The Reds announced today that first baseman/outfielder Wil Myers has been reinstated from the injured list and designated for assignment.
Signed to a one-year, $7.5MM deal over the winter, Myers joined the Reds with the hope that he could rebound at the plate and develop into a serviceable trade chip at this year’s deadline. Things haven’t panned out as hoped, however. Prior to being placed on the injured list due to a bout with kidney stones, Myers appeared in 37 games and hit .189/.257/.283 with a jarring 34% strikeout rate in 141 trips to the plate. He managed to connect on three homers and added in a pair of steals, but Myers was nowhere close to his peak levels of performance.
Myers’ placement on the injured list was one of multiple injuries that paved the way for the Reds to go with a youth movement in the infield — one that has thus far reaped immense dividends. Spencer Steer, Matt McLain and Elly De La Cruz have all impressed this season, and 2021 NL Rookie of the Year Jonathan India has enjoyed a fine rebound season at second base.
With Cincinnati activating stalwart first baseman Joey Votto to join that group just yesterday — Votto homered in his return — Myers’ path back to a spot on the active roster was cloudy, at best. The Reds could’ve tried to find Myers some playing time in the outfield, but each of Will Benson, TJ Friedl, Jake Fraley and Nick Senzel have outperformed the veteran Myers. Given the team’s current nine-game winning streak, it’s understandable that the Reds didn’t want to disrupt the lineup beyond Votto’s return.
The 2023 season has been the worst of Myers’ career. The former top prospect and 2013 AL Rookie of the Year seemed destined for stardom a decade ago, but he’s settled in more as a steadily productive regular with an offensive ceiling that’s well shy of All-Star status. His eight-year tenure with the Padres was a roller coaster in terms of performance, but the end result was a .254/.330/.451 batting line and 134 homers in 3415 plate appearances. Myers was one of MLB’s best hitters in the shortened 2020 campaign, hitting .288/.353/.606 with a whopping 15 dingers in just 218 trips to the plate, but that proved to be an outlier rather than a breakout.
The Reds will now have a week to trade Myers, pass him through outright waivers, or release him. Myers is still owed $3.34MM of this year’s $6MM salary, plus the full $1.5MM buyout on next year’s mutual option. Given that $4.84MM left on his contract, there’s no chance another team would claim him at this point. In the likely event that the Reds can’t find a trade partner — which would surely require them either paying down the bulk, if not the entirety of the contract, or taking another bad contract back in return — Myers will pass through waivers unclaimed.
Myers has enough service time to reject an outright assignment without forfeiting the remainder of his salary, so the likeliest outcome is that he’ll become a free agent. Any new team that signs him would only be responsible for paying Myers the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. That sum would be subtracted from what Cincinnati owes him, but either way the Reds will be on the hook for the vast majority of his contract.
The right move.
Agree. There are a couple more vets on the roster that either need to retire, get traded or be released.
Yeah. Kevin Newman stands out to me as a trade candidate.
Hes actually been solid latley red.sox could use him to shore up MI
They should keep Newman. On a young Infield the veteran presence is invaluable, and he’s having a decent year at the plate so he’s not a liability there either
Why? He is having a good season on a good team, and can’t go wrong having a solid utility guy.
I was referring to Votto and Senzel. Newman has been decent.
Lots were talking bad about Votto. To me he seems like a good bet to help them this year.
Rishi: That’s true. To those Reds fans who were freaking out about Votto disrupting the team chemistry, you can now rest easy.
Yep, based on one game…rest easy.
Exactly.lol. I still think it’s better to have Votto than no Votto tho (contract aside).
I think that he is taking valuable ABs from the young Reds who need both the experience and evaluation at the ML level. The Reds aren’t competing this season outside of the NL Central. They should be giving 100% effort for next season and beyond. They have an abundance of young talent that is hard to find spots for already. The Reds have committed to a rebuild and Votto is not a fit.
dumping all your veteran pieces is called a rebuild
I think the problem with this line of thinking is that not all experience is the same or as valuable. Yes, we want the young guys up and getting at bats and major league experience…but we also want them gaining valuable experience on a team that is exciting, competing, and learning from talented vets such as Votto. I do not believe all at-bats are created equal…at-bats for a team 20-25 games below .500 are not the same as at-bats on a team that is over .500 and competing for a division. Additionally, having Joey to watch and learn from carries added value as well. The reds committed to a rebuild, it has already produced players and a competitive team…Joey is absolutely a fit.
ya same reason Pirates brought in Santana and Cutch.
without veterans , young teams fall apart over the course of a long season.
