The word trade gets used in a weird way in sports and today’s a perfect example of that. The Cincinnati Reds “traded” utility man Ryan Vilade to the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations. In other words they “traded” him for cash, much like you trade cash to the grocery store for a loaf of bread.
Cincinnati picked up the 26-year-old Vilade on waivers in the middle of June from the St. Louis Cardinals. He made his big league debut with the Colorado Rockies in 2021 when he played in three games. He didn’t return to the big leagues until 2024 when he played in 17 games with the Detroit Tigers. This season he played in seven games with the Cardinals and then one game with the Reds. For his career he’s played in 28 games and gone 9-for-64 with 18 strikeouts, hitting .141/.200/.188.
When he joined the Reds organization he was sent to Triple-A Louisville where he played most of the rest of his season. With the Bats he played well. Over his 65 games with Louisville he hit .296/.381/.536 with 18 doubles, a triple, 12 home runs, 26 walks, and 51 strikeouts in 269 plate appearances. Before arriving to the organization he hit five home runs with Triple-A Memphis, giving him a career best 17 home runs in 2025 at the minor league level. His previous career high was 13 back in 2024 with Toledo.
Ryan Vilade played a little bit of everywhere on the field. In the 2025 season he played every position multiple times with the exceptions of shortstop, catcher, and pitcher. He never had much of a defensive home and moved around often. On one hand that is useful, but on the other hand it also likely tells you have both St. Louis and Cincinnati felt about him – that he probably isn’t a good defender overall and that they didn’t view him as more than a potential bench player. If either saw him as something more than that then he likely would have played one position a majority of the time. You can see his career stats here.
There’s nothing wrong with being a utility player. Every team has at least one of them. But when you lose them it’s usually not that big of a deal. For Cincinnati, moving Ryan Vilade to Tampa Bay clears a spot on the 40-man roster. It currently stands at 39 players, including those on the 60-day injured list. That injured list will cease to exist in the next few days and those players will count towards the overall number. Cincinnati will likely need a few spots to protect guys from the Rule 5 draft, so this likely isn’t the last move they’ll made – whether it’s letting someone go via a DFA, a non-tender, or a trade.
It’s easy to root for players like Vilade. I hope he gets a shot with the Rays.
“For Cincinnati, moving Ryan Vilade to Tampa Bay clears a spot on the 40-man roster. It currently stands at 39 players, including those on the 60-day injured list. That injured list will cease to exist in the next few days and those players will count towards the overall number. Cincinnati will likely need a few spots to protect guys from the Rule 5 draft, so this likely isn’t the last move they’ll made – whether it’s letting someone go via a DFA, a non-tender, or a trade.”
Just a quick note that the 39 players on the 40 man roster mentioned above also includes three players with options (Hays- mutual option, and Barlow and Suter which have club options) for which they have until 11/6 to determine if those options will be picked up by all needed parties or if those players will become free agents.
I do not see a world where we bring AH back at 12 million, I like Suter, but, we can do better, Barlow is a fave of Tito’s I could see him coming back although he had a bad last month and may give them pause. Obviously if you release these guys, other people will still have to replace them, will they be able to improve ( I am talking to you Nick and Brad) from the production they are releasing?
With Espinal gone, thought he’d compete for a spot on the 26 man roster in ST. I’m thinking Moll, Zulueta, Banfield and Benschoter are the next ones in jeopardy of losing their roster spot.
I think Zulueta, Banfield or Benschoter could be the next one to be removed from the 40-man roster, although , it’s probable they would be a little hesitant about Banfield due to the outrage of catchers nowadays…
Catchers are definitely outraged these days. Hard to find, too.
Our old friend Pile O. Cash
Lolol…
I wonder how much $$ we’re generally talking in fringe of the roster type guys like this.
1 million dollars (pinkie nail to the teeth).
The owners love that transaction.
He had a couple terrific years at AAA. Sometimes it makes sense to hold onto these guys as you’re probably getting their peak years and did nothing to develop them.
He’ll probably get at least 250 plate appearances and achieve at least a +0.1 WAR with the Rays. They are a very smart organization and know what they are doing. Still I agree that the Reds have others more deserving of a 40 man roster spot.
Where does Ryan Vilade play with the Big Club, if he is on the 26 man roster?
Left Field? First base? 3rd base?
I mean, we have to face it, this guy is 26 and still in AAA level. His minimal playing time in the Majors has not been impressive. Maybe if he got 400 AB’s and just played, he might prove something. I think he is, like a lot of guys at AAA, pretty good, but in very limited Major League playing time, he just did not get hot and tear up the baseball. Tough luck, really, for guys like this who might actually develop into good ML players, if they just got the chance to play.
I would guess that the Reds got (maybe) $500K for Vilade. Which is next to nothing in terms of Big League Dollars, but it does clear a roster spot. Which is the most important thing right now. Otherwise they waive him and get nothing.
My only worry is that Tampa has a tremendous scouting system and typically do not acquire people who do not have good MLB value. It is how they compete strongly for the playoffs each year with less money than 80% of all teams. If they see value in acquiring Ryan there is probably major league value there.
Part of that is an accepted myth. They have as many career minor leaguers as anybody else does and they get a lot of them in trades.
Everybody acquires “career minor leaguers” to fill out rosters. It’s just that Ryan was on the 40 man, and to get him off, they would have to waive him, designate him for assignment, and somebody would have snapped him up (for their AAA level fill-in needs). The Reds got SOMETHING (cash) for him, rather than just lose him on waivers.
This happens every year, to every team You don’t have to make the Reds front office look like a bunch of ninnies.
An understandable move, and several more obvious ones to come to prepare for the expiration of the IL and the Rule 5 draft. Among all the names listed, and some others we can all identify, it’s very doubtful they move Banfield – he’s likely the best they can do for a AAAA/emergency Catcher, which is usually the 40th spot.
I can see a world where Spiers is added back to the 60 day IL as well. if he even comes back next season, it would be mid season at the earliest