Reds backup plan? Built for seller’s market
When the Cincinnati Reds doubled down on all that pitching depth over the winter, the value showed up right away as they covered early-season injury absences to help get off to a 14-10 start.
“We did it for this reason,” general manager Brad Meador said the first week of the season.
But when the Reds followed that highwater mark through 24 games with a 212 skid that dropped them 41⁄2 games in the standings in two quick weeks, it was at least a reminder of the other valueadded aspect of those signings.
That's because as much as the Reds are built to win with those moves after last year's youth-fueled drive into surprising playoff contention, they're also built to sell at the trade deadline if Plan A keeps going awry.
Free-agent pitchers Frankie Montas, Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagán and even Brent Suter and Justin Wilson are all signed to short-term contracts, providing the kind of nimble roster and payroll movement sought by every team this side of Los Angeles or New York.
None of those pitchers is assured of being under contract beyond this year, between player or club options, and mutual options attached to their deals.
All of them suggest potential value – some very high value – if they're made available in a summer trade market that has already begun moving unusually early with trades in the last week of Miami batting champ Luis Arraez to San Diego and White Sox infielder Robbie Grossman to the defending-champion Texas Rangers.
That's already two declared sellers, and we haven't reached mid-may.
As high as the price soared for pitching last summer, the Reds could find themselves in another seller's market if that's the direction the next month or two takes their season.
“I doubt that it goes down,” Meador said recently when talking generally about the upcoming trade market for pitchers.
In theory, the Reds could sell without it being a rebuild as much as a reset, shedding recently added salaries and veteran pitchers, then reshaping the roster again over the winter around the stillyoung, still-in-place core.
And if anybody in the room right now doesn't like that idea, there's one sure way to prevent Plan B (see: Plan A).