The Cincinnati Reds announced that they have made a trade with the Baltimore Orioles on their day off. Cincinnati is sending right-handed relief pitcher Kyle Nicolas to the Orioles. In return they will get cash considerations.
The Reds had acquired Nicolas in a trade on March 4th this year during spring training in a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates that sent prospect Tyler Callihan to their division rival. Nicolas was about to start pitching with Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic and decided to continue forward with that plan rather than join the Reds in Goodyear for spring training. That decision would cost him a chance to make the opening day roster.
He would spend the first week-and-a-half of the season in Triple-A with the Louisville Bats and allowed one run over 4.1 innings pitched. The Reds then called him up and his first outing went poorly as he walked two, gave up two hits, and was charged with three runs in 0.2 innings. His next four outings went better as he didn’t allow a run in 4.2 combined innings, but that 5th outing saw him walked five batters and give up four runs in an inning of work. Three days later he gave up two hits and walked three batters while recording just three outs, but managed to avoid giving up any runs.
After that outing he was sent back to the minor leagues. And that’s where he stayed as his inconsistency continued to show up. His last outing came on May 28th. Two days later he was designated for assignment by the Reds when they needed a 40-man roster spot for Lyon Richardson, who was also just designated for assignment two days ago.
Baltimore is going to give the hard-throwing reliever a chance to make his way back to the big leagues. While the amount of cash isn’t known, often times it’s a small amount in moves like this.
In his brief time in the organization, Nicolas posted an 8.59 ERA for the Reds while walking 13 batters in 7.1 innings at the big league level. With Triple-A Louisville he posted a 5.17 ERA with 17 walks in 15.2 innings for the Bats. You can see his career stats here.
It’s nice to see the Reds trimming the dead wood.
I wonder what their strategy is, with CBA negotiations and a possible lockout looming.
The business of baseball may change. Or it may stay the same.
Bob’s favorite transaction, cash in return.
Cash considerations are maxed out at $100,000. Most of them are for far less than that. It’s a fun little jab, but it’s a rounding error.
The DFA period was running out on Nicolas. The Reds had to trade him or send him through waivers. Baltimore wanted to get a look at Nicolas without risking that he would fall to them on the waiver process. So, the Orioles plopped down a few bucks.
The Orioles are incredibly active on the DFA wire. They pick up guys with options or those who haven’t been outrighted before. Then, they run them through the DFA process again with the hopes of passing them through waivers and retaining them for the remainder of the season. I’m not sure how many decent MLB players they’ve acquired using this tactic, but they may be MLB’s most active franchise WRT acquiring DFA players.
If they got 4 dozen batting practice balls it might have been a little high,so the fact that cash was listed is positive.
It is sad I am laughing so hard. I don’t expect anything of value considering what we are trading but as soon as I saw the headline I knew our end of the deal-Cash that doesn’t help or at least won’t be spent. Sorry for the rant and NO facts to back up my conclusions,
it is just humid here.
Too much walks… Maybe he’ll face the Reds when the series Oriols-Reds will be played and won’t give up a single walk but anyway I think we won’t miss him at all…
Well, that was a splendid three-month acquisition. Throw him into the same collection of busts with Stafura (2nd rounder) and Callihan (3rd round).
At least we have Hayes, right???
Sammy Stafura is 21 years old and you’ve already decided he’s a bust (never mind the fact that 2nd round picks don’t tend to have big league careers)?
Tyler Callihan is one of 12 3rd round picks from the 2019 draft to reach the big leagues. He’s been the 7th most valuable among those 12. He’s not a bust. You just don’t have a good idea of what a draft pick tends to turn into. But fun fact about this 3rd round – Callihan, Spencer Steer, and Levi Stoudt have all played for the Reds, and then there’s Peyton Burdick who played with the Louisville Bats.
Let me rephrase what I mean by bust: from the Reds’ perspective, those two players are gone, poof, dust particles. Callihan brought Nicolas, who can now also be considered an oops for the Reds. Stafura was the centerpiece of bringing Hayes and we all know how that’s going. So, yes, Callihan, Stafura, even Nicolas could still be something, but it likely won’t be in Cincy. So, while the players aren’t busts, this organization sure looks like a bust through all of those drafts and subsequent transactions.
Updates: Calihahn recently recalled by Pirates and is 1for 3 with throne being a double
Stafura hitting .071 in Low A on rehab from High A
I think the Sirota trade is likely to turn out worse for the Reds than any of these. Maybe Hinds as well. The Dodgers wanted Sirota in an earlier draft and finally got him from the Reds. Nicolas was always going to be a bust.
As of today, Mike Sirota is batting .347 with a HR in 49 AB’s with the AA Oklahoma Drillers (Dodgers AA affiliate)
He played more earlier this season with the High A Great Lakes Loons, where he batted .325 with 7 HR in 123 AB’s.
That got him promoted. Great trade, that one was.
Rece Hinds, combined stats with the Bats and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp , batting .315 with 8 HR in 111 official AB’s. Yes, of course he was Turrible, and a good thing the Reds got rid of him.
Let’s wait for Sirota to get to the majors before we decide he is awesome. To many guys killing minor league ball and then get up to the majors and look horrendous
If I am not mistaken the number of walks Sirota has drawn are astronomical.
In 145 official ABs’s Mike Sirota has 45 walks, and has a .480 OBP.
Sounds like a real loser to me. Good thing the Reds traded Sirota away.
Understand your frustration, but think of all the joy Gavin Lux provided us in the 2025 season.
Reds sign Callihan for $1.5M.
Reds trade away Callihan for a low end reliever.
Reds trade away that reliever for less than $100k.
Seems like a poor financial investment… 😉
You could say the say thing about 85+% of the second and third round picks in any draft. They make it up by being right about drafting guys like Andrew Abbott (2nd) and Graham Ashcraft (6th), and signing Elly De La Cruz for $65,000.
Every team has 2nd and 6th rounders on their roster. In the Reds’ case, it doesn’t mean those picks have “made up” for anything when they haven’t won a playoff series in 30+ years, have one of the worst records in baseball since 2000, have a revolving door of DFAs coming and going, and yet the farm system is ranked as “meh” by most analysts.
Reds traded Claude Osteen for Dave Sisler (both pitchers). Brother of coach Dick Sisler. Osteen went on to 15-year MLB career. Sisler pitched 1 year for Reds then retired.
Reds gave away Mike Cuellar to Cleveland. Almost literally gave him away. He went to on many years as a star MLB pitcher.
Ditto Hal McRae to KC Royals. 15-year MLB career. Lots of examples.
Dave and Dick Sisler were the sons of the great HOF first baseman of the St. Louis Browns, George Sisler, who in his playing days was known as ‘Gorgeous George.’