[ad_1]
The return of Nick Martinez and the acquisition of Brady Singer have solidified the Reds’ rotation, and now, the membership is trying 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 certainly” be within the outfield. Sheldon’s piece has a number of quotes from Krall, so Reds followers, particularly, will wish to test it out in full.
The extent to which Reds possession is prepared to extend payroll isn’t but clear. Reds COO Doug Healy mentioned payroll would be at or above 2024 levels last month. Cincinnati completed final yr with a $100M payroll and is projected for a $101M payroll in 2025, per RosterResource. They’ll must be prepared to push that quantity an excellent bit greater, discover a method to subtract an present contract (e.g. Jeimer Candelario, Emilio Pagan), or strike a commerce for a pre-arbitration bat to bolster the lineup additional.
Krall famous that he’s exploring each free agent and commerce potentialities as he appears to beef up an outfield combine that at the moment consists of 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. Elly De La Cruz is locked in at shortstop. Matt McLain will probably deal with second base 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 prime prospect Noelvi Marte may also see time at third and Christian Encarnacion-Strand will see time at first. Marte missed half the season as a consequence of a PED suspension and hit terribly upon returning. Encarnacion-Strand was even much less impactful in 123 plate appearances earlier than season-ending wrist surgery.
Given the uncertainty concerning the infield corners, it’s a minimum of potential Steer may ultimately 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 as a consequence of their glut of infielders.
The kind of outfield acquisition the Reds make will, in some methods, dictate the infield alignment. It appears probably that the goal will probably be a nook bat, each as a consequence of a scarcity of viable middle area choices in the marketplace and as a result of presence of Friedl in middle area. Friedl’s defensive grades plummeted final season, although that’s probably attributable to a hamstring damage that shelved him for a month in the summertime. Friedl drew plus marks for his glovework and dash velocity in 2023. In 2024, his common dash velocity (as measured by Statcast) fell from 28.3 toes 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 via his first 26 video games. He performed 59 video games upon getting back from the hamstring pressure and solely tried 4 extra steals (going 3-for-4). It appears clear his legs weren’t at full energy.
Among the many nook choices in the marketplace are Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernandez, Tyler O’Neill, Jurickson Profar, Michael Conforto, Max Kepler, Mike Tauchman and outdated buddy Jesse Winker. After Martinez accepted the $21.05M qualifying provide, it’d be stunning to see Cincinnati go to the probably $20M+ annual worth vary wanted to signal Hernandez or Santander. The Reds have a largely right-handed lineup, maybe making a left-handed bat extra interesting.
[ad_2]
Source link