But they are competing for the playoffs. Sure, they likely won’t make it deep if they get in (unless they get hot) but experience and momentum is key and it can’t hurt to have a future HOFer who was great only 2 years ago.
To clarify I mean getting playoff experience and building momentum for the future.
Looks like a classic Brewers acquisition..
What about the team in the Bronx?
Exactly what the Yankees need: another RH, injury prone strikeout machine who is at best a DH masquerading as an Outfielder
You forgot the fact that he’s a needy headcase who will drive Boone up the wall pumping him for validation
Dude never wore battibg gloves. Need we say more?
He’s actually hit left-handers better than right-handers in his career so I doubt the Brewers would pick him up.
The Brewers’ front office MO is to sign right handed hitters with big reverse splits, play them exclusively vs. left-handed pitching, and then act surprised when they don’t hit.
Rockies will pick him up and start him vs the Reds tonight. No travel ticket needed!
You’d think Colorado could put together a decent offense. I feel like I could do it for pretty cheap. Idk why they can’t.
Because hitting at altitude and then adjusting to hitting at sea level is all but impossible. You have to have two completely separate sets of muscle memory in you. In fact, studies have shown that the penalty Rockies hitters pay for adjusting to sea level is actually bigger than the bonus they get for swinging in Colorado. Why Rockies hitters have tended to be slightly better, park adjusted, on their new teams after leaving Denver.
Seems to me that it’s a certain type of player who does well there. Idk why you would need to adjust your swing. Just get people like CJ Cron. If your team stinks on the road at least build a powerhouse at Home. I like your post tho.
It’s a great post you make. Only thing I would say is it’s a hard thing to study because the only team we can study is Colorado themselves and it’s hard to determine how to read that kind of data because we have to assume causes and that’s more inference than proof. There are bound to be some types of hitters that are more successful than others there and some who will do poorly there.
Perhaps the solution is don’t change your swing at all
You get used to seeing the ball move a certain way coming off the pitchers hand at a mile high and then it acts differently at seas level.
Take a look at StatCast data on pitch movement at Coors by home and visiting pitchers vs at any sea level ballpark. Its a pretty stark difference.
It is insanely difficult to make the adjustments to going from a mile high to sea level when its every few games.
Never mind the fact that playing at a mile high makes it much harder for the human body to recover from the day to say grind of playing baseball.
It isn’t the swing. Its how the ball moves out of the pitcher’s hand at a mile high vs at sea level.
Baseball is a game of timing. Adjusting to a complete change in how the ball moves every few games is exceedingly difficult.
Thanks for info Padsfan. Good stuff
Yea. I knew about the recovery. Estevez, for instance, has said it was a big factor. I wonder if it is even going to be possible to win a world series there. It’s a huge market so they aren’t going anywhere but you’d like to see them eventually win
Not to speak for the man, but I can assure you Padsfan would not like to see the Rockies win eventually.
and Myers would go 0-3 and get benched rest of game
I definitely don’t want Myers if I’m Colorado
As a Giants fan I always liked Myers. Seems like a good fit in the clubhouse. Let him DH against lefties. There’s something special happening in SF, he might go off!!
Not likely, but historically Myers has hit great (including a cycle) at Coors Field.
Pls, no. I’m already sick of effin Moose’s b s
Good riddance.
Phills should take a look and send Harrison out….Harrison playing RF @Oak was well embarrassing for the team. And add in he’s not hitting either?
Worth a shot
If he clears waivers and gets released I wouldn’t mind him coming back to San Diego at pro-rated league minimum.
He’s a better bench OF/1B bat than Brandon Dixon. No idea what his current health situation is though.
A good guy but he’s done…
Part of Brandon Dixon’s value is that he still has minor league options, so he can be called up and sent down as needed.
That always seems to be lost on fans
No. He is worse than Grish or Carpenter this season and he was playing in GABP the launching pad.. No place for him on the Padres roster. Definitely not worth DFA of another position player.
Wil is the Padres past, not its future.
after he clears and becomes a free agent i could see him in san francisco as they need a rh outfielder and he is worth a flyer on a min contract
You’d think he’d have better numbers playing in Great American Ballpark…
For some reason his swinging strikes didn’t travel any further there.
He was kind of ok last year in SD. I wonder what happened. His former teammate, Eric Hosmer and he are now in baseball limbo, but the other commenters here seem optimistic that Myers will be picked up.
If that doesn’t happen, I wonder if he has already hit the 10 year pension? He entered 2023 with 9 years 104 days.
