The Cincinnati Reds have made their first set of roster cuts in spring training today. They also extended an invite to big league camp to Chase Anderson, who has participated with the big leaguers this spring at times as a call up from minor league camp.
The Reds reassigned four pitchers to minor league camp, along with three position players. Left-handed starter Andrew Abbott, and right-handed pitchers Connor Phillips, Alan Busenitz, and Ben Lively are headed to minor league camp. They’ll be joined by outfielder Allan Cerda, first baseman Alex McGarry, and catcher Jhonny Pereda.
Chase Anderson started for the Reds last night and struck out five batters in 2.0 shutout innings. He was with the Reds last year for the final five weeks of the season. He made seven starts with Cincinnati and two relief appearances, posting a 6.38 ERA in his 24.0 innings that saw him allow 17 hits, walk 15 batters, hit three others, and strike out 23. The 35-year-old may now be in consideration for one of the open spots in the rotation.
Allan Cerda had been crushing the ball in his limited action this spring. He has two home runs and three walks while hitting .429/.600/1.286. That came in just 10 plate appearances, though. Both Jhonny Pereda and Alex McGarry were hitting .143.
Connor Phillips, the top pitching prospects in the organization, had only pitched in one game. He struck out three batters, walked two, and allowed a hit in 2.0 shutout innings. Andrew Abbott, the top left-handed pitching prospect in the organization, also only pitched in one game. He allowed a run in 2.0 innings on two hits while picking up two strikeouts.
It was a struggle in camp for both Alan Busenitz and Ben Lively. Busenitz allowed seven earned runs on six hits and a walk – giving up three home runs – in just 1.2 innings. That led to an ERA of 37.80. Lively didn’t do much better, giving up seven earned runs on 11 hits in 2.2 innings. That was good for an ERA of 23.63.
Busenitz and Lively cuts are logical. Guerrero should be cut too. Maybe Abbott, Cerda and Phillips deserve more time, at least while they perform well as they did so far.
Really, Abbot, Cerda and Phillips were very long shots to make the ML team, and it would be best to get them to Minor League camp, where they would get in more games. I think Cerda was on the 40 man last year, but was outrighted and now is not. These guys have talent, and we will see them again.
As the Reds stretch out their starters to 4 and 5 innings (or more), they won’t need as many arms in each game.
Busenitz was supposed to be a big deal coming from pitching in Japan. They may be giving him some more time to show what he has, but he may get released at the end of Spring Training if he doesn’t show more.
Ditto Lively. Unless they just are short of arms for the AAA pitching staff.
Chase Anderson may be pitching his way into consideration for the 4th or 5th starter. Stay tuned.
Abbott showed a lot of polish. He’s on my short list of mid-season rotation callups if the need arises.
Wow, bats .424 and is in an early batch of cuts? Tough crowd as Rodney would say
At this stage of his career, Cerda needs to play everyday. In an outfield of Fraley, Benson (?), Myers, Friedl and maybe one or two other guys (Fairchild….maybe?), would Cerda play every day? Plus, he’s right handed.
Someday soon, he will be up here, if he really shines in the Minors (AAA?).
If we make any assumptions on what the front office thinks of players based on numbers given. CES needs a lower number. Give him Will Myers number. Hope me forces his way on the team.
The Reds will send DelaCruz down for the first two weeks to get another year of service before arbitration eligibility even though he’s our best player. Always on the cheap.
They’d need to keep him down for more than a month to get by the arbitration date because two weeks may get you that extra year, but it won’t be enough to stop a guy from being super 2 arbitration eligible.
But also, the Reds didn’t play that kind of game with Tyler Stephenson, Jose Barrero, Jonathan India, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo…. so maybe pump those breaks on “always on the cheap”. There are a million factual reasons to bash how this team operates, but this one probably isn’t it.