The Reds announced Friday that they’ve signed left-hander Justin Wilson to a one-year deal. The ACES client will be guaranteed $1.5MM on a contract that includes an additional $1MM in possible incentives. Cincinnati already had an opening on the 40-man roster, so no further move was necessary. Manager David Bell told reporters that another lefty reliever, Alex Young, will open the season on the 15-day injured list with a back issue.
Wilson, 36, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers about a month ago. He pitched fairly well in the spring, striking out nine hitters in four official innings, but he seemed blocked from making a stacked Dodger bullpen. He opted out of that deal earlier this week.
Cracking the bullpen in Cincinnati should be easier. Brent Suter is one lefty option but they are otherwise shorthanded in that department. Sam Moll was slowed by some shoulder soreness when he reported to camp and has yet to pitch in an official spring game. Now that Young is also injured, Suter was the only healthy lefty reliever on the roster until this Wilson signing.
Wilson is coming off a couple of injury-marred seasons. After making just five appearances in 2022, he required Tommy John surgery in June of that year. While rehabbing, he signed with the Brewers for 2023. But after being activated off the injured list in July last year, he suffered a lat injury while warming up in the bullpen. He went right back on the IL and wasn’t able to come back, meaning he didn’t make an official big league appearance last year.
But prior to that, he was an effective big league reliever for about a decade. He pitched for the Pirates, Yankees, Tigers, Cubs, Mets and Reds from 2012 to 2021, posting a 3.42 earned run average in 522 appearances. He punched out 25.7% of batters who came to the plate, walking 10.7% of them and kept 46.8% of balls in play on the ground. He earned some leverage work in that time, getting 18 saves and 132 holds.
Though he missed the last couple of campaigns, Wilson is healthy now and brings a solid track record to the Reds. He and Suter should be the club’s lefty relief duo, at least until Moll and Young get healthy.
Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the Reds and Wilson had agreed to a major league contract. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer had previously relayed that Wilson was in Reds’ camp. MLBTR’s Steve Adams was first to report the deal contained a $1.5MM base salary with an additional $1MM in performance bonuses.
nice strategy from wilson. work with the dodgers’ pitching coaches for a few months, sign his opt-out papers and collect a major league contract with maybe a nice little role cut out for him to start the year
a nice pickup, a team can always use another quality arm
Hopefully this will work out better than Wilson’s previous stint in Cincinnati
In all fairness, he was good in the 19.2 innings he pitched. He was traded along with Luis Cessa from the Bronx during that 2021 postseason run they were going for and those two did a fine job during that stretch.
Yeah I think the Reds were mainly taking on Wilson’s contract as a way to get Cessa. It was known that Wilson was injured at the time of the trade. The Yankees needed to free up roster space and offload some salary at the deadline.
He had a 2.81 era in 21 games with the Reds in 2021, and improved that to 2.45 in 2022.
How much better do you want it to be?
And they knew he was injured a year before he went on the IL? Doubtful. It sounds like you’re talking out of your a**
Wilson only pitched 19 innings in the year and a half he was under contract with the Reds. He was having plenty of performance red flags and injury concerns before the trade. Here’s the MLBTR article on the trade at the time:
mlbtraderumors.com/2021/07/reds-acquire-luis-cessa…
Did you read the article? lol. He wasn’t injured. It didn’t mention injury once. 21 outings after July 27th is a LOT. He did not go on the injured list with the Reds in 2021. He pitched to a sub 3 ERA.
Like what are you literally talking about? He was good for the Reds and not injured when the Yankees traded him….
lol did you?
“Wilson’s velocity has gone backwards, and his typically lofty strikeout rate has plummeted to 18.1%”
“the Reds agreed to take on Wilson’s salary to incentivize the Yankees to part with Cessa.”
Bro. Did you read my comment at all? Have you read your own comments? lol. I have been addressing two of your incorrect comments. We (you and I) have not been talking about how bad he was with the Yankees.
1.) “Hopefully this will work out better than Wilson’s previous stint in Cincinnati”
– he was excellent in Cincinnati, sure, not with the Yankees, but excellent in Cincinnati
2.) “It was known that Wilson was injured at the time of the trade.”
– he was not injured at the time of the trade. He pitched completely healthy the rest of the year and put up fantastic numbers. He did not go on the injured list until 2022, after being off to another fantastic start. The article that you posted in response to me saying he was not injured, literally said nothing about him being injured.
And I should say, the first point I was not trying to correct, I just asked how much better you wanted him to be. And you refused to answer that question.
Not sure what the disagreement even is at this point, but it’s indisputable that before the trade deadline Wilson had spent much of his 2021 season with the Yankees on the IL, including all of the month of June. It was well known by all parties that he was battling injuries.
Sure, the Reds got 16 or so productive innings out of Wilson after the trade in 2021 but it was pretty apparent to everyone, based on his Yankees performance and injuries, that he was damaged goods. The performance they expected, and got, from Wilson himself was certainly not what any team would want for the $4M or so the Reds invested in him. Instead, what they got for it was Cessa. The Reds more or less knew they were eating Wilson’s salary for that.
To answer your other question, I wouldn’t think the Reds would want his performance to be better per se, just a lot more sustainable.
Hah, the Riddler called it! He mentioned Justin in a comment yesterday. All hail the Riddler
This must be your burner account. : -)
Moll must be going to miss a good deal of time for this front office to actually get more bullpen help.
Could be. Coming into spring, guys like Young, Cruz, and Antone were slated to start the year in AAA because of all the new acquisitions. Maybe they think Gibaut and Moll are more injured than they are letting on.
Now all they need is Bauer and the NLC is theirs.
I guar-rone-tee!!!
Alrighty.
I wanted the dodgers to keep him but Hudson is a fan favorite. Same with KiKi and the whole Margot deal. The dodgers have so much talent and only so many roster spots. Other teams are gonna start benefiting from the dodgers having to make cuts!!
Reds, rays, bucks, Indians. All embarrassing
Krall continues to persue depth. You don’t want Young, Moll, or Gibaut until they are healthy. Just a smart move.