I believe we are 82 days into the 2023 season. A Major League regular season consists of 187 days so it seems like he just missed. Hopefully he gets picked up and can add the few days he needs.
I think we are a bit further into the season, as Opening Day was March 30th.
2+30+31+June 20 = 83
So, if Myers was at 9 years, 104 days, today might put him at exactly 10 years, so the Reds did him the solid of waiting until the exact day he vests into the full pension.
That’s good. It is good that Myers doesn’t have to hustle to sell himself as a player to get one more day. Reaching the full 10 year pension is important to players, even if the money is not significant to them. The worst case scenario would be Myers having to try to market himself as a first base coach just to get the pension. He is 32 and married. Maybe he and the wife will just call it a career and start a family.
He’s made over $90 million in his career, I think he’ll be fine either way.
Players do care about making the full 10 year pension. Serving as a coach counts. There are definitely a lot of guys who never play in the bigs, or barely did, and reach the pension by being a coach.
I would be interested in an article on players who fight tooth and nail to make it.
For a player of Myers’ caliber to come back as a coach because he is one day shy of the pension would be interesting. But I believe he made it.
He hit 10 years on June 5.
He hit 10 years on June 5th.
I love it! Gotta do what you’ve gotta do. Team is making good moves.
Nick Krall is pulling all the right strings. Love what he’s done in Cincinnati
That is great to hear. Just 3 months ago him and the owner were the most hated people in town. They sucked and couldn’t do anything right. Fire the GM and sell the team is all we heard. Winning solves everything don’t it lol.
Don’t think for a second that fans have forgotten “where you are gonna go?”.
He has some strings left to pull if he’s serious about trying to win.
If only he had combed his hair before his Rookie of the Year interview with ESPN. His career has been unspectacular ever since that morning. Maybe the Royals can pick him up for his career to come full circle.
LOL… nowadays that’s the style. Goal is to look as stupid as possible, like a walking meme.
Would have been out of baseball 4 years ago if Preller hadn’t signed him to that stupid extension.
Hope this loyal fanbase is inspired to start filling up the park now that the youth has provided a jolt. Would be nice to see the energy as summer about to officially begin!
I want to go this week but too poor. I already bought tickets to 4 games (before they were good lol).
Will trade you Baez for him.
Now do you understand why giving Baez an opt-out wasn’t a good move for the Tigers? There’s no chance he uses it.
The opt outs they gave him and ERod leave one scratching their head. In the event they did well they would leave(like ERod likely will). In the event they due poorly they re saddled with a bad contract(Baez). With both of their career #s odds were high they d b saddled with at least one albatross contract.
The only reason I ever liked the opt out on Baez is I thought the Tigers would get two decent seasons and then another team would get stuck with the down years. Who knew he would be this bad, this quickly? Was expecting good defense, HRs, and lots of Ks. Instead, mediocre defense with the occasional highlight play, and the more than occasional lackadaisical throwing errors, no power, and lots of Ks. But yes, Harambe, opt outs are always to the players advantage. Its not like you have special knowledge. However, if teams don’t offer one, the player will sign with the team that does. I don’t remember you predicting Zack Short would be the better option.
He wouldn’t have opted out if he had “two decent seasons.” The only way he would have opted out is if he won like back-to-back MVP’s. If that happened, he would have at least figured to draw some trade interest after 2023. So no, you would not want him to opt out after 2023 because you would lose a valuable trade chip.
The right move for the Reds. Their young team and the first day back for Votto was about as exciting as can be for Red’s fans. This may be their year for major progress.
4-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and no power in a hitters park doesn’t bode well for Myers. I just hope Bloom can resist the temptation to sign him as he has tried several times in the past to acquire him
We are very pleased.
Didn’t that genius Preller throw in Trey Turner as the ptbnl for Myers and then extend him for then way too much money… time to move on from AJ already, what is it nine years now?
There was more to that deal and he was the main piece from the Padres to the Nats, they just couldn’t name him because the deal was made shortly after he was drafted and they had to wait a year before they could move him. At that time Myers had a bat with a high ceiling.
Dear Jerry Dipoto,
Just say no.
It’s him, or Mike Ford. Or Sam Haggarty.
Yep, looks like Reds will be eating some salary here.
Back to TBR? Played well there and going to a coaching staff and evaluator team that can definitely analyze his game then offer a suggestion or two to maybe “right the ship”.
Somehow this guy will have grossed over $91,000,000 in his career.
Makes me wish I had practiced a little harder at baseball when I was younger.
Yeah I agree.
Yeah, practicing harder was all it took for Myers to play MLB over many of us. We all could’ve made it too. Apparently it’s not hard, because the only reason that none of us made it was only because we didn’t practice harder.
