Last night in Toledo the Louisville Bats had a big 12-3 win over the Mud Hens. During the game they got about as good of a night from their two big league rehabbing players as they could reasonably ask for, too.
Tyler Naquin, who is working his way back from a quad injury, got on base all five times he stepped to the plate. He homered to lead off the game on a ball that resembled a laser off of the bat.
Tyler Naquin homered in his first at-bat tonight for Louisville while on rehab. Absolute laser. pic.twitter.com/i2kiG2yMWj
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) July 2, 2022
Naquin would also add a single later in the game. Oh, and he walked the other three times. He’s only played in two games so far, but he certainly seemed to be feeling good about seeing pitches last night and doing exactly what you’re supposed to do with them.
Justin Dunn took the mound for his second rehab appearance – this was his first with Louisville after pitching in Dayton last weekend. All the right-handed starter did was fire out 3.0 perfect innings with four strikeouts. He was scheduled to throw 50-ish pitches in his outing or 3.0 innings, but he needed just 36 pitches to complete his outing, so he headed to the bullpen to finish up the remainder of his pitches and get his work in.
Lucas Sims out for the year
This was shared last night in the game recap, but we figured it would probably be good to share the news here, too. Lucas Sims is going to miss the rest of the season. The reliever has a herniated disc in his back that is going to require surgery next week. This was first reported by Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“It’s probably been there for a little bit,” Sims said. “Pitching irritated it. It just got unbearable. It’s hitting the nerve and I can’t feel my foot. That’s not good, so surgery next week.”
Good news on Naquin and Dunn, with Lodolo also set to return next week it’ll definitely bolster the roster. With Sims it’s now three pitchers out for the season.
Dunn looked like he was throwing free and easy. The ball just jumped out of his hand.
Where does he go for Cincinnati?
The rotation? The bullpen?
It’s all kind of a big dumpster fire, now.
I was at that game (you can see my daughter and I in the front row above the Bats dugout in the Dunn video). And I must say, Dunn was electric. I wasn’t sold on him after the initial trade, but he will definitely supplant Minor in the rotation.
Lofty predictions for someone who has thrown about five innings total now in the combined 2021 -2022 seasons. Throw five good innings and you’re ready for the major league rotation? I’d think it much wiser to have him pitching in Louisville where he can build arm strength and innings, unless there is the no options remaining situation, in which case he should at least rehab for the full 20 rehab period.
Since Minor is a lefty, Lodolo would be a more logical replacement for him, and that is iffy given Minor’s start last night, and DB propensities. One good start by a veteran on a big contract might sentence Lodolo to be optioned to Louisville to build strength and innings
Um, I didn’t say he should be in the rotation tomorrow. lol
He was on a 3 inning limit. Obviously he has to build up for quite some time. He hasn’t pitched regularly in a year. My comment was on his stuff and that he will make the rotation when ready. Geez.
That Dunn is better then Minor is lofty?
My 60 yr old arm could beat minor.
Here is hoping Dunn’s arm situation is such that he can be leveraged directly into the pen. Even if they need to designate his days to pitch in advance, he has to be the choice to be the first man out of the pen and take them as far as he can.
Reds are bringing Dunn up as a starter. They will need Lodolo and Dunn very soon as Mahle and Castillo could be traded in the next 4 weeks.
Yankees need OF with Gallo and Hicks not performing. Phillies OF is poor. Maybe Pham or Naquin could be traded
Trade both Pham and Naquin. If OF guys don’t come back in any of the deals just settle in with Friedl and Fairchild along with Senzel and Almora (assuming he isn’t also traded).
+1000 though I’m still not sold on either Friedl or Fairchild
I agree and why young guys need to play. See who finishes a half season strong and healthy in AAJ,Senzel, Fairchild with Friedl getting some time. Reds bungled the rebuild in 2015 but they did play Schebler and DuVall every day and got an AS season and GG defense from Duvall in 2016+. You never know who takes their opportunity and runs with it. Look at McGarry in AA marching upwards. Never heard of the guy prior to this year.
