TODAY: Salazar cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter).
AUGUST 11: The Reds announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contract of outfielder Henry Ramos. In corresponding moves, infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel has been optioned to Triple-A Louisville while right-hander Eduardo Salazar has been designated for assignment.
Ramos returns to the majors for a second stint this season. The 31-year-old cracked the MLB roster in late April after signing a minor league pact last offseason. He appeared in 18 games, hitting .242/.356/.306 over a career-high 73 trips to the plate. Cincinnati outrighted him off the 40-man roster last month.
A 12-year minor league veteran, Ramos has only 36 games of big league experience. He’s having a strong year in Triple-A, putting up a .315/.399/.522 line through 54 contests with Louisville. He has walked at a strong 12% clip against a lower than average 19.2% strikeout rate while connecting on nine homers. A switch-hitter, Ramos has shredded left-handed pitching at a .367/.430/.556 clip between Triple-A and the big leagues this year.
The righty-hitting Senzel has also mashed against southpaws, putting up a .305/.367/.537 line with the platoon advantage. He’s a .175/.251/.281 hitter when up against right-handed pitching, however. Senzel hasn’t been effective against pitchers of either handedness of late, posting a .138/.206/.309 mark since the start of June. The former #2 overall pick now has a .219/.290/.368 batting line in 269 trips to the plate on the season.
It has been another underwhelming year for the former top prospect. Cincinnati has graduated plenty of top position player prospects over the past few months, pushing Senzel into a utility role. He’s now off the active roster entirely, optioned for his first minor league stint (excluding injury rehab assignments) since the Reds first promoted him in May 2019.
Senzel is playing this season on a $1.95MM arbitration salary. He is eligible for that process twice more after surpassing the four-year service threshold this spring. It seems increasingly likely he could be non-tendered, though. In just over 1300 major league plate appearances, the 28-year-old owns a .236/.300/.361 slash.
While Senzel remains in the organization and could yet get another look in the next six weeks, the Reds will place Salazar on waivers. The 25-year-old has made his first eight big league appearances this season, allowing 11 runs in 12 2/3 innings. He’d allowed only two runs (one earned) through 13 2/3 Double-A frames this year but has been tagged for an 8.24 ERA over 19 2/3 innings with Louisville.
Salazar has posted huge ground-ball numbers throughout his professional career. He has rarely generated big strikeout tallies, though he did fan upwards of 40% of opponents in his brief but dominant Double-A stint earlier this year. Salazar has ample starting experience in his career but has come out of the bullpen for all 33 appearances this season.
Re: Senzel — good grief. Guy has never had more than a 0.1 bWAR season. Kind of hard to do at already 2 seasons of 400+ PAs. They missed their opportunity to sell on him.
What’s interesting about Senzel is I recall around the draft the reds drafted Senzel somewhat because of need. How much I don’t know but it certainly had something to do with it. Then he was blocked at the big league level and they started shifting him around the diamond.
I wonder how many teams would be better off leaving guys at their natural position and thus getting a player with a much higher floor and trading the surplus.
With that said there’s a difference in a team drafting a bunch of SS. Usually all the best athletes are SS and generally shifting them down the defensive spectrum is an easily transition.
It wasn’t necessarily need it was the fact he was dubbed the safest prospect in the draft which is funny in hindsight but then again that 1st round was so bad that Cal Quantrail is the leader in WAR so far no disrespect he’s a good but not great pitcher
Yeah, I remember that draft well and him getting that tag, not unlike Madrigal getting the same tag in another year. Seems like that tag is becoming the Madden Curse.
Will Smith the catcher was a first rounder too. But ya, it’s funny how there were at least 2 cy young winners plus pete alonso drafted in later rounds, yet the 1st rounders turned out so bad. Guess all the scouts whiffed collectively that year
Once again we are reminded that teams in thier window should trade prospects for proven MLB talent.
When was Cincinnati in their window? I must have missed it.
Actually it passed because they did nothing. Who knows when it will come again? The other teams sure won’t sit still like the kid GM has since the big dump.
