The Cincinnati Reds are signing right-handed pitcher Connor Overton according to Robert Murray of Fansided. The deal is a minor league one with an invitation to spring training.
Cincinnati is looking to add some pitching depth and they’ll get that with Connor Overton. In the 2021 season he saw action in both Triple-A and the big leagues with both the Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations. He threw 15.1 innings in the big leagues with a 4.70 ERA. In Triple-A he threw 58.2 innings with a 1.99 ERA while giving up just three home runs, walking just 11, and striking out 52 batters. You can see his career stats here.
The now 28-year-old Overton has only pitched in the big leagues during one season in his career and it was this past season. After not pitching in 2020 – at least at the big league level (there was no minor league season) – he reached Triple-A for the first time. Twice in his career he was released and pitched independent league baseball – once in 2016 and once again in 2019. Most of his time on the mound has come as a reliever where he’s made 89 of his 98 appearances in the minors. He did start three games in the big leagues in 2021, but those starts lasted 3.0, 2.2, and 1.0 innings. Strange enough, three of his final four appearances in 2021 came against the Reds.
Overton throws everything, including the kitchen sink. He’s got a 4-seam fastball, a 2-seam fastball, a cutter, a change up, a slider, and a curveball. He doesn’t throw hard – averaging 92.4 MPH on his fastball in his limited big league action. His batted ball profile could be worth keeping an eye on. In the small sample size that was his 15.1 big league innings he was a big fly ball pitcher. But in his time in Triple-A his ground ball rates were a bit above-average. Throughout much of his minor league career, though, he has been a fly ball pitcher – just not to the same extent as his big league time in 2021.
Get ready to hear the mob complain about this signing
and…..go:
Eating ? waiting
Eating popcorn waiting
how’s that popcorn???
Popcorn was better reading comments on Lance McAlister’s page
Lance wants you back
No complaints from me. This is just the signing we were looking for to propel us to the NL Central crown.
And so begins the dumpster diving
Looks like Iglesias declined the qualifying offer from the Angels so they’ll get a comp pick if he signs elsewhere. I contend that trade is up there with the Chapman and Dodgers trades as the worst the Reds have made in the last 10 years. They cut Noe Ramirez, so only have one AA player that remains, which is not much better (and might be worse) than whoever they would have picked with a comp pick. The salary Iglesias made might have been mostly offset by the Reds’ remaining in playoff contention and maybe even hosting a playoff game or two considering how bad the bullpen was to start the year. Plus, they had to eat salary to get Wilson and Cessa from the Yankees to try to fix the bullpen. Very short-sighted vision from the front office on that one.
Well, boy howdy, I think you summed it up nicely.
They had to waste some money to save a little money. I think that’s what you said.
Iglesias ALONE would not have made a HUGE difference in the dumpster fire that was the Reds’ bullpen in 2021, but it might have made some difference.
And the pitcher they released prior to Spring Training 2021, Bradley (?) would have made some difference too.
TOP MEN working in the Front Office. TOP. MEN.
This is exactly how and why FO and ownership of reds is such a joke. Perfect example of how bob screws the pooch.
I don’t recall many Iglesias supporters here near the end of his tenure. He might well have made a difference this past season, but I have to agree with David that it probably wouldn’t have been enough: He’s a closer, and not interested in being anything else. The Reds’ bullpen often had blown the game before a closer would have pitched.
As Yogi said – it’s deja vu all over again. Welcome back to 2020.
All over again and again and again and again………
Deja Vu meets the infinite loop and apparently, it survives multiple reboots too.
Its a minor league deal so its not really much of a risk… I feel like this could be dangerous though since he seems to be more of a fly ball pitcher and pitching in Great American is a little scarier when your a fly ball pitcher. I do feel like this is more of a depth move than someone to expect will be in the bullpen.
Was waiting for the Reds to make a big off season signing and BOOM!!! Congrats to Krall, Castellini and co…..sorry I ever doubted you.
Wait! Is this sarcasm? This is a family friendly site, remember.
