The Cincinnati Reds have today off, but they are still making moves today. Or at least a move. This afternoon the club announced that they have placed left-handed relief pitcher Sam Moll on the 15-day injured list with left shoulder impingement. The roster move is retroactive to April 11th. That would mean that the earlier Moll could return to the bullpen would be on April 26th’s game against the Colorado Rockies. There has not been a roster move to add someone back to the 26-man roster to replace the reliever.
The 33-year-old has only pitched in three games this season and only one so far in April. Across his three outings he’s thrown just 2.0 innings and allowed three hits, three walks, one home run, four earned runs, and he’s only struck out one of the 12 hitters he has faced. He didn’t exactly pitch well in spring training, either. Out in Arizona he allowed 10 runs on 12 hits, a hit batter, and seven walks in just 7.2 innings. That’s a WHIP of 2.48 for those keeping tracking at home. In his eight games he had an ERA of 11.74.
While Cincinnati hasn’t announced the corresponding roster move yet, it seems quite obvious what it will be. Alexis Diaz, who has been the team’s closer for the last few seasons, has been rehabbing in Triple-A Louisville for much of the last two weeks and he returned to Cincinnati on Sunday, but was not activated for the game. He pitched on both the 11th and the 12th for the Bats, so the Reds weren’t going to activate him and ask him to possibly pitch three days in a row. But when they get back on the field on Tuesday to take on the Seattle Mariners it seems that Diaz being activated and replacing Moll in the bullpen would make all of the sense in the world.
Maybe they’ll surprise us and give one of the other guys a shot. Diaz doesn’t sound like he’s all that ready. At least, based on the numbers I keep reading here.
Agree – would be great to see Mey or Maxwell, but very unlikely and somewhat understandable they need work.
I was thinking of those two as well. Maybe Diaz is back on track but I’ve not seen anything here suggesting that’s true. Bad habits are hard to break and apparently he’s picked up one or two in the last couple of years.
Alexis Diaz being activated to take the 26-man Moll’s spot makes all sense. But, what about Austin Hays? Who will he replace? Even when McLain is activated it’s interesting which move would be made
Hutibese will probably be sent down when Hays comes back.
Dunn or Benson when Mclain is ready?
Moll might be out for a while?
Benson is already in AAA.
I would like to see CES sent down for McClain and keep Marte up for now. I’d say Hurtubuise goes down for Hayes.
I agree with that. I want to see if Marte can produce at this point.
The problem is the Reds are handicapped by prospective offensive moves because there are too many players spread out between Cincinnati and Louisville who just can’t hit.
Benson’s career BA over parts of four seasons is .222, which is almost 40 points higher than his BA last season.
Hurtibise has 61 MLB at bats and his career average is .180.
CES couldn’t hit when he was hurt and apparently can’t hit when he’s healthy (.163 BA).
Dunn has 50 career ABs and he’s hitting .160.
Marte’s results are TBD, but I am not overly optimistic.
Hinds might be the best minor league offensive option right now.
Hinds is 9-41 .220 BA 304 OBP .341 SLG 645 OPS. 17 ks. In April. I’m not seeing it.
I would rather see Callahan or I.Johnson than Hinds. At least they are having great Aprils.
They might replace him with a lefty. I too think it’s too early to bring him back up. Diaz seems to throw better worse when it’s not a save situation. He needs to pitch in AAA in save situations successfully before he comes up. In my opinion. If he comes up and pitches in the sixth and seventh, I think he will continue to struggle. As for who they send down, Hurtubise is the first candidate, followed by Steer as an IL candidate so he can get more swings with Louisville and fine his groove on AAA team.
Worse*
There will likely be a slew of roster moves tomorrow. If Diaz is the replacement, why wait? He is on an injury rehab assignment, so there are no monetary or service time differences between activating Diaz today or tomorrow. It seems likely they haven’t made their decision yet.
