The return of Nick Martinez and the acquisition of Brady Singer have solidified the Reds’ rotation and now have the membership seeking to improve the offense. President of baseball operations Nick Krall tells Mark Sheldon of MLB.com that the Reds “wish to add hitters” now. And whereas Krall wouldn’t expressly rule out the addition of one other infielder, he did recommend that any new acquisitions would “most definitely” be within the outfield. Sheldon’s piece has a number of quotes from Krall, so Reds followers specifically will wish to test it out in full.
The extent to which Reds possession is keen to extend payroll isn’t but clear. Reds COO Doug Healy mentioned final month that payroll could be at or above 2024 ranges. Cincinnati completed out final yr with a $100MM payroll and is presently projected for a $101MM payroll in 2025, per RosterResource. They’ll have to be keen to push that quantity bit increased, discover a technique to subtract an present contract (e.g. Jeimer Candelario, Emilio Pagan), or strike a commerce for a pre-arbitration bat to additional bolster the lineup.
Krall famous that he’s exploring each free agent and commerce potentialities as he seems to be to beef up an outfield combine that presently contains Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer, Will Benson, Stuart Fairchild, Blake Dunn and Rece Hinds.
Steer can even play a number of infield positions, however the Reds have a crowded — if inexperienced — infield combine as properly. Elly De La Cruz is locked in at shortstop. Matt McLain is prone to deal with second base on an on a regular basis foundation now that India has been traded. Issues are much less sure on the corners after Candelario struggled in yr one among a three-year contract. He’ll be within the combine at each corners, whereas former high prospect Noelvi Marte can even see time at third and Christian Encarnacion-Strand will see time at first. Marte missed half the season because of a PED suspension and hit terribly upon returning. Encarnacion-Strand was even much less impactful in 123 plate appearances earlier than present process season-ending wrist surgical procedure.
Given the uncertainty concerning the infield corners, it’s at the very least doable Steer might finally see extra time within the infield. He was strictly an infielder with the Twins (the group that drafted him) and solely started experimenting within the outfield with the Reds in 2023 because of their glut of infielders.
The kind of outfield acquisition the Reds make will in some methods dictate the infield alignment. It appears seemingly that the goal will probably be a nook bat, each because of a scarcity of viable middle discipline choices available on the market and as a result of presence of Friedl in middle discipline. Friedl’s defensive grades plummeted final season, although that’s seemingly attributable to a hamstring damage that shelved him for a month in the summertime. Friedl drew plus marks for his glovework and dash pace in 2023. In 2024, his common dash pace (as measured by Statcast) fell from 28.3 ft per second (74th percentile of MLB gamers) to 26.5 ft/sec (twenty sixth percentile). Friedl went 6-for-6 in stolen base makes an attempt by way of his first 26 video games of the season. He performed 59 video games upon coming back from the hamstring pressure and solely tried 4 extra steals (going 3-for-4). It appears clear his legs weren’t at full power.
Among the many nook choices available on the market are Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernandez, Tyler O’Neill, Jurickson Profar, Michael Conforto, Max Kepler, Mike Tauchman and previous pal Jesse Winker. After Martinez accepted the $21.05MM qualifying supply, it’d be a bit stunning to see Cincinnati go to the seemingly $20MM+ annual worth vary wanted to signal Hernandez or Santander. The Reds even have a largely right-handed lineup at current, maybe making a left-handed bat extra interesting.