Reds window is still opening. You are aware that the Reds are currently starting 5 rookies regularly (Mclain, EDLC, CES, Steer, & Benson) as well as 2 or 3 rookies in the rotation (Abbott, Williamson, Lively). The rest of their rotation, & their closer, are sophmores.
Sure, they’re young. Does that guarantee they will be this close to the playoffs again? Nope.
We’ve seen this before in the last two solid teams they have had.
the best is yet to come, cguy…and at the very worst, this year provides experience
not like this, reds…..this is different. agree, it doesn’t guarantee anything, but we’ve never had a team built like this. and there’s off season money available. im excited moving forward. this year is house money
Guarantees? Mets spending $342MM, Yankees spending $279MM, Padres spending $252MM in payroll hasn’t even guaranteed any of those teams a winning record; let alone “close to the playoffs”.
I’ll take the Reds position with a young talented inexpensive ML roster, still a top 5 Minor league system, great scouts/improving coaches and a pretty shrewd GM- than just $$$ anyday.
correct, cguy…..and an honorable mention for the Wil Benson trade, and Maile signing
You expect better production from a former number 2 overall pick. Bust
You Can say that again! I thought he was playing ok. Time for a change of scenery!
Senzel is not a bust, the Reds ruined him by playing him out of position so he got hurt a lot. They finally moved him back to the infield, but the damage had already been done. Hopefully he can move on to a different organization and maybe salvage his career.
i get what your saying hiflew but was Senzel better that Suarez who at the time was in mvp voting and all star game pushing 30+hr with a solid average at the MLB level? Would you move Suarez from his natural position for a chance Senzel can produce? Also where would you move Suarez?
So you either let him rot in the minors until suarez either slows down or gets traded, move positions for either of them, or try to trade one of them which with then you take a chance and/or lose value on the trade.
That’s what they make trades for. I am never a fan of changing positions for a player at the major league level. It CAN work, but more often than not the player’s hitting suffers while they try to adapt. Trading Suarez at his peak or trading Senzel at his prospect peak would have gotten the Reds a much better return than keeping both until their values tanked.
The Rockies made a very similar mistake about 15 years ago when they kept both Garrett Atkins and Ian Stewart. Atkins was at just about All Star level at the time and Stewart was a top 5 prospect in the game. Instead of trading one or the other, they kept both and their values did nothing but go down.
Sure you may pick the wrong one to trade, but you may not. If you keep both, you will lose far more often.
im curious what were you expecting back?
Maybe a shelby miller (ala swanson trade right around the peak of senzels)? less than half a season of chapman (gleybar torres who was a number 1 prospect)? That time seemed like it was more about the major league roster imo than prospects. The last CBA seemed to change that i think with the value of prospect especially growing with the bigger luxury penalties.
Also before he switched positions, he was out with injuries in the minors including losing quite sometime in the minors to a finger injury and also vertigo so you cant blame injuries he sustained in the majors from moving spots if he was getting injured in his short time in the minors. If anything i would blame the rush job of pushing him to the majors than the position switch for his downfall.
Also In this case you are moving a much better player off his position for a lesser player and really adding nothing. CF especially was bad at the time and they needed one (ala trea turner for the nationals another one that moved positions a few times)
Also i disagree on the “It CAN work, but more often than not the player’s hitting suffers while they try to adapt” How many players have moved off their natural position and had/having great careers? Machado (SS), Harper (C), Pujols (3b), Texiera (3B), Arod (SS), Joey Bats (3B) and thats off the top of my head also Tatis Jr seems to be doing pretty good as well. Im sure if i spent another minute or two i could probably find a bunch more without blinking. Some are better yes but i would say its about 50/50 for a regular major leaguer moving. Those are also more recent than 15 years ago.
But of all those guys you mentioned, NONE of them were moved just as they were promoted to the majors like Senzel. Harper was moved long before he made the majors. The rest moved after they had established themselves as regular major league players. I’m not saying that no player should ever switch positions, that would be asinine. What I am saying is that a young player trying to establish himself in the majors already has a lot going against him. Trying to learn a new position on top of trying to learn to hit the best pitching he has ever seen in his life is just too much in most cases.
