It was a comparatively quiet commerce deadline in Cincinnati, with the Reds dealing away veteran righties Frankie Montas and Lucas Sims whereas buying Jakob Junis (within the Montas deal), younger outfielder Joey Wiemer (additionally for Montas), veteran first baseman Ty France (for minor league catcher Andruw Salcedo) and pitching prospect Ovis Portes (for Sims). President of baseball ops Nick Krall and his employees typically dealt from the fringes of a contending roster and introduced in some complementary veterans. By way of Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Krall mentioned after the deadline that he didn’t need to promote “simply to place youthful gamers on the roster” and cited the workforce’s run differential and looming returns (e.g. Matt McLain, Emilio Pagan) as causes to be optimistic of a run down the stretch.
That mentioned, it appears Krall & Co. took no less than yet one more substantial buy-side swing. Barry Jackson and Craig Mish of the Miami Herald report that the Reds, Mets and Orioles all made gives that the Marlins preferred in alternate for left-hander Trevor Rogers. The Mets’ curiosity in Rogers was already identified, and the Orioles after all acquired the lefty in alternate for what many thought-about a surprisingly robust package deal of second baseman Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers. Jackson and Mish report that the Reds provided “one in every of their high pitching prospects” to the Marlins, however Baltimore in the end topped that supply by agreeing to half with a pair of MLB-ready place gamers. The Mets additionally made a proper provide, per the report.
The extent of curiosity in Rogers is reflective of the shortage of pitching that was obtainable on this summer time’s market. Although the 26-year-old southpaw completed second in NL Rookie of the Yr voting again in 2021, he’s since handled shoulder and biceps accidents which have enormously decreased his arsenal and his effectiveness. Rogers’ fastball has dropped about two miles per hour since that rookie displaying, whereas his slider has flattened out and misses far fewer bats than it did in ’21.
After ending the ’21 season with a 2.64 ERA, 28.5% strikeout fee and eight.4% stroll fee in 133 innings, Rogers has mixed for a 5.02 ERA, 20.3% strikeout fee and 9.6% stroll fee in 234 2/3 innings. He was sitting on a 4.53 ERA with a career-low 18% strikeout fee on the time of the commerce and has since been tagged for 5 runs by 4 1/3 innings in his lone Orioles begin.
Cincinnati’s reported curiosity in Rogers comes at a time when in-house arms like Graham Ashcraft and Brandon Williamson are dealing with notable harm considerations. The previous has been out since early July with an elbow pressure. The latter hasn’t pitched within the huge leagues this season and solely has 10 2/3 minor league innings on the 12 months. He final pitched on June 2 and has been down since on account of a shoulder pressure. Each are on the 60-day injured listing.
The Reds aren’t missing in relation to high-end pitching prospects — notably not after deciding on Wake Forest righty Chase Burns with the No. 2 choose on this 12 months’s draft. Burns isn’t eligible to be traded till the offseason, and fellow high prospect Rhett Lowder (final 12 months’s first-round choose and a consensus top-50 prospect within the sport) certainly was off limits. Prospects Connor Phillips, Lyon Richardson and Chase Petty have all struggled to various extents within the higher minors this season, however all are nonetheless typically well-regarded even when their respective values are down from peak ranges. Righty Julian Aguiar has notably upped his inventory this season as properly and sure isn’t too removed from an enormous league look.
Rogers is managed by the Orioles for one more two seasons, so this isn’t a case the place their deadline curiosity might portend offseason free-agent curiosity (though Cincinnati might actually take a run at prying Rogers from the O’s this winter if the curiosity stays robust and/or the Orioles bitter on the lefty). Nevertheless it’s nonetheless a related footnote to remember, each when Rogers is subsequent obtainable by way of commerce/free company and since it might foreshadow a Reds pursuit of some controllable arms this offseason.
Proper-hander Hunter Greene and lefties Nick Lodolo and Andrew Abbott are all typically locked into long-term rotation spots. Twenty-six-year-old righty Carson Spiers is making an attempt to solidify his personal rotation standing down the stretch. Even with a good inventory of upper-level arms, the Reds might look to deepen that group by way of the commerce or free-agent markets this winter.
