Over the last week the Cincinnati Reds bullpen hasn’t exactly left fans feeling great. Last night in Chicago was another game that didn’t go as hoped as the Cubs scored two runs in the 9th inning, including a walk-off home run after the Reds had taken the lead in the 8th inning. The loss was the 4th in a row for the team and the 5th win in a row for the Cubs as they have vaulted past Cincinnati to overtake the division lead during this stretch.
While all of this was happening, the Reds made a roster move down in Triple-A, releasing 12-year big league veteran Andrew Chafin. He was released at the end of spring training by the Minnesota Twins after pitching in six games and allowed two runs on four hits and three walks in 6.0 innings. During the 2025 regular season he pitched with the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels, throwing 33.2 innings with a 2.41 ERA.
Cincinnati jumped in and signed him on March 27th to a minor league deal. He was assigned to Triple-A Louisville and in the first five weeks of the season he allowed one earned run in 9.1 innings pitched while giving up four hits, walking six batters, and he struck out eight batters.
The 35-year-old had an opt out and he took it because the Reds had not added him to the big league roster. In situations like this the move is considered a release. If you have questions about why a player who had a 2.41 ERA last year in the big leagues and had allowed one earned run in five weeks in Triple-A was let go you probably aren’t alone. But there could be two reasons for that.
The first reason is that he’s throwing his fastball in the 80’s more often than he’s not. He picked up some velocity as the month went along and was averaging 88.7 MPH from April 14th through the end of the month after averaging just 87.2 in the first two-and-a-half weeks of the Triple-A season. Still, he only hit 90 MPH in one outing this season. The other reason could be that he had six walks in his 9.1 innings, though that would seem to be a bit short-sighted. Four of those walks came in 0.2 innings on April 1st. Since then he’s walked one batter.
In the end it was probably as simple as Cincinnati just didn’t think that his mid-to-upper 80’s fastball was enough to get big league hitters out. After his performance this season, and last season, he wanted to see what other opportunities were out there if the Reds weren’t going to call him up. And that makes sense from his perspective. There’s always a chance that he re-signs with Cincinnati after seeing what else is out there.
You can see the career stats for Andrew Chafin here.
Since our pitching been stellar, why not give him a chance? Maybe it’s not about speed, but rather location. Really, what do they have to lose?
So really what you are saying is he left us instead of the Reds releasing him. He gave us enough time to give him a chance and we didn’t bite. Since his off -speed pitches and location were working he might get picked up by MLB team. At least his agent is telling him that because there might already be a bite out there. Let’s see where he lands.
Sounds like Suter in that the stuff might not impress but he gets hitters out.Hope he gets a chance.
I don’t know much about Chafin’s “stuff”, but a fastball that tops out in the high 80’s does sound problematic.
However, if he’s a pitcher in the mold of Bronson Arroyo who throws everything but the kitchen sink, he could get by with a fastball that sits in the high 80’s just as Arroyo did toward the later half of his career.
Either way, I guess it’ll probably be up to some other team to see if he can still get MLB hitters out.
Maybe theyre making room for Emilio Pagan.
And then sign Chapman.
Should of signed Chapman 3 years ago when he said he wanted to come back. He would still be here and probably won a lot of close games instead of blowing them.
Chafin has been solid through his career as reliever but after has lost many mph and some lack of control the Reds are hesitant to include him in the 40-man roster at least in detriment of another more valued arm or positional player. Additionally , Chafin is LHP and the Reds expect to have Caleb Ferguson back sooner than later…By the way, how is Ferguson’s rehab going? Is there an update?
Im ok with this. He would at best be the last man out of the BP. Would rather have Lyon or Antone on the roster before him
It’s too bad for Andrew but there seems to be a logjam with lefty relievers on the Reds. I’m sure someone will give him a chance at the MLB level.
Andrew Chafin has a long and successful (relatively speaking) career as a reliever in the Majors. However, his velocity is falling off. Someone mentioned his resemblance to Brent Suter as a reliever. Brent could be successful SOMETIMES, but remind me again, why the Reds did not retain him and resign him for 2026?
It’s not ALL about velocity, but sometimes guile and fooling a batter with speed changes, when you don’t have a pretty good fast ball, doesn’t work.
The guy has made over $30 million in his career. hopefully he has taken care of his financial future. Maybe rather than riding busses and carrying his own bags he would rather live a millionaires life if he can’t be somewhere to improve on the bank account.
A lot of moves this afternoon:
Ferguson -rehab Louisville
Staumont – rehab ACL
Peterson- Louisville
McCrystal- Chattanooga
Acosta and Portes- Dayton
Doucette- Daytona
It takes a lot to impress me since I am old enough to have experienced the Big Red Machine Era. This Reds team did good against bottom tier teams but now we are playing good teams we are not so good. Probably a 4th place finish. Love the way Krall thinks he has done well but in the end he is doing same as Mike Brown. Smoke and mirrors to make it look like they are doing something but since I saw them not do much in off season I am. It expecting much of a change in results.