The Cincinnati Reds continued to trim their spring training roster. A day after sending several of their top prospects to the minor leagues – including Elly De La Cruz and Christian Encarnacion-Strand – the team made four more roster moves. Cincinnati sent right-handed pitchers Daniel Duarte, Tayron Guerrero, and Kevin Herget to minor league camp. Utility-man Richie Martin was also reassigned to minor league camp. All four players were non-40-man roster players who had invites to big league spring training.
Richie Martin had been having a nice spring so far. He had played in 13 games and had hit .316/.458/.526 with a double, home run, five stolen bases while not being caught, walked three times, and he had five strikeouts in his 24 plate appearances.
Daniel Duarte pitched in five games for Cincinnati during the spring. He didn’t allow a run while giving up six hits, walking two batters, and he struck out four hitters.
Kevin Herget made four appearances this spring with the Reds. In those four appearances he threw 5.2 innings while giving up seven hits without a walk. Herget also struck out five batters while posting a 4.76 ERA
Things hadn’t gone the way that Tayron Guerrero would have hoped. The right-handed reliever had pitched 6.0 innings in his six appearances, given up nine runs (13.50 ERA) on 10 hits, a hit batter, and he walked six while picking up seven strikeouts.
These moves lower the number of players in big league camp to 45. That number includes Vladimir Gutierrez, who is on the 60-day injured list and won’t be ready to begin the season. It also includes Tejay Antone who will not be ready to begin the season on time. There are 12 non-roster players remaining in camp, though that number includes Henry Ramos and Silvino Bracho who are currently participating in the World Baseball Classic and not in Arizona with the Reds.
Our planned trip to Louisville this summer is looking more interesting every day!
Could be really nice if some guys make it up from Chattanooga by then.
I was just thinking yesterday that I would keep Duarte over Strickland. That’s not happening now. Strickland is on this team. He is the new Kevin Gregg. Makes the team on what he did 5 years ago.
The most significant numbers I see here are 12 of 45 guys in camp being nonroster players. That makes 7 open 40 man spots with the likelihood to certainty that Antone and Just Dunn are both ticketed for the 60 day injured list which would open 2 more slots.
Thus the Reds should NOT be between a rock and a hard place of needing to DFA an option eligible player they feel could help the team later to open a 40 man slot for an NRI now. Similarly, it places the Reds in a strong position to make (and keep) waiver claims as teams with full 40 man rosters do have to make hard choices.
Plenty of space for Pinder and Strickland.
Another side of the coin is they can keep Pinder and Ramos both if they so choose (I would not so choose) without needing to risk losing Fairchild who I would bet if I was a betting person will match or even build on his 2022 OPS+ of 118 when he inevitably gets back to MLB with somebody and gets PAs at least as frequently as he did in the back half of 2022.
I think Pinder is going to see plenty of AB’s at DH (instead of CES). Vs LHP, I see Myers in RF, Stephenson at 1B, and Casali or Pinder (or Senzel when healthy) at DH. We don’t have to like it.
And some of us don’t. It simply reinforces the perception that the Reds aren’t serious and that Bell has more roster influence than some here believe.
@Michael>>> I am trying to figure out why anyone would want Pinder or Senzel taking PAs vs LH pitchers ahead of Fairchild who happens to be a much better OF than either even if he can’t be the 3rd option at 2B/SS/3B
Pinder and Senzel are below average players, who make Bell very comfortable. Fairchild had above average numbers and I truly believe such players make Bell uncomfortable.
Fairchild makes Bell uncomfortable because he’s above average??
Lol, someone hit the bourbon heavy last night.
I don’t believe that is quite the case. The Reds 40 man roster is currently full at 40 plus Gutierrez on the 60 day DL. The 7 spots, actually 8 due to Gutierrez, are the 40 man roster players that have already been optioned to the minors. Karcher, Legumina, Richardson, Stoudt, De La Cruz, Marte, Siani, and Solak.
Duh, Thank you. Been a long day.
I certainly don’t want Pinder or Senzel. Shoot I would almost rather have Moose back. I disagreed with someone on Twitter (and told him to bookmark my prediction) when I said that Pinder and Newman will get plenty of AB’s at DH. If the roster was 30 men, I would keep Pinder or Senzel for a bench role. I’m a little bothered by the optics of CES sent down after hitting .577. There are fans on this site who don’t believe he is ready but that is impossible to know because they didn’t start him vs actual major league starting pitchers.
There is a potential upside to CES. it may not happen but it could. The die is cast in Newman and Pinder, they are established, below average layers. It, like you, I expect they get plenty of opportunities this season.
It will be known if CES is ready based on 2 months of MiL PAs, which was the plan all along.
So, Strickland stays? As an old baseball coach myself, I would only use Strickland to pitch BP.
I hope not but would bet he does
“I would only use Strickland to pitch BP.”
Isn’t that what he does already? 🙂 Well, maybe not that bad but…..
Any player that makes a mlb roster or plays major league baseball isn’t “below average” getting to the major leagues is not easy. Certainly not easy as some in here act
We’re comparing major leaguers to major leaguers. I was a big Alan Knicely fan but he was a below average major league player (despite being an incredible AAA player).
