The Cincinnati Reds pitching staff is a mess right now. We can include in that the Triple-A Louisville Bats, too. Between the two teams there are 17 pitches on the injured list – that’s enough to fill out an entire pitching staff and have several pitchers left over. The Reds signed Chase Anderson over the weekend and he’ll be joining the rotation on Monday night, but more on that later. More help could be on the way soon. Hunter Greene has been throwing after a shoulder injury sidelined him early this month and after throwing a live batting practice session on Saturday and coming through the recovery from that as expected, he’s going to be heading out on a rehab assignment this week.
“I felt great out there,” Greene said after his live batting practice session. “There’s still some things – my slider’s still popping a little bit. But for the most part my body felt great. All the guys had really great feedback. Looking forward to getting back.”
The live batting practice provided some additional benefits that throwing out in the bullpen simply doesn’t. “Out here, being able to see what the shape really looks like and reading the hitters a little bit. Kind of leaning on the Austin a little too, him being a hitter and the perspective he has from behind home plate as well. Being able to put all of those together you give yourself a pretty good idea of what it’ll look like in competition.”
Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Greene will head off for a rehab start on Thursday and that he will make two rehab starts before coming back and re-joining the big league club’s rotation.
Update: 5:30pm ET on August 29th
Hunter Greene’s first rehab start will be with Triple-A Louisville. This was first reported by C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic.
Chase Anderson to start Monday
Two days ago the Cincinnati Reds signed Chase Anderson to a minor league contract after he opted out of his deal with the Rays late last week. The Reds didn’t send him to the minors, instead placing him on the taxi squad during their road trip. He was announced as the starter for Monday’s game in Cincinnati as the team welcomes in the St. Louis Cardinals.
Anderson has not yet pitched in the big leagues this season. From 2014-2021 he pitched in at least 10 games in the majors every year. The last two years he’s struggled in the big leagues, posting an ERA of 7.22 in 10 games in 2020 with Toronto and a 6.75 ERA in 14 games with the Phillies in 2021. From 2014-2019 his ERA was 3.94 in 166 games at the highest level.
In 2022 he’s pitched in Triple-A for the Tigers and Rays organizations. With the Tigers team in Toledo he was mostly a starting pitcher, making 15 starts and two relief appearances and posting a 4.63 ERA. After he opted out of his deal with Detroit he signed on with Tampa Bay and they moved him into the bullpen with their Triple-A affiliate in Durham. The 34-year-old made nine relief appearances and one start where he was used as an “opener” and pitched the 1st inning. His ERA was 3.60 in his 10.0 innings with the Bulls before he opted out and signed with Cincinnati.
Love to hear Hunter will get a couple more starts and he is healthy. Hoping Ashcraft can return to health also.
Assuming Greene, Lodolo, and Ashcraft are future stalwarts of the Reds’ rotation (knock on wood), who else is in line to fill out the last two spots?
A month ago I would have said stoudt and 1 free agent/Overton. With the injury to stoudt – and fact we can’t get update on it which probably means it’s bad- it looks like cessa and 1 free agent.
Williamson and Phillips are clearly not ready and still young so no surprise. Abbott has potential but he’s got to develop an out pitch or develop much better control. It doesn’t look like we can count on another rookie holding down a rotation spot in 2023. And how can you be upset when we had 3 good ones break into the scene in 1 year – very unusual.
The problem will be if one or two of them come down with arm injuries.
Dunn, and a FA is my guess. If not a FA, Overton, Williamson, and Stoudt seem to be the most likely in-house options.
Overton should be part of the rotation if healthy. He was the Reds second best pitcher before the injury
i forgot about Overton. what happened to him?
Also not giving up on Dunn. Perhaps he can regain some velo in the off season.
Knowing you’ll need 7-9 starters to get thru a season, I’d rank them Dunn, free agent veteran, Williamson/Abbott/Overton.