I don’t have much of a clue as to why they wouldn’t just make that move today, but they’re going to be making a bunch of moves tomorrow it would seem, with activating both Hays and McLain (which means sending at least one someone else out, but two if they are also going to activate Diaz and keep with a 13/13 split).
I suspect they put Moll on the IL today because they can only backdate IL transactions by three days. By placing Moll on the IL today, he will be eligible to come off the list one day sooner than if he went on the IL tomorrow.
The delay could be as simple as nobody knows what tomorrow may bring. Guys get sick or hurt in freak accidents sometimes on off days. Or maybe the guys pending reactivation don’t have final medical/ trainer clearance yet and today is an off day for some folks involved.
The Bats being in Columbus this week certainly simplifies the logistics, probably even over them being at “home” in Louisville.
I doubt the Reds will go this way, but I’d do the following:
Activate Diaz from the IL and option him to AAA Louisville
Add Lenny Torres to the 40 man roster (It’s at 39 now) and replace Moll with him on the 26 man roster
Activate Hays and McLain from the IL and option Marte and Hurtubise to AAA Louisville.
Torres has been quite impressive, but as you said doubt the Reds will option Diaz.
However, I think CES could/should be optioned instead of Marte. He needs to work on his chase and MLB is not the place to work on it.
I would not be surprised to see CES hit the IL, given yesterday’s report that he is “banged up.” It would give him a week to heal and then a few ABs at AAA before being activated.
I would like to see Diaz spend more time on rehab before he’s activated–a WHIP of 2.0 scares me. Torres has the best results among our AAA relief pitchers, but Zulueta and Mey have been very good and are already on the 40-man roster.
@BK, It could be a coin flip between CES and Steer for the IL. Both could use the up to ~3 weeks of rehab plate appearances at AAA. We also shouldn’t forget there have been reports Fraley has some sort of issue with his “side”. These situations could figure in the wait and see posture with Hays and Mclain.
Steer is the one that needs to go on the IL. He is doing nothing for this team right now. I love the guy, but he’s hurting the team, and Tito is hurting the team by continually having him DH.
Yes, Jim. As I see it, the Reds have more candidates who might benefit from a trip to AAA or the IL than players coming off the IL tomorrow. It will be interesting to see who stays and who goes.
From his preseason and “season” stats I’d say Moll was injured for teh last 6 weeks and trying to pitch through it. Now we let him rest and prove he’s ready in AAA before taking a roster spot on our 26 man roster. And I don’t think Diaz should be put in a save situation until he shows me he can handle and dominate ML hitters in a mid relief role. We’re not scoring enough runs a game yet — come back McClain! — to have a pitcher who hasn’t proven he’s ready, come in, give up 2 and we lose bu 1! Tito knows this is business. Now let’s start scoring 5 a game, every game and give our GREAT SPs a little breathing room! They’re really good!
I like Moll and have since he came over from the A’s. I tend to agree that he may not have been healthy for a while now. The 2025 version of Moll is not the version we saw last year.
I really like Moll and really think this move is called for. Something hasn’t worked for a while, and whether it’s injury or mechanics, give him time to fix it/rehab. Also concerned about Diaz, but if he’s past the injury he’s still useful but it will be sub-optimal to figure out to what extent while back in MLB. Just ease him into it – say 8th inning work for a week or two.
I think it’s obvious that Diaz is coming up for Moll. Less obvious what to do with the hitting situation. Fraley’s underperformance is starting to look like his realistic ceiling now, and with Steer and CES struggling big time, it’s hard to say what the move should be.
I’d like to see Fraley down for a bit. I say leave Hurt and Dunn up for a bit longer to see if they can get a groove going. Steer should be on the IL until he can fully play at least one defensive position of need. CES the same. If he has some soft tissue problems, he needs the right therapy followed by some time practicing pitch selection in AAA. By now, other teams have the book on him; get ahead and then throw gradually higher fastballs until he’s chasing above his eyes and getting himself out.
It’s darn good and lucky that the rotation has been as good as they have, because the hitting hasn’t blossomed yet.
