The Cincinnati Reds have acquired right-handed pitcher Luke Farrell from the Chicago Cubs via a waiver claim. Farrell was placed on waivers earlier this week when the Cubs activated former Red Wade Miley from the 60-day injured list and needed to create a roster spot.
Luke Farrell will be coming back to Cincinnati. He pitched for the Reds in the 2017 season, posting a 2.61 ERA in nine games where he threw 10.1 innings for the club. Cincinnati designated him for assignment when the season ended the the Cubs claimed him. He’s been put on waivers multiple times since then and spent time with the Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers, and Minnesota Twins since 2017, and prior to joining the Reds in 2017 he was with the Kansas City Royals.
Farrell has pitched in parts of the last six seasons in the big leagues, posting a 4.83 ERA in his career across 67 games that have spanned 98.2 innings. He’s walked 50 batters, struck out 102, and given up 19 home runs in that stretch. You can see his career stats here.
In 2022 he’s pitched in the big leagues with the Cubs, giving up five runs in 11.0 innings over four games (4.09 ERA). Much of his time has been spent in Triple-A Iowa where he’s pitched out of both the rotation and the bullpen. In 17 games he’s posted a 5.03 ERA in 59.0 innings for the Iowa Cubs. He’s struck out 49 batters and walked 28 while giving up 10 home runs.
This season he’s pitched way better against righties than lefties. In his 21 games between Triple-A and the big leagues he’s held right-handed hitters to a .221/.323/.366 line. Left-handed hitters have hit .304/.367/.552 against him between his stops in 2022.
Cincinnati’s pitching staff has been a struggle all season as they’ve lost countless pitchers to the injured list. Picking up Farrell just gives them another option to try and get through the final three weeks of the season.
He seems better choice than Zeuch or Dugger and even maybe Anderson though the latter could settle in the next outings…Do They have 40-man roster free spot? Maybe he is gonna be the 29th player of the tuesday DH
2017 seems like a blur now but I do recall the name
Another Wonder Boy.
Luke Ferrell son of John Farrell. John worked for the Reds a few years ago, That’s all I need to know because its like getting another ex Cardinal player. It’s good to have friends and connections. David and Buddy Bell come to mind. Hope Luke does well for the Reds…Keep the wins coming!
With all the various “bowling for innings” machinations going on, perhaps we should give at least a half tip of the cap to Mike Minor for at least eating a good share of the innings in spite of the W/L undertow.
I read with a little angst all the rule changes. I like the bigger bases because it is simple and will probably lead to some SB increase, maybe less injuries and the incidents of using instant replay to catch a guy with his knuckle off the bag at the wrong time.
Don’t like the other changes, kind of reminds me of grade inflation in high schools GPAs. Skills that should be taught and learned about hitting will now be replaced with “beat the clock” defensive maneuvers. Who is going to monitor when a player moves too early or a left heal straddles on the wrong side of the base? Will these be subject to instant replay, will lines be painted on the field, and giant pitch clocks installed for everyone to see? Maybe I’m just looking at the worms but the intrinsic beauty and pace of the game could devolve into a pinball situation with constant movement, hurried efforts and officiating mayhem…and perhaps pleasing to the potential younger fans which is all that matters I suppose.
Adding a shot clock erodes some of the strategy and psychology of the game. A further erosion of baseball – rising ticket prices, shorter games, boring play – MLB is rapidly losing its entertainment value.
I agree. It’s just MLB catering to people with short attention spans. The beauty of baseball was that there was no clock. Maybe they should just limit games to 2 hours and call who ever is ahead at that time the winner.
3 weeks… thank God.
These are just wild flyers at this point – why not Matt Wisler? Sure, the analytics show plenty of issues, but he’s younger, and has been much better, and was also a brief Red from years back.
From watching the High-A Midwest League with its pitch clock I am very much in favor. The game moves and we didn’t see batters and pitchers staring each other down. The game was not hurt by the clock and I thought it improved the game.
MLBTR posted that we DFA’d Almora, Jr. Reynolds is now active.