As for what I would expect…depends on the trade partner. Trading Senzel for a young CF could have been a start. There is no hard and fast rule that says you cannot trade a prospect for another prospect at a position of need. Or trading Suarez at his peak instead of extending him when the team was still a couple of years away from contention. Either way, it would have been better than what occurred.
Chipper Jones is another one. SS in the minors then 3b in the majors and a few years at LF.
Chipper Jones was moved to LF in spring training. He only played SS in the minors and won the starting job only to get injured during a spring training game.
Actually he started the year in the minors as an outfielder before his debut in the majors. He also was tried out at 2b the year before AND it was said by the Reds FO the year before his debut they would try him all over the infield and possibly the outfield because Suarez was locked in at 3b so this was not a surprise and im sure they worked him up for it in the offseason / spring training as well.
Hiflew players are and have been switched often. It is by no means a novel approach the Reds have taken. And most of these players have already switched and are familiar with many positions by the time they have been drafted. The vast majority have spent a good chunk of their lives plating the sport and have done so at numerous positions.
Just because it is not a surprise does not mean it was a good idea. It was a bad plan.
I think most of the players you name switched down in position difficulty/rigor, or at least between like positions. They are all also established big league hitters. Switch to 1B hardly counts as compromise on player’s part. It’s how you salvage a slugger in the lineup, where catchers and 3B retire to if they still have a hit tool. There’s big difference between bribing a teenage track star to play baseball and then spending couple years seeing if he is potentially ML switch hitting leadoff SS, like Billy Hamilton, who had no baseball identity – and telling a poised and reputedly mature baseball player (Senzel) that his profile is irrelevant and it’s time to change who you are. I don’t know for sure it was a mistake but I think I know for sure that Senzel never reasonably projected to have a significant career as starting CF. Maybe it pads resume as a utility player but Reds couldn’t really offer him that role either. It’s mutually bad deal, over long period of time, and they should let him try to salvage a career elsewhere, with no ill will on the Reds’ part.
From the player’s perspective and from the team’s perspective highlight of a trade would be separating from each other and moving on from long depressing drama that will never work out equitably. Funny to review some of the history and headlines. His agent rails against the Reds in 2019 for sending him to AAA, “he’s done everything they’ve asked him to do, including learning CF”. Months later Senzel switches agencies to Scott Boras. He was no. 6 prospect in MLB at the time. And then the Reds signed Mike Moustakas. What a nightmare.
He’s a pin head. The position he plays will not change that.
Some guys can probably handle being moved around just fine, and maybe other guys it has some affect. One of the most (in)famous and successful players in that team’s history, Pete Rose, made the All-Star game at 5 different positions. Pretty likely Senzel would have had these same struggles at the plate regardless of where his team played him in the field.
For the most part, position changes happen in the minors before they hit the bigs, like happened with Eric Davis and Billy Hamilton. Guys like Steer and CES, even Elly played different positions in the minors as well.
Personally, it always seemed obvious to me Senzel was not a CF or an OF period. What people called great plays at times was him outrunnung his mistakes. He hust didn’t have the instinct for it.
It wasn’t a surprise with Suarez around that he would have to move, so why not start that training in the minors? Of course, I say the same about Marte now.
Just another puzzling move by the front office.
That 1st rd his drafted year overall was pretty lousy
The Scapegoat
Have you seen his numbers?
140 over 65, time for a transfusion…or simple medication
With Senzel’s luck he’ll tear an ACL tripping while getting on to the bus to Louisville.
stupid move. what little value was left to move him over the winter is now gone. if the move helped this team compete i would welcome it, but ramos has nothing to offer this team that senzel doesn’t. bad move, they just killed the kids career and for no reason. the team is not better for this move and thats the only reason to make a move is to better the team. hopkins and ramos up, senzel down, not better.
I’m kinda with mikepaul….Ramos didn’t exactly impress the first time around
How many times did Senzel fail to impress? How many more times should they give him?