I hope I’m wrong but I have a gut feeling that when Alexis Diaz is called up he’ll be placed in his Closer Role immediately. I’m mystified by the Sam Moll situation. He missed the last part of the 2024 season with a shoulder impingement and struggled mightily in Spring Training and in a few appearances early on. He hasn’t pitched in quite a while and now he’s going on the IL with a shoulder impingement. Joe LaSorsa was extremely impressive in Spring Training but was sent down. It just makes me wonder how competent the Reds are in injury matters. Especially since this seems eerily similar to Spencer Steer and keeping on the 26 man roster while rehabbing a sore shoulder instead of placing him on IL until he had the ability to at least play in the field on 1B.
Moll has been down in velo this year in both Spring and MLB. Down over 2 mph from last year and 3 mph from 2023. He can’t get away with that kind of lost velo.
With the shoulder being the cause, which is never good for a pitcher, he may not be back for awhile I suspect.
Steer is hurt and is not himself, whether they want to admit it or not. I would say IL for him. Fraley has not been good. Dunn is not getting it done either. Everybody wants to send Hurt down. Give the guy a shot and some regular at bats. Dunn has been getting that chance and not doing much with it. Steer has been awful. The guy at least deserves the chance that Dunn has been getting.
Francona has rarely played Hurtubise surprisingly, they don’t seem to be big believers in him at least now. I just really hope Francona is making the moves on the daily basis, and Krall isn’t dictating any of the daily moves based on stats/algorithms 🙂 etc.
IL both Steer and CES. When they’re healthy, send them to Louisville until they’re playing well and then recall them. Hays and McLain can take their place. It doesn’t affect your roster construction because all 4 are RH Batters.
Díaz for Moll. Díaz wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t coming up.
Hayes & McLain for Fraley & CES to injury list. Reds love using IL to avoid using options on players.
People talk about whether the manager matters much. Well, here’s a clear case where he absolutely does: does Diaz come back and automatically slot into the closer’s role? If so, with what kind of a leash? I’m guessing he does, and with Bell he definitely would have, but Francona might surprise us. And even if he does get handed his job back, I bet he won’t get as much leeway as he would have previously.
But my point is: this is a big call that a season could swing on, and different managers would make different choices. So they definitely matter.
Moll’s performance and body language has been poor for awhile. He was lights out when he came over but hasn’t been right so the IL is ok
Diaz would not have been in the Reds clubhouse at GABP if he werent coming up. I suspect Tito will use him initially in high leverage but not closer situations- down 2-1 in the 8 th or tied 2-2 in 7th
With Hays and McLain its more about who isnt losing their role when they are activated and the answer is Lux and Espinal . Espinal is an elite defensive infielder while the Reds corner infield and DH have been abysmal- steer candy and Ces. Candy aint going anywhere so something has to give with Steer CES and Marte.1/3 goes to AAA or IL and the fact Marte hung around for the weekend and looked ok in back to back starts makes me think Steer or Ces goes to IL tomorrow
Ill predict CES to the IL and hurtibuise to AAA
In the outfield hays lux and friedl are the new top 3 with Dunn as 4 th outfielder and backup cf and late inning replacement. Fraley goes to 5 th outfielder and lefty bench bat and hurtubise goes to AAA
Hays’ return is more cut and dry.
I agree Dunn stays as backup CF stays over Hurtubise with the return of Hays. Not much has changed since opening day with that.
Fraley as 5th, I agree as well — his past strength is hitting vs. RH pitching but he has slashed .152/.200/.182 (OPS .382) this year against them. So he drops a notch.
The infield slot on McLain’s return is a bit murky. The lynchpin might be Steer. Can he throw/take the field?
If Steer can play 1B, CES should just be optioned at this point.
IMO, the reason CES should be optioned rather than put on the IL is so he can work on his 48% chase rate, against AAA pitching.
This formula worked before, coming out of his impressive 2023 spring training when he was sent down to improve defensively as well as to improve his on-base performance (walking more).
