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The Reds introduced that first baseman/outfielder Wil Myers has been reinstated from the injured record and designated for project.
Signed to a one-year, $7.5M deal over the winter, Myers joined the Reds with the hope that he may rebound on the plate and develop right into a serviceable commerce chip at this 12 months’s deadline. Issues haven’t panned out as hoped, nonetheless. Previous to being positioned on the injured record on account of a bout with kidney stones, Myers appeared in 37 video games and hit .189/.257/.283 with a jarring 34% strikeout price in 141 journeys to the plate. He managed to attach on three homers and added in a pair of steals, however Myers was nowhere near his peak ranges of efficiency.
Myers’ placement on the injured record was one in every of a number of accidents that paved the best way for the Reds to go along with a youth motion within the infield — one which has to date reaped immense dividends. Spencer Steer, Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz have all impressed this season, and 2021 NL Rookie of the Yr Jonathan India has loved a fantastic rebound season at second base.
With Cincinnati activating stalwart first baseman Joey Votto to hitch that group Monday — Votto homered in his return — Myers’ path again to a spot on the energetic roster was cloudy at finest. The Reds may’ve tried to seek out Myers some enjoying time within the outfield, however every of Will Benson, TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley and Nick Senzel have outperformed the veteran Myers. Given the crew’s present nine-game successful streak, it’s comprehensible that the Reds didn’t wish to disrupt the lineup past Votto’s return.
The 2023 season has been the worst of Myers’ profession. The previous prime prospect and 2013 AL Rookie of the Yr appeared destined for stardom a decade in the past, however he’s settled in additional as a steadily productive common with an offensive ceiling that’s nicely shy of all-star standing. His eight-year tenure with the Padres was a curler coaster by way of efficiency, however the finish outcome was a .254/.330/.451 batting line and 134 homers in 3,415 plate appearances. Myers was one in every of MLB’s finest hitters within the shortened 2020 marketing campaign, hitting .288/.353/.606 with a whopping 15 dingers in simply 218 journeys to the plate, however that proved to be an outlier moderately than a breakout.
The Reds will now have per week to commerce Myers, cross him by outright waivers or launch him. Myers remains to be owed $3.34M of this 12 months’s $6M wage, plus the total $1.5M buyout on subsequent 12 months’s mutual possibility. On condition that $4.84M left on his contract, there’s no probability one other crew would declare him at this level. Within the doubtless occasion that the Reds can’t discover a commerce accomplice — which might certainly require them both paying down the majority, if not the whole lot of the contract, or taking one other dangerous contract again in return — Myers will cross by waivers unclaimed.
Myers has sufficient service time to reject an outright project with out forfeiting the rest of his wage, so the likeliest consequence is that he’ll turn into a free agent. Any new crew that indicators him would solely be accountable for paying Myers the prorated league minimal for any time spent on the MLB roster. That sum could be subtracted from what Cincinnati owes him, however both approach the Reds shall be on the hook for the overwhelming majority of his contract.
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