Jason Vosler has come to an agreement with the Cincinnati Reds for the 2023 season. He signed a minor league deal with an invitation to big league spring training. That moves the number of players in big league camp to 63.
The now 29-year-old has spent parts of the previous two seasons with the San Francisco Giants at the big league level. In 2021 he struggled while getting 82 plate appearances across 41 games. In that time he hit just .178/.256/.356. Last season he hit much better, getting 111 plate appearances in 36 games for San Francisco. He hit .265/.342/.469 with 6 doubles, a triple, and 4 home runs in that time.That was better than he hit while in Triple-A Sacramento during 2022, posting a .242/.311/.433 line in 94 games with the River Cats.
Almost all of his time came against right-handed pitching in the majors. The lefty saw just 10 plate appearances against left-handed pitching and he went 2-9 with a walk in those trips to the plate. He showed big splits in Triple-A, crushing right-handed pitching by comparison. He hit .273/.347/.521 against righties in 238 at-bats. Against lefties he managed to hit just .180/.237/.262 in 122 at-bats.
Back in 2021 he hit lefties and righties well in Triple-A as he posted an OPS of 1.064 against lefties while walking more than he struck out, and posted an .870 OPS against righties. Something seemed to change last season, though, as he managed just 8 walks and had 40 strikeouts in the minors against lefties.
Defensively he’s played at least a little bit of every position on the field in the big leagues with the exception of pitcher, catcher, and center fielder. In the minor leagues he’s spent most of his time at third base, but has some time at first and second as well. He played a handful of innings at shortstop with the Giants in 2022, but prior to those few innings the last time he saw action at the position was in 2015 when he was in Low-A with South Bend. Don’t expect him to see much, if any time there.
You can see Jason Vosler’s career stats here.
If you’re working with a penny budget in a billion-dollar world, the platoon galore idea is one way to maybe get some positive results on the field. (Truthfully, we don’t know if this is truly the strategy.) It’s going to be difficult to get enough position players on the 26-man roster to truly platoon at all OF positions and DH.
I think the strategy is, throw enough crap on the wall and some will stick.
Why do the Reds keep adding reject players that have zero chance to make this team! Seem to be going backwards the last 2 years cutting payroll below the 100 million mark, the lowest it’s been in years. I’m sorry but if you want to be competitive, you’ve got to spend some money or you’ll continue to spiral downward!
Particularly hard to find platoon spots all around when they have already committed to carrying 3 catchers who all bat RH. They have probably spent that spot for an additional position created by the enforcement of the 13 pitcher rule (finally!) about 3x over already/
Could be a valuable piece in a strictly platoon deployment. Clearly hits RHP.
Another exciting move. Wow. 🙂
Another who cares move.
The Reds are basically competing with minor league teams for talent. They have obviously, opted not to swim in the major league talent pool.
I can almost hear Will Meyer telling his wife: “Don’t worry honey, it will only be for a few months”.
+1000
Hey what happened to Krall saying they were done adding people just a few days ago. He has already added 3 more minor league deals. I know minor league deals are a crapshoot.
If you honestly think they will add anyone at all of interest this season you’re wrongly mistaken.
I read into that comment as him saying there were not big league deals expected but with minor league deals you don’t have the same kind of guaranteed money involved.
Nick Krall may say the team is done adding talent, but this is “Bull” Krall we are talking about here.
The Bull is very stealth like. He may say he is done adding talent this year, but just when he has lured the other GMs into a false sense of security, The Bull pounces on guys like “Jason Valsor”. The other GMs won’t know what hit them.
I agree, but is he really adding “talent”?
yea, Krall obviously is’nt in it to win with the lowest payroll they’ve had in years..looks like another 100 loss season again!
I thought he said that the roster was pretty much set, rather than that they were done adding talent. Drury, Naquin, DD, among others were added in similar scenarios and produced, both on the field and in milb return.
I like vosler’s bat more than some of their major league signings personally, so i see no reason to be upset here. Provides depth for all the corners and a potential platoon bat. Good signing.
The getting a LHH infielder is a nice move. Maybe getting ABs against RH pitching his ball plays up at GABP
Sorry bat
This should have C. Trent reassess his C+ grade and move the Reds front office’s off season grade to a solid A.
We are very right handed in the bench. This might be a decent left handed option. Once Votto retires we will be even more right handed.
I know it won’t happen but I’d love to see us sign Michael each to a 1 yr 8$m deal with a player option for 2nd year. We need a veteran startup. Why he is still available puzzles me.
*michael Wacha (stupid spell correcting)
Wacha has turned down 1- and 2-year contracts, he is willing to wait for 4 years.
He may wait a while. We’re not talking about Cy Young here.
Or even Johnny Cueto.
*yawn*
In other news, anyone else annoyed that the video auto-play pops up in the corner of the window … every time you refresh, comment, change pages, etc.???
Yes. But I’ve got bills to pay and it was either try this and see how it goes, or raise prices over at Patreon and take money out of other peoples pockets instead of just having this video pop up. It felt like the lesser or two evils.
No problem Doug. If it pays your bills to keep writing on here then I’m all for it. Don’t hesitate on letting us know what’s going on. We are here to support you.
Yes to what JB says – easy to close and scroll on. If it pays, do it.
Completely understand. It’s a minor thing. Life is filled with annoyances that have to be dealt with. I’m just happy to have this site and all my RLN crew to help get me through a season.
Should I go ahead and order World Series tickets?
Yea, I got a feeling I’ll be pushing up daises before I ever get a chance to purchase one of those tickets.