There is no shame in this, so just do it, right? He’s an adult, he understands his failures better than anyone, so I’d avoid a charade of an IL stint, as suggested above in several places. Treat him like a pro and he’ll respond like a pro.
If Steer cannot play 1B, CES stays until he can, and Marte should be optioned, as it is very doubtful he is fixed in nine minor league games.
If neither CES or Steer are determined to be healthy, that probably means Marte stays as the last infield option until one returns.
I say give CES more than 16 games to prove himself. Yeah, he is struggling mightily, but give him a little more time to make adjustments against MLB pitching.
True. 16 games is not much at all. He is not striking out a lot, about 20%. But he is getting himself out by chasing. Part of what i liked about Valaika’s take on CES is ‘just because he can (make contact on pitches out of the zone) doesn’t mean he should.’ This tells me they are on top of it and, if they keep him up to work on it, they believe he can improve against ML pitching. That’s be a big positive.
Dunn struck out 50% of his AB this and last year. He has exceeded the Benson level.
I would like to speculate the consideration of trading Diaz now, and I seriously doubt if he will return to the regular closing role.
Unrelated note. Kris Bryant on injured list again. Man talk about a player who can’t stay healthy.
It is obvious they have been going with 12 pitchers most of the season since Moll has pitched once in April and the starting pitchers are going deeper into games, maybe they stay with 12 and bring back Hays.
I feel like Diaz’ days as closer could be over, but I wonder will he be effective as a 7th, 8th inning guy as well? It’s early, but it seems Ashcraft, Santillan, and Pagan would be your guys in important games down the stretch if you could pick 3 to close out the last few innings.
Ashcraft, Santillan and Pagan….The New Nasty Boyz?
They need a hard throwing lefthander in there….LaSorsa?
I do like the idea of bringing up Lenny Torres. He looked good in ST, and is doing very well at AAA level right now. The guy is JUST 24 years old.
Send down Hurtibise, he is not playing. Activate Hays and McLain.
Put Spencer Steer on the DL, and let’s find out if CES is hurt or just struggling.
They need a left handed batter on the bench.
Send Hurtabise down, he’s not playing. Well maybe he needs to a little bit. I’ll take him over Fraley or Dunn right now.
I was an Ashcraft as the closer guy, but I like how he’s able to come in and give Tito 2 strong innings.
I’d probably go with a co closer setup of Diaz and Pagan. This is how I’d use them with our current roster.
CL/SU Diaz
SU/CL Pagan
FM Santillan
LHS Rogers
LG Santillan
LG Suter
ML Barlow
LL Gibaut
LG Ashcraft, not Santillan
One thing that is cool about this alignment is that our three best arms are homegrown with Diaz, Santillan and Ashcraft, 12th, 2nd and 5th round draft picks.
Better, our next best 40-man candidates for the pen are also homegrown, Spiers, Richardson and Mey, a 2020 undrafted signee, a 2nd rounder and international signee. I wouldn’t push back if you suggested that Aguilar, Phillips and Williamson end up in relief roles, though i’d not be surprised at all if one or more ends up starting, with us or elsewhere.
Could I get a legend for these type posts?
Closer
Set Up
Low Leverage
Fireman
ML- middle leverage?
LG ? LONG man?
LHS?
I’d be happier if Diaz established that he’s ready for high-leverage situations. In fact, he has shown a tendency to turn low-leverage situations into high-leverage situations. He’s always had fits of wildness, even when he was at his best, but he apparently is having considerable trouble throwing strikes and has not recovered his velocity.
Why does this team refuse to option an under performing player? The other teams don’t seem to avoid this.
Not all poor performance is injury related. Some reporter needs to ask Brad Meador or Nick Krall this. It’s becoming ridiculous. Some players need a wake up call in order to improve.
The problem might be, as it has been for years, whom to use as a replacement.