Hmmmm…I practiced hard all the time, but my baseball career ended after I graduated with my degree. Apparently all the practicing hard didn’t give me the ability to hit at Division I like the guys that did get drafted or signed to play MLB, MiLB or International Ball. But at least practicing hard made me into a stud in high school ball.
OMFGosh…..the practice harder comment was not meant to be taken at 100% level of seriousness.
Feel better?
About what?
I would love to see the Red Sox sign him so he can further drag them down to the depths of h e double hockey sticks.
Pal Joey was terrific last night!
Would be great to see him contribute mightily to a playoff run.
It would make for a memorable year.
CES time?
Making room for benson to stay up. That’s the right move. He’s young still and needs at bats on mlb level. Reds have done well bringing him along this year
Best part of the article….. “Given the team’s current nine-game winning streak, it’s understandable that the Reds didn’t want to disrupt the lineup beyond Votto’s return.”
Gotta give it to the Reds, they are a team serious about winning, unlike my team 🙁
Lol ! They came into the season w a 3 man rotation. Super dedicated !!!
Wil Myers needs to just start looking at International ball at this point.
Trade him to Boston for Corey Kluber or Nick Pivetta!
Looks like a good way to open a spot for CES
Votto has his spot. You can’t sit Steer and they need to stick with the plan to DH Stephenson often. Several of the outfielders are putting up decent to good numbers, so they need to play until(if) they show they can’t hit. Plus, Marte isn’t too far away and it looks like a shift to the OF may be in the cards for him.
Myers seems to do best gaming on Twitch and complaining about practicing with his baseball team.
I wonder if he buys it or if he grows his own, being with out a team will just give him more time to do what he does most.
Bil Myers can rake
Please Seattle take a flyer on him, can use a bat like his and hopefully our anemic offense can come to life.
Hopefully Seattle will take a flyer on him and his bat can help our anemic offense can get going.
He was decent enough last year but he completely fell off a cliff this year.
Yankees
Year after year teams squander millions on nothing.
What should they be doing with the money ?
Better yet, how much u spent on booze since the start of covid ? lol
Would like to see the Brewers or the Padres pick him up.
“stalwart first baseman Joey Votto”. I guess stalwart is one definition that fits. Washed up is another. Overpaid also works.
He’s at the end of his career.. what else can you expect? It seems a little unrealistic to expect a guy to always be healthy, productive and just not age.
The Reds wanted him as a lifer and there are going to be ups and downs. Aside from last season, he has been relatively healthy and productive over the course that big contract he got.
He was also pretty bad in 2019 and 2020. His 2021 was the lone bright spot in the last 4 years.
Retirement.
The Reds need to remember their place in this world.
They do..1st place
Thinking about it, he was a team player. The Padres moved him around and he seemingly went willingly over to third. He was a better first baseman than anything else.
Recent Padres being DFAd shows AJ Preller’s screwups.
That’s what I always complained about when he was with the Padres. When he was first getting started and performing well at the plate, they kept moving him around–OF, 1B, and 3B instead of letting him get comfortable. It really hurt his development. Then when he was moved to 1B to kept there he became much more consistent and very valuable. Then what did they do? They signed Hosmer on a terrible deal and moved him around again. He definitely hasn’t had the career I was expecting, but he has been productive. I was surprised to see him do so poorly in Cinci. I hope he can find a place to get his swing back.
Padres could pick him up
They still need to make room for CES!
Hello Cub joining the island of broken toys no doubt
With Walsh continuing to struggle at the plate, Meyers would be a nice minor league signing here.
he’ll probably land an MLB gig somewhere (KC?)
The Thril is gone.
Great clubhouse guy! Was super frustrating to watch at the plate most times, but overall he was a Padre fan favorite.
Will should have just hung it up after last season. Him going out after the Dodgers playoff win and buying everyone drinks cemented his reputation as a Padre.
Good luck El Gallo!
I thought the Rays maybe made a mistake back then by trading him, but it looks like they made the right move. That trade eventually got the Rays Yandy Diaz (via Baurers). Also fun fact is that the padres traded Trea Truner to the Nationals as the PTBNL in the 3 way Myers trade back in 2015.
Anyway, solid career for Myers, but never quite lived up to the hype.
All of you nay sayers are crazy to think that they can’t make it to the World Series. Their only real obstacle would definitely be the Braves. De la Cruz can turn a ground out to first base into a single. They now find themselves at a point in time where they’re young players are forcing themselves onto the big club. Great problem to have.