I see this signing as basically they first add Louisville Bats pitching depth so after this who knows? Could be a prize…
The only remaining question is whether he’ll be the Reds’ closer in 2022 or more of an 8th inning setup guy.
Shoot me.
No.
Someone needs to take away the movie “Major League” from Bob Castellini. I think he’s watching it way too much and is actually trying to mirror their success!
The narrative this off season is simple
Reds ownership and FO are cutting payroll to that budget that lets ownership make money. Its not about winning. They will pay players each year that fit the budget that year regardless of how that fits into any winning plan.
They Lukewarm mediocre commitment by ownership that mandates insular 2022 budget in a vacuum and not about winning 2022 or creating winning in the future. Reds are about cutting budget to make profit each year for ownership
Theres no grand plan .
What is scary is, aside from that plan, they don’t seem to be able to asses the value of their own assets. Iglesias, Barnhart, Miley. Reds punted a playoff birth and valuable first round draft pick with Iglesias…..Tigers are so excited to have Barnhart that they want to extend him before even seeing how he performs in his walk year….and just watch the Cubbies flip Miley later this offseason when available pitching dries up and teams get desperate to find quality innings eaters.
The plan stinks for fans, and the execution of it is even worse.
Amen, Brother
That is EXACTLY why the Cubs picked up Miley. If they CAN complete, they will let him pitch. If they fall out of the race, they can move him around the deadline. There is some risk involved. I mean if he gets hurt then the Cubs are out $10-million and get very little or nothing back. It’s a reasonable amount of risk though for a team with some money to spend. The Reds apparently don’t have that money and if that’s really the case, I don’t know how the team will ever win again in Cincy.
Nothing wrong with this signing. We should expect multiple minor league contracts each and every year as teams build their depth at AAA. Overton’s performance at AAA earned him this opportunity and I sincerely congratulate him.
This is just a warmup to the Heath Hembree signing that’s coming.
Looks like a no risk signing. I know if a Reds minor league reliever had the numbers at AAA thatConnor did last year there would be a daily post about getting him called up. So I guess it is a good thing then.
I think that one of the possible outcomes of the future Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Player’s Association and the Owners, is that some “poorer” teams may eliminate one or more of their minor league franchises.
One of the things I think the Player’s want is a shorter time between ML appearance and calendar time to Free Agency. One of the possible outcomes is that teams will move players through their Minors faster (and eliminate some minor league teams to save money), and stop stashing AAAA level players at their AAA level team.
So guys like Overton might just be out in the cold at this time in their career.
This would certainly reduce the quality of play as there would be less development opportunities
Ha! That made me laugh MK. Or we would now expect to trade him for some other teams top outfield talent because- you know, he is a can’t miss prospect with that era in triple A.
Overton made some starts last year, so…
The Reds have now back-filled the rotation, making Castillo expendable for a trade 🙂
And while they are at it, perhaps the Reds can also sign Overton’s teammate in Indianapolis, Keury Mella, and bring him back into the organization. His 7.22 career major league ERA could make Amir Garrett expendable.
You would think that reds fans would understand how our ownership operates by now. Most years, we will operate on the fringes and sign 1-2 minor free agents to short term contracts. We will also depend on our minor league system to produce most of our talent. And we will try to keep productive, home-grown talent around for at least one contact post arbitration (Bruce, Phillips, Bailey, cueto) but only if the terms aren’t outrageous. Otherwise we let them go (cozart, Hamilton, Frazier, Leake, Dunn).
This has been going on long enough that we should know this. Unless Steve Cohen buys us, we are who we are. Better to get on with understanding this and look forward to cheering for the good players remaining and the youngsters coming up soon.
Well said and I might add the always we can compete cry even after falling out of the race by the end of May.Most of us are just a glutton for punishment even when we have no chance to compete with this ownership.We know it and they know it and we know they know it and they know we know it.Its scripted all the way down to who plays and when and for how long etc etc etc.Its only about the balance sheet and what Bob wants to make each year.
We didn’t fall out of the race until Sept.