You stated yourself that they don’t have any lefty bats anymore. We need Naquin. They could platoon Naquin/Almora and might not come out too badly. He’ll be 32 next season though. I’d really hesitate to give any more then 2 years since he’s banged up all the time
Almora is hitting .278 against RH’ers. Naquin has a greater power potential but doesn’t hit LH’ers as well as Almora. But he’s older and cost more so he’ll play more often. Personally, trade him if you can find a buyer.
Naquin is a FA in 3 months . Reds have zero control over him. If they had a 2023 option, I’d keep him. They can still re-engage with him if they choose in the off-season.
Reds aren’t committing new money to anyone in 2022 and Naquin wouldn’t take a home cooked deal anyway. Reds are purging players and contracts and money to hit the reset button. Naquin wants access to 30 markets of FA $$$$.
Thought I’d check in at the halfway point to see if anyone is still fantasizing about the Reds actually fielding a MLB-ready team. I’d suggest just stop trying to figure out how to turn these bread crumbs into a steak dinner. Management dismantled a decent roster with zero idea how to rebuild. In fact, let’s remember that Krall claimed this is not a rebuild, that he’d “positioned the team to be competitive now and in the future.”’ Anyone could see he was trying to sell what he’d gotten in return for his terrible deals: the bread crumbs. The Reds have awful player evaluation from the top down, and an awful present and future because of it. Facts. 1000%. Bet. Period.
Best wishes to Sims. Back problems are nothing to mess around with, especially if he is losing feeling in his foot. The surgery should take care of things, as should having plenty of recovery time.
herniated discs don’t get better with age. Even with surgery, normal everyday life can be challenging. Throw in the constant torque that pitching requires on the back and I highly doubt we ever see Sims in a Reds uniform again. If he does, it will be very short term until it flares up again. This organization can’t catch a break.
Line up out Moose in Schrock out. What is Bells Problem? No need to worry though everything will come around soon, as Bell says. Good thing he wasn’t captain of the Titanic, there would have been no survivors. For all the bell supporters that was just an analogy.
I’m prepared to join this bandwagon on August 3rd, but for now the Reds should absolutely play Moustakas with a goal of deciding if he can, with consistent playing time, hit well enough to stay on the roster or if they simply need to declare his contract a sunk cost and cut him. I’m no longer optimistic that he will rebound, but given the dollars they have committed to him, they need some certainty before they move on.
I wonder how hard Dunn was throwing? I was excited when they got him, but didn’t think he’d be back this fast. 102 career innings with 70 hits allowed says he has (or had) arm talent! A little hope amidst this drudgery.
Sims? He’s done. He was never that good anyway and that weird delivery doesn’t allow for repeatability or availability.
Naquin is a tough decision. He can hit righties, but he’s often dinged up. We need him, but we don’t need more dead money either. They’re so young and have so much cash after 2023 that I’d offer like $20 mil/3 or some kind of club option for 2025. He’ll be 32 next April.
Castillo threw a gem in Fenway so he’s got to be on Boston’s radar. I’d call and see if Jarren Duran is available in some kind of package for Luis. He’s better then Senzel and AAJ by a mile. He can run and he’s a big athletic lefty hitter that could develop more power. Boston is so old they probably won’t deal him though
I have to think it would be foolish for the Reds to not try to move Naquin, and take literally whatever they can get. It’s unfortunate about Sims, but the team is going to have to move forward looking at next year and assuming that neither he nor Antone will be contributors. If they come back strong, great, but it would be silly to depend on that. Hopefully the FO doesn’t destroy the organization’s hopes for the next decade with bad deadline moves.
Minor should be gone as soon as possible, followed by Moose. Who would trade for them, and we need to continue to think about next year as we look to build a better team.