The Reds have activated Emilio Pagán from the 60-day injured record, the crew introduced immediately. To liberate a spot on the lively roster, Yosver Zulueta was optioned to Triple-A Louisville. The crew had two open areas on the 40-man roster, so no further corresponding transfer was obligatory.
Pagán, 33, signed a two-year, $16MM contract with the Reds this previous offseason. Earlier than reaching free company, he spent the primary seven seasons of his profession pitching for the Mariners, Athletics, Rays, Padres, and Twins. Regardless of being traded 4 occasions in lower than 5 years, Pagán put up stable numbers, pitching to a 3.71 ERA and three.39 SIERA throughout 369 appearances. What’s extra, though he compiled 22 wins, 32 saves, and 60 holds – and a 1.80 ERA in 11 postseason appearances – his most spectacular accomplishment in that point was, maybe, his sturdiness. From 2017-23, he solely took one journey to the injured record: a short stint on the 10-day IL with proper biceps irritation in 2020. He pitched at the least 50 innings in each full season. Solely 5 gamers threw extra innings in aid over these seven years: Raisel Iglesias, Héctor Neris, Miguel Castro, Adam Ottavino, and Kenley Jansen.
Sadly, the damage bug lastly caught as much as Pagán in his first season with Cincinnati. The veteran righty landed on the IL with a proper lat pressure in mid-June, and he was transferred to the 60-day IL later that month.
Outcomes-wise, Pagán has had his ups and downs all through his profession. He put up a powerful efficiency in his stroll 12 months final season, tossing 69 1/3 innings for Minnesota with a 2.99 ERA. But, there have been warning indicators that his success wasn’t totally sustainable. His 23.8% strikeout fee was a career-low, his 5.3% HR/FB was effectively under his profession common, and his 4.01 SIERA was greater than a full run larger than his ERA. Nonetheless, he managed to safe a $16MM assure from the Reds. He’s making an $8MM wage this season, and he has an $8MM participant choice for 2025.
Pagán appeared stable however unspectacular over his first 22 appearances with Cincinnati. His strikeout fee climbed again as much as 29.9%, however his house run fee jumped up too; he gave up 4 lengthy balls in simply 22 video games. His 3.06 SIERA is a marked enchancment from final season, however his 4.43 ERA is just not. Most concerningly, his velocity is down by at the least one and a half miles per hour on all three of his pitches (a four-seam fastball, a cutter, and a splitter). He has additionally allowed hard-hit balls (95+ mph EV) on the highest fee of his profession. Then once more, his SIERA, xERA, and xFIP are all considerably higher than the league common, and pitch modeling programs like Stuff+ and PitchingBot agree that Pagán stays an above-average arm. In the end, what this tells us is that 20 1/3 innings is a reasonably small pattern measurement with which to judge a pitcher. With seven weeks remaining within the season, it will likely be attention-grabbing to see if Pagán performs effectively sufficient that he would possibly select to reject his participant choice this offseason and return to free company.
Cincinnati has had one of many higher bullpens in baseball all season, and Nick Krall bolstered that group with Jakob Junis on the commerce deadline. Even so, the Reds will want all the assistance they will get in the event that they wish to keep alive within the NL Wild Card race; they’re at the moment 5 video games again of the third Wild Card spot, with six groups standing of their method.
The Reds claimed Zulueta off of waivers from the Blue Jays on Opening Day, and he made his MLB debut with Cincinnati in late June. The 26-year-old has already been recalled and optioned a number of occasions this season, pitching to a 3.09 ERA and three.63 SIERA over eight low-leverage appearances. He’ll return to the Louisville Bats, with whom he has pitched 40 1/3 innings this 12 months with a 2.23 ERA and three.24 FIP.