Great move. Senzel has been wasting opportunities since 2019. I don’t care one bit about how this effects his (zero) trade value. He needs a wake-up call. If he doesn’t bounce back in AAA, then the club will probably just release him. A change of scenery is about the last opportunity for him.
fair
GMs are pretty smart, and weren’t going to get bamboozled. Senzel has had very few hot streak, and at this point it may be best for both sides to move on (when they can).
Enjoy Louisville !
This move will give more AB to Steer, CES, Newman, & Votto. Senzel was not helping the club nor was he building trade value. He’ll either catch fire in Louisville or just be nontendered this winter. Just a whole roster full of prospects have moved past him, with several more to go.
By name: India, Friedl, Fraley, Steer, Newman, Benson, Mclain, EDLC, & CES.;passed Senzel . Marte, Blake Dunn, Rece Hinds, and Jose Barerro have him in their sights.
I would assume Benson not going to be ready for a few more games. With Fraley also out they need an OF option that can be near league avg vs RHP.
Benson is playing tonight. Haha
yea….thats what u get for assuming! you got moded!
I’d had released Newman instead and then tender and trade Senzel over the offseason, for sure another organization in need of IF depth will take a flyer on him.
Solves nothing. More dumpster diving and much too late.
The world meets no one half way
– Stallone
you just keep on pushing my love, over the borderline- Madonna
Senzel is so funny lol, every year he goes on a hot streak to make everyone pick him up in Fantasy and then he falls off a cliff
overall tho has not lived up to what the Reds expected out of him. It is quite surprising that this team is where it is while not having Greene and Lodolo. They will be quite dangerous next season
they’re dangerous NOW jr…..
not rly
You’ll sing a different tune when the Cubs do an El-Foldo!
You can’t say that to a Cubs fan after how the Reds just performed against them. Haha
maybe so….ill let the game be settled on the field
As opposed to what else lol what are you going to do
Older brother Henry gets yet another shot at the bigs, two days after little brother Heliot gets another one himself. Check your horoscopes, boys. (Not really, astrology is stupid.) 🙂
Senzel is Scott Kingery in a different body.
wasn’t funny the first time, but ok
Only, Scott Kingery got about $32 million banked because of an ill-conceived contract extension by the world’s worst GM ever (Matt Klentak). I don’t think Senzel has earned half that much.
And while we’re talking about a Phillie (Kingery, i.e.), I was hoping my Phillies would have taken a shot at acquiring Senzel at the trade deadline.
We needed, and still do need, a RH bat to platoon with Marsh in LF. Dombro went out and got Rodolpho Castro instead, and Castro can’t play the OF, and he couldn’t even keep his spot on the Pirates. I still don’t get trading for him.
Senzel would have been the much better choice. Dunno. Maybe the Reds were hesitant to give away a former #1 pick. I say, “hesitant to give away” because teams weren’t gonna offer much for Senzel. Not based on his performance and injury history. I guess the Reds figured it was just better to keep him.
I suspect the Reds were mostly just hesitant to disrupt the team’s chemistry at the deadline. In hindsight they probably wish they’d have swapped Senzel to the Phillies for any sort of return.
y’all reminded me of the ill-fated return of Suarez to shortstop a few years ago. stay positive reds fans. look at the dog poop we’ve endured. enjoy the ride
Met fans rejoice!
Why didn’t they call up Marte instead?
Why would they call him up to sit on his ass?
Senzel hasn’t reported to the Bats
Making the jump from the minors to the “show” is just like stepping off an escalator onto a treadmill on high setting. It takes a special mindset. 60% mental and 40% physical skills. Many times in the big leagues there is players that can’t live up to the challenge of adaptation. Senzel is a fine example of that. He has been given many more chances by the top brass than most. Looking back, he has hardly ever looked comfortable at the plate. I have always been a fan of Senzel but it’s time to move on.
Best description I have seen for a while. Add a position switch and it didn’t make it easier.
Senzel only looked comfortable his first couple of weeks when he did well. Since the league figured him out, he was never the same and never seemed to adjust like so many who didn’t cut it.
AND…Senzel, as it turns out, is a very good 3rd baseman.