The Cincinnati Reds made it official just now, calling up right-handed starting pitcher Riley O’Brien. We knew this part of the transaction was going to be coming because the Reds had already named him as tonight’s probable starting pitcher. The other side of the transaction didn’t come as much of a surprise, either, though. Left-handed reliever Cionel Pérez was optioned back to Triple-A Louisville.
As for Riley O’Brien, we covered a lot of what you can expect to see from him yesterday. Tonight will be his Major League debut, so who knows how the nerves will play into it, and you almost always do wonder just how the stuff and execution of it will play making the jump from Triple-A to the big leagues. This season while pitching for Louisville he threw 112.2 innings with a 4.55 ERA, 93 hits allowed, 16 home runs, 55 walks, 10 hit batters, and he struck out 121. He’s in his first season with the organization after being acquired last August in the trade with Tampa Bay for Cody Reed.
As for Cionel Pérez, he’ll head back to Triple-A after making two perfect appearances this past week for the Reds, throwing an inning each against the Nationals and Pirates in victories. He also picked up three strikeouts between those two outings.
Anyone would be better than Cody Reed
You watched the Reds bullpen this year and still say something crazy like that?
Cody Reed has a 3.80 ERA since the start of 2018.
huh? you mean all 39 innings over 3 years at a WHIP of 1.5. That’s called lucky and injury-prone, not good.
Cody Reed couldn’t pitch his way out of a paper sack!
Pat, I see that you were also told to never let facts get in the way of a good argument.
Redsvol,
It takes 18 entire whole seconds to look this stuff up.
If you want to try and come back at me, at least do so with some facts. Not a single stat you cited is remotely close to correct for the time frame being referenced by me.
They start today at E1. Elimination is all but assured, I suppose. But is there no one else? Not that it matters. It just seems that it would be better to be eliminated by Dirty Bird win rather than an Reds loss.
Why would you assume a Reds loss with a pitcher making his mlb debut? Did you assume a loss yesterday? Worked out fine then. Your glass isn’t half empty, it’s bone dry.
Yes, perhaps my baseball life is bone dry because like a vampire the Reds FO sucked me dry. As to the little faith I have in O’Brien, what has he done to warrant the promotion ? Although Doug’s article yesterday day ended on a positive note, 55 walks and a 4.55 ERA in AAA is not impressive. Hey, I won’t mind eating crow, but it seems starting him tonight is throwing in the towel.
Being healthy is what warranted the promotion. He’s healthy and he’s still capable of pitching. There aren’t exactly many other options.
I’m pleased to see more rebuttals against some of the off-the-wall crazy statements made on this site, with no supporting data to back them up. Doug, as well as a small, but growing, group of posters are beginning to challenge some of the garbage frequently posted. It is refreshing improvement.
There was a point in time when there were far fewer comments and it meant there was an opportunity to actually read and respond to some. Those days are long gone. Ever since the site got picked up and put into the Google News feed – and don’t get me wrong, it’s been very good for business – but it’s brought in people who are just looking for a place to yell into ether. If I happen to see a comment on the back end of the site when I am on the dashboard (only the 5 most recent show, and it’s only like the first two sentences) – I’ll reply if it is something wild. Otherwise I probably won’t see it for a day or three (if ever). On a typical gameday there are 400-800 comments depending on what else was posted that day along with the game preview and recap. It’s simply not feasible to read each comment, much less read and reply to some, and also get all of the work done that needs to get done.
Speaking of throwing in the towel. Acqino, Shrock and Friedl starting tonight. If I’m a major league manager I’m competitive and going to play my best players every time. These guys are grown men. Play them!
I think Cionel Perez has potential. He is a hard throwing left hander and believe he could turn into a very good releiver. Think it’s a shame to send him back down after a couple of good outings. I know he was not so hot earlier this year, but he looked improved and could get the ball over the plate this time around.