Thank goodness I grew up with the Big Red Machine and have those memories to take with me.
Amen to that
He and Alex Young seem like good bets to make the team out of the NRIs. Maybe Pinder, too. Other than Gutierrez going on the 60, not sure who they pick for the other spot. Lopez and Kuhnel feel like easy DFA picks.
Might come more down to who you jettison from the 26-man, bench as of now looks like Senzel, Solak, and two back-up catchers (this plan for TS puts a huge crunch on the roster). They’d be choosing him over Barrero and Lopez. His likeliest path is as a placeholder for Votto and/or Sezel if they’re still recovering from their surgeries. A lefty swinger would be a welcome addition to the bench, but the Reds seem intent on carrying a weak hitting catcher instead.
I know you are probably correct in terms of the bench, but Nick Senzel really should have to win a spot on the opening day roster. I’m not saying to release him, but Nick Senzel shouldn’t be penciled in anywhere, until he has earned it.
I have been a big supporter of Nick Senzel in the past, but I don’t know, how much longer, Senzel should be considered a key member of this team. If
If Nick Senzel is batting .250 or lower,
at the break, then it’s time for the Reds to move on from Nick Senzel.
V4L, I’ll go further than you regarding Senzel … he should be playing for a 26-man roster spot in Spring Training. If his bat hasn’t improved, he should be optioned and given playing time at Louisville to work on it.
With Lopez, Fraley, Friedl, and Siana they really needed a left handed hitting corner outfielder and back-up infielder.
Siani and Lopez will be in AAA so it might be nice to have a left hander on bench – especially till votto comes back.
After watching Lopez get almost 200 plate appearances, I kind of see why he hasn’t been given more opportunity. He has absolutely no power /bat practically knocked out of his hands. And his defense isn’t exactly great. So at this point I don’t see why deserves a 40 man roster spot.
aren’t those the exact same stats as Pinder’s? lol
It is like a requirement to play for the reds
you have to hit .220 and hit 1-2 Homeruns/month
I guess we don’t deserve better players than this.
Vosler to Pinder to ?
In Two weeks the Reds will have 93 players in camp and 50 of them will be on minor league contracts with invites to spring training.
I think that Nick Krall is working on writing a new book about his technique.
It will be called “Pennyball; finding players on a shoestring budget for a lousy owner”
And how the expected outcome is to be in nearly last – place, and then claim “the system is so unfair to small market teams!”
Nick Krall, master of “Pennyball”. It should be a best – seller.
I love it! Penny-Ball. Has a very Cincinnati ring to it.
I keep waiting for them to sign some more starting pitching depth, very little so far. They must be planning on the “big 3” being very healthy ALL YEAR and same for whoever the 4-5 end up being, because there is very little depth to choose from at the ML level.
If one or more of the big 3 go down for an extended period, we might be starting Slim Pickens.
@ATH agreed. I think the starting rotation is a complete disaster waiting to happen. What happens when (not if) Lodolo and Greene go down for any amount of time? The failure of the front office to sign enough pitching, to cover the required number of innings, seems to me the most neglectful aspect of the past five months.
Even though, I have a pretty low opinion of the Red’s front office, I am frankly stunned they have neglected starting pitching so completely this off season.
Which is another reason I am just baffled C. Trent rated this off season so high.
what would you have them do if they are already at their maximum budget for major league players? There is basically one above average free agent pitcher left and he wants 8 million $ per year on a multi year deal.
There will be a severe lack of left handed hitters. If Votto isn’t good to go, only Fraley is a lock on the opening day roster. Friedl is likely, but that only has 2 LH bats in a lineup. I don’t recall who mentioned signing Naquin, but he’d be a good fit, and if we do have a Votto in the lineup we’d have a pretty even batting order.
C Stephenson / Casali / Maile (Free)
1B Votto / Myers (McGarry / CES)
2B India / Newman (McLain)
3B Steer / Newman (CES)
SS Barrero / Newman (EDLC / McLain)
DH Friedl / Stephenson (CES)
RF Meyers / Friedl (EDLC / McLain)
CF Naquin / Senzel (Siani / EDLC / McLain)
LF Fraley / Senzel (McGarry)
It’s going to be a rough year, but it will at the very least be interesting to see what some of these prospects that are on the cusp of becoming MLB’ers will do in 23.
You look at that lineup and you think “it needs more LH hitters”? At best there is only one or two major league hitters in their prime on this team. I don’t think it matters if they are hitting LH or RH. Heck maybe they should get some to switch sides.
Everyone sees a lack of hitting “ It’s going to be a rough year” it’s not a uniquely you insight. That’s why most of us are complaining about the team not spending money on FA’s. Even the camp that wants to see the youth play, and not sign FA’s know that this team will not be a good in 23.
It is possible to have other critiques outside of a main point.
I am one of several who mentioned Naquin and I much prefer him over Vosler. He is left handed, familiar to the team, performed well at GABP and can play all 3 outfield positions. I can’t imagine he is going to make >2$ million per year on a major league contract and at this point in the off-season I would imagine he will have to take a minor league deal. His time with the Mets was a disaster, he can’t be in high demand.
I had a dream that the Reds management would be impressed and embarrassed by the success of the Bengals and how the Cincinnati public responded to an exciting team making great strides the last two years. That they’d decide that maybe they’d like to see what that’s like. That hey, maybe this being competitive, winning thing is a cool thing to do…
But, nah …..
Well now when the fans ask “what about getting some better hitting” Krall can say. . . . “We have Vosler for that”.