If our big 3 starters produce and some reasonable investments in the bullpen are made, this team could be competitive. I mean, put a pair like Carl Edwards and Hunter Harvey in our bullpen next year to go with Diaz/Antone/Sims/Sanmartin/Santillan and this team could surprise.
Between now and 2023, the Reds need to sort and let guys get their bearings. That means playing Friedl/Fairchild/Barrero every day. Steer needs a callup and extended playing time. If I’m in charge, EDLC gets a September callup with 3 starts a week. Every at-bat going to Farmer/Solano/Moran/Aquino/Almora instead of a prospect is malpractice.
Totally agree. Everybody that is a potential 2023 roster option should get a full tryout in these last 2 months. Glad you included Aquino because we have all the data we need on him. And the tryout guys that don’t show anything, should be sent on their way. Tryouts at the mlb level don’t last forever.
Well…this ownership group is very adept at malpractice!!!
Bell’s contract runs through 2023. He likes some veteran presence, so I think Votto, Solano and Farmer will be the three vets. I hope that they release Moose in the spring. I think Senzel will be kept as a utility player. I think the outfield will be Fraley, Friedl, Fairchild and Almora. A good defensive outfield, but a little light on power. My starters would be Ashcraft, Greene. Lodolo, Dunn and Overton if he is healthy.
A few more starters will be needed. I agree with what sos said about the bullpen. I would love to get Hunter Harvey, Votto, India and Stevenson are locks. I’d like to promote EDLC, keep Barrero playing every day next year to see what he will be. I would also like to bring up two or three prospects to get a chance to play.
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Wade Miley is a free agent at seasons end. I know he has some shoulder issues and turns 36 soon, but if the reds can pick him up cheap… thoughts?
Wade is a fine guy, but he misses about every other year with injuries.
He was out of most of 2020 with an arm issue, pitched real well in 2021 for the Reds, has not pitched much for the Cubs in 2022.
And really, at 36, I would just say no.’
There will likely be some relatively younger “veterans” available this winter, as either non-tendered or from teams that want to dump salary.
And while I would not actually put much hope in Overton coming back and being effective, guys like that are always kind of floating around on the margins of AAA and the Majors. Connor Overton was kind of a career AAA player, and was just really sharp with the Reds in early 2022. I hope he can come back and pitch well, but not really expecting it to happen.
I was just reading he wants to make a few starts in September to prove he’s still viable. If he doesn’t his price tag would drop significantly and then I’d be interested. Otherwise, I’m good. We’ve seen the futility of paying real money to fill out the back of a rotation.
Still thought the Reds should’ve picked up Cueto in last offseason. Certainly a better bet at the time than Minor.
i don’t necessarily think we need an old grisly vet in the starting rotation next year. Just let our young pitchers try to figure it out on their own. hopefully a new leader will emerge to lead the staff. just seems silly to spend 10mil for a veteran presence on the pitching staff for a team that may lose 100gmaes next year
Problem is not enough arms – only 3 of the “young pitchers” have proven to be MLB starters, and they’ll each need to move up a level or two to be very good MLB pitchers. That leaves at a minimum, 2 more starters, and practically, 4 more needed. Ideally, 9 should be enough to get through a season, unless you lose one very early to a season ending injury.
Who are the Reds other 6? Seems Dunn is 1st in line – he’s OK to good when pitching, and it’s the “when pitching that’s the issue with him. Still, he’ll be OK as 1 of 6.
Overton seems like an 8th or 9th guy.
Still 4 more needed. Maybe one of Williamson/Abbott/Phillips if one of them shines in the spring or early season in AAA.
And now we’re to the Chase Anderson/Miley/Cueto/Minor list. Maybe a return of Lorenzon? Some of them should be available for less than $5m – Minor has proven that the savings on Miley were real – no need to repeat that mistaken exchange.
So 3 from the current staff, 3 from the current 40-man/IL/AAA levels, and 3 FAs/waiver claims.
Not good, but not bad – may get lucky.
Maybe Greene should do a couple of minor league rehab starts and then shutdown for the rest of the year. Healthy in the spring seems to be more important than this year