To that point anyone playing in the majors is good enough to play mlb baseball. Doesn’t, in my opinion matter what they do. They made it to major league baseball. In my opinion that is more than most can say
I guess I missed the boat on Pinder. A seemingly insignificant player draws a lot of attention in pointing out Bell’s misdeeds regarding veteran players kept afloat for reasons that are inexplicably vacant. I surely didn’t expect a return of Strickland but perhaps that was the missing canary. Newman is a problem too but so say me Barerro doesn’t quite nail down his position either.
I like what I see in the outfield (Bull) but this could be a long season with the machinations of David Bell in the pitching routines and the infield rotations in a repeat of his worst tendencies. Would they have the judgment to remove him at mid season if Pinder and others burn up ABs and innings while still not establishing a solid core for 2024? If not, its time to question how an ownership class of 19 “entities” can be expected to have any coherency at all, indeed.
In today’s article about rather typical player moves without that has drawn 19 comments thus far, I noticed the devolution of this news into 18 mentions of players who had nothing to due with today’s news. Could this surprising concern about Pinder and Strickland be a nervous reaction to the upcoming reality of the games starting to count and the ability of David Bell to shepherd this strategy into the long term vision of the organization?
I think so and that is why I have been much less active on this blog the last several months. However, the content is still top notch!
I would like to know the args about keeping Strickland and Pinder instead of other intriguing younger players…It is insane…
The argument is probably that the intriguing young players have substantial upside and need more work at AAA or AA to attain it. Pinder et al are, in this scenario, placeholders. Not all young players benefit from being rushed, and developing them is more important than the Reds’ record this year. I know, CES and McClain, in particular, hit very well in spring training, but the coaches would likely have observed problems that MLB pitchers would have exploited. Unless, of course, this is all a book written by Lewis Carrol and we’re in the world beyond the looking glass; a world where management actively wants the players with less chance to succeed because the team’s goal is to lose.
Well said. I just wonder why someone like Pinder was even brought into camp. Nick Solak is essentially the same player but 3 years younger and on option at AAA. Nick Senzel aside from hopes of finally finding his unfulfilled projected potential is also the same player. And if two of a feather isn’t enough, Alejo Lopez cleared waivers and is safely parked in the minors if or until needed.
I think the Reds ‘Top Management’ may be looking at balancing capability of young players versus the service time clock to arbitration and free agency. Thus keeping Encarnacion – Strand, EDLC, etc in the minors for another season or so.
In olden days of baseball, it was more likely to bring up talented young players and see how they actually performed in The Bigs.
But now the service clock to arb and free agency starts running, and we all know how “poor” the Reds are and that they likely will not extend ANYONE and give out anymore big contracts since Devin, Homer, Joey and MOOSE(!). I frankly do NOT expect them to extend Stephenson or India, and they will get traded in 2026 or 2027 (or sooner) for more “prospects”. As this class of prospects eventually graduates to the Majors, the Reds will be marginally “good” for a while, but I would not expect them to actually win a division or something crazy like that. But it could happen by accident.
Well, so far his stellar stats in Spring training are 27 abs, 3 hits for a whopping 111 average. And oh yes, the icing on the cake, one stolen base.
I don’t care if he sells hot dogs between innings and wears two gloves in the outfield, no way this guy should be on the 26 man roster.
Pinder is probably seen as veteran insurance should India not return to form AND Steer not quite be ready at 3B. But as I said above, when Solak and Lopez are already safely on ice in the minors with Senzel presumably in the wings, why???
I take your point, Jim. I don’t know the answer, but maybe we’ll find out.
Pinder. I’ll say it again, Pinder! This is getting quite funny (at least until the season starts). Perhaps, then we can use Pinder’s ABs, Strickland’s appearances, and perhaps some of the other “never was” players as a measurement for:
1) How stubborn Bell is at playing lackluster vets,
2) How the organization is failing to develop the young talent,
3) And perhaps other things. We sorely need some organizational and management metrics to go along with the infinite data points that are assigned to every ball touch of each player.
Why do we care if Pinder makes the team? He’s not replacing playing time for any of our young guys.
C – Stephenson
1B – Votto
2B – India
SS – Barrero
3B – Steer
LF – Fraley
CF – Benson (maybe)
RF – Myers
He seems like the kinda bench guy all teams have. Now, if he’s getting more playing time than anyone above, I agree there’s issues.
The issue is that he would be taking the place of someone like Lopez, who can acutally hit and is a decent fielder and is younger. This guy should not be taking the place of the waterboy.
Lopez certainly didn’t hit 2 out of the last 3 years (minors or majors). I want our young guys (that project to be major league starters) playing most every day. If it’s not at the ML-level, they should be sent down until they’re ready and/or there’s a position for them to start.
I don’t have a strong preference of Pinder vs Lopez sitting on our bench.
OK, PInder last year
235 BA, 263 obp, 648 OPS, age 30
Lopez 262, 314,645 OPS with far fewer ABs, age 26
I’ll take Lopez
I’m not saying I wouldn’t take Lopez. I’m saying who cares. They were both below average hitters. Save the outrage over Pinder if he starts six games a week. If he’s sitting on the bench, it doesn’t matter that much.