Cabrera is on the block here. But the pitcher limit is also an issue. Waiting with baited breath. Still even if used aggressively he is only getting in 6 games max and is not playoff eligible. (Just stating cause of mathematical possibilities, not saying the reds are making it)
The season has been over for weeks. It’s past time to be playing the young guys. Bring up Lopez, Lodolo, whomever and start them every game. Park Suarez, Moose, et. al. and recognize that once again the Reds ownership and management failed to deliver, and in some cases, appear to have deliberately sabotaged success. It’s not business. In business one has to build a going concern, have viable products, etc. that keep the customers coming. Reds fans suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, as many of the Bell supporters have demonstrated. The rest of us grew up with the team and remember when they were a proud and serious franchise. Now they are a joke.
Yeah, it escapes me how it can be good business to have all those empty seats which would be largely filled if the team was still in the thick of things.
And how many more 2022 season packages would they sell off a stronger finish?
Of course, if an organization is battening down for a lockout (and/ or to be sold), neither of these really matter, do they? In fact, in case of a lockout fewer season tickets sold might actually make life easier and cheaper in the long run.
Is that the same Lodolo who hasn’t pitched since July due to injury? That would be a brilliant call up. And you call the Reds a joke?
+1000
Get serious Doc, I was just throwing out names. The point is to go young. Pick a name. Playing the same cast of mediocre “veterans” like Cabrera and DeShields isn’t a path to the future.
I agree LDS. How do you justify Suarez(finally showing some life), Moose, DeShields Jr, AA, Akiyama and Cabrera playing this long and fail to give Lopez, Barreo and Schrock a chance. I am sure Barreo has a lot of confidence right now with the way he has been used and jerked around. When you bring up a top young prospect, you either play him or don’t bring him up. Using him as a PH, starting once every week or ten days or in a strange position is a good way to ruin him. Finally bringing up Moreta when you needed him and could have used him a least a month prior is inexcusable also.
Love The Scout Steve Nebraska reference. A truly underrated sports movie and sports character.
Nobody never asked Krall/Bell why f***ing Moreta had not been called up?
And in other news, (Kyle) Farmer closes the barn door, horse long since out of sight. This is insulting to Moreta, the current Reds, and Reds fans. The fact that Asdrubal Cabrera is 0-21 for the Reds instead of giving Barrero or Lopez that playing time is insulting. At this point why not call up some AAAA reliever who will likely never play in the majors otherwise and create a little feel good story? Or start Sam LeCure pitching to Corky Miller on throwback night? There have been years when the Reds just had no one decent to play, and they stunk. This year that did not need to be the case, but especially because they did NOT stink the roster management has been all the more painful. I hope in these last 10 games that Moreta pitches five times with an ERA of zero, and Lopez and Barrero both hit about .450. SMH
Spot on.
I know people have a love fest for Barrero but the fact is he has shown nothing on offense or defense in the majors yet.He’s still young and yes only limited playing time between last year and this one but stop acting like he’s Barry Larkin jr
Barrero did things at AAA which topped anything Senzel ever did there. Yet despite the fact Senzel has spent more of his MLB service time on the IL than the active roster and has a far below league average wRC+ (80 with 100 League average) and OPS+ (78 with again 100 league average), people have penciled Senzel in as a regular next season?
What am I misssing here?
I do not think anyone is saying he is Barry Larkin, jr. Few will be or have been. How does a franchise know if he is the real thing if they keep playing him out of position and do not give him a good opportunity to prove yea or nay at a position of huge need going forward. ..Are they really going to look at him as a CF…..lol…smh…only the Reds…er…David Bell
But the question is, why would they play someone like Cabrera instead of Barrero? They went out and acquired Cabreara instead of giving Barrero or Lopez a chance. Cabrera has 20 ABs, Barrero has 27, in that small sample size, Barrero has outperformed Cabrera. So why keep giving ABs to Cabrera? And do we even have to ask which of the two plays better defense?
That’s the huge slap in the face to both the players and the fans.