If they don’t have someone at AAA who can play in the field and can hit better than .111, then this organization is in worse shape than I thought. Steer should have never started the season on the active roster and an occasional hit is not a bright light, it’s about as effective as light from a lightning bug.
Part of issue at hand for both Steer/CES and Hays is very specifically a lack of prospect depth at AAA for 1B and the OF, and obviously the team’s preference for experience in this situation, the last point being key.
Gor prospect depth at 1B, Collier (injured) and Stewart need about one more season. And the same is true for the next wave of OF at AA.
However, if we needed a temp AAAA 1B, we do have appropriate veterans at 1B with PJ Higgins and Edwin Rios. Tyler Callihan also plays 1B and is a prospect on the 40-man, though he probably shouldn’t be counted on just yet to do more than be a fill-in short term. He also plays 2B and LF.
Currently, our best AAA depth for OF (Dunn and Hurtubise) are on the roster, replacing Hays and, defensively, Steer. The next layer down at AAA, Benson and Hinds, need time.
So, to answer RedsVol, i suspect the primary reason we have not optioned or IL’d anyone — yet — is because we are allowing more than 16 games to ramp up performances, relying on the experience of Steer and CES in lieu of the experience of Hays and Stephenson’s bats. Once both return, you’ll see moves.
Why do they need to bring up Diaz?
He really hasn’t done anything to merit a callup, other than he was a good closer a year and a half ago. But that ship has sailed long ago.
With the offense not hitting, they need to try to win every game they can, and really can’t afford to let Diaz give away victories.
Like it or not, The Reds on January 9th agreed to terms with Diaz and avoided arbitration and signed him for his ARB 1 year for $4.5 million for 2025. They also delayed him out of ST and gave him additional time in AAA to rehab.
They arent sending a reliever to AAA when they are paying him $4.5 million to be a big part of their bullpen. They made that decision in January and certainly aren’t going back on it in mid April.
Also, I believe I read the max rehab time in the minors from a stint on the IL is 3 weeks.
I think people are missing the effort the Reds spend to manage their 40 man roster and limit players ability to start the clock ticking on Arbitration/Free Agency. If the Reds have to bring up a player not on 40 man, they have to take someone off that list & potentially lose that player if he is picked up by another team. It is a long season & you especially don’t want to lose a pitcher because you prematurely exposed them to waivers when you think they can turn things around later.
To no one in specific and all of us in general, Jacob Hurtubise last name is Hurtubise. And let’s hope my auto checker does not mangle it here 😉
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hurtuja01.shtml
I thought he preferred Hurt is a beast. Lol
Anyone see this article? Any thoughts?
“However, losing Steele was a horrible outcome, as the left-hander is one of the better pitchers in Major League Baseball.
If the Cubs want to continue to be the team they hoped to be entering the season, a trade must be made for a starter.
Newsweek’s Zach Pressnell proposed a deal for them to land one in the form of Nick Martinez of the Cincinnati Reds. His proposal would move Kevin Alcantara, Fernando Cruz, and Jack Neely to the Reds”.
Looks to me like Pressnell sits around and comes up with hypothetical trades, then gets to publish them with newsweek for some reason. I read a couple quickly and there wasn’t any smoke to anything other than his opinion. That is just my opinion though haha.
Yeah most of these trade proposals never see the light of day but it lends a bit of credence to the Reds trading for a serious OF by trading a serious pitcher. Much of that of course will be determined by the outfield and team situation by the trade deadline I would imagine.
Buck Farmer released. Do the Reds bring him back to the organization on a minor league deal? Maybe see what he can do in Louisville. I’m sure he can do better than Shaw.
Great news, both Hays and McLain activated along with Diaz. Hopefully, Diaz not in the closer role initially. Hurtubise and Marte optioned. I guess concerns about CES not enough to send him to IL. Also, good news
With the current 13 position players, I’d like to see Friedl, McLain, EDLC, Hays and Espinal(3B) as everyday starters. Platoon Trevino and Wynns, Candelario and CES(1B), Fraley and Dunn and Lux and Steer(DH).