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 counsel that any new acquisitions would “more than likely” be within the outfield. Sheldon’s piece has a number of quotes from Krall, so Reds followers, particularly, will need 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 stated payroll can be at or above 2024 ranges final month. Cincinnati completed final 12 months with a $100M payroll and is projected for a $101M payroll in 2025, per RosterResource. They’ll have to be prepared to push that quantity bit larger, discover a solution 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 prospects as he appears to beef up an outfield combine that at the moment contains Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl, Spencer Steer, Will Benson, Stuart Fairchild, Blake Dunn and Rece Hinds.
Steer may 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 doubtless deal with second base now that India has been traded. Issues are much less sure on the corners after Candelario struggled in 12 months one in all 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 resulting from a PED suspension and hit terribly upon returning. Encarnacion-Strand was even much less impactful in 123 plate appearances earlier than season-ending wrist surgical procedure.
Given the uncertainty concerning the infield corners, it’s not less than attainable Steer may 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 resulting from their glut of infielders.
The kind of outfield acquisition the Reds make will, in some methods, dictate the infield alignment. It appears doubtless that the goal will probably be a nook bat, each resulting from an absence of viable middle subject choices available on the market and as a result of presence of Friedl in middle subject. Friedl’s defensive grades plummeted final season, although that’s doubtless 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. 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 energy.
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 outdated good friend Jesse Winker. After Martinez accepted the $21.05M qualifying provide, it’d be stunning to see Cincinnati go to the doubtless $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.