I agree with what Larkin said when Barrero was first called up, “If Barrero is on this team he should be playing every day”. He was also hinting at moving Farmer to 3B.
That would be about triple what they are hitting so far.
It was such a boneheaded move to put Cabrera up with the bases loaded what the heck? Can Narciso Crook be any e we rose than Cabrera???
Agree! Friedl should have not have been pinch hit for. Another questionable Bell move. Cabrera should be dropped ASAP
Doug Gray is the best when it comes to covering the Reds. Having said this has anyone read what Chad Dotson just wrote in the Cincinnati Magazine? Wow.
I did. And recommended it last night myself. I see he’s working on a billboard project right now. “Sell the Reds, Bob”
I about spit out my breakfast when he said that Big incompetent Bob nixed several trades for Billy Hamilton. He is a meddling owner and now he undermined the minor league development system.
I think we have a good idea where the problem is. It starts at the top and works it’s way down. I agree with Chad. There needs to be new ownership and new faces at least in some of the management positions.
Scouting and drafting seems ok to me as well as development. It is roster management and on the field management that is lacking.
Chad didn’t hold back in that article. Good for him!!!! It needed to be said out loud.
On the Reds’ website, the 40-man roster lists 41 (plus 2 more — Bailey, Senzel — on the 60-day): 20 pitchers, 4 catchers, 10 infielders and 7 outfielders. Was a move made recently to reduce it to 40, but it’s not yet posted on the site?
Stephenson is (presumably) on the COVID unavailable list and therefore doesn’t count against the 40 man roster. Somebody has to go to the 60 day or be DFA for Moreta and also for Stephenson if he is returned to active duty.
Doug noted yesterday in a Twitter discussion that Tejay Antone has not been moved to the 60 day IL yet and presented an easy move to open one spot. He also suggested that pitcher Jared Solomon was also not going to be active again this year and was another 60 day IL candidate.
Stephenson on the COVID list — hadn’t thought of that. Many thanks, Jim.
Strikes me as a bit lopsided that they can’t or don’t officially designate COVID list when it seems so apparent from the collateral things that do or don’t happen when the player is on the COVID related list. 😉
maybe a slight window to play ?
Stephenson back and catching.
But of course, TS has to bat 7th because Farmer and Suarez both had decent games last night.
I wonder how many starting lineups there have been this year, and how that compares to other teams?
OK so the Move will not be TJ antone. He is moved to 60 day for Mark K. (Olympian) to retain a 40 man spot after TS is activated. (TS being activated today mean close contact only, not getting it). So another move required
But that I can see Moreta has not been announced yet either. Must be one of those situations over the weekend where they are awaiting results of an early morning medical evaluation on someone? Or maybe someone to show up to be told in person they are over the rainbow?
could be anything, but as long as it is made by 1229, it is valid.
Wonder if there is a set time of day when waivers are declared cleared or waiver awards are announced? For instance, in the NHL, noon is waiver hour. So, maybe they are awaiting that to know if someone who was already on “quiet waivers” vs DFA is outrighted or awarded to someone else.
“We will bring championship baseball to Cincinnati.”
Well, the Dodgers did play in Cincinnati last weekend.
Hahaha!!!
Stephenson was recalled; Kolozsvary to L’ville.
Very strange to be getting to the computer just now and seeing that this move still hasn’t happened. I had heard about it from two different people last night before the report from Hector Gomez hit the public. Gomez even noted in his timeline that he spoke directly to Moreta last night – the team isn’t telling a guy he’s called up just for S’s and G’s. A little bit strange.
Moose to 10 day for Maureta
Its moose to the ten day IL
ALaniz DFA’d….. Cabrerra out here like Neo in the Matrix dodging bullets
Have to get him going
Officially postponed until 9/27
Reds just extended Bell. Have a nice day.
Once again it is not ABOUT WINNING it is about money and IGNORANCE! I observed at least 7 games this year just know the FUNDAMENTALS an it would have been a REDS victory. INJURY LIST is a JOKE the REDS have more hang nails than real injuries.