1:35PM: The Reds officially announced Ford’s release.
TODAY, 8:18AM: The Reds will release Ford, Jon Heyman reports (via X).
MAY 1: First baseman Mike Ford has exercised an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Reds, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The team will now have 48 hours to decide whether to select Ford to the big league roster or grant him his release.
The 31-year-old Ford had a massive spring training performance with Cincinnati and has carried that over into the regular season in Triple-A Louisville. The slugger mashed at a ridiculous .455/.486/.727 clip and belted three homers in 31 spring plate appearances. He’s now hitting .297/.381/.538 with six homers for the Bats and has drawn walks at a hearty 11.4% clip against a manageable 19.4% strikeout rate.
Ford’s strong spring and Triple-A production come on the heels of a nice performance with the 2023 Mariners. He hit just .228 but reached base at a .323 clip and slugged .475 in 251 trips to the plate. The longtime Yankees farmhand circled the bases on 16 home runs last year and also smacked six doubles. His 9.6% walk rate was better than league-average, but his 32.3% strikeout rate was well north of average and a notable red flag.
Ford has long had plus power and questionable contact rates. That makes this year’s small sample in Triple-A worthy of some skepticism but also intriguing for the Reds or any other team seeking a low-cost source of lefty power — be it off the bench or in a more prominent first base/designated hitter role. Ford hasn’t been allowed to face lefties much in his career but torched them in 24 plate appearances last year and has actually fared better against fellow southpaws in his career at large. It’s only 108 plate appearances, but he’s a .268/.343/.577 hitter versus lefties compared to .200/.303/.389 against righties (in a much larger sample of 611 plate appearances).
For the Reds, there could be some temptation to bring Ford to the big league roster. Christian Encarnacion-Strand has made 25 starts at first base but is batting only .196/.222/.314 with a 28.7% strikeout rate and just a 2.8% walk rate in 108 plate appearances. The former top prospect had a nice debut showing in 2023 (.270/.328/.477 in 241 plate appearances) but has been 57% worse than average at the plate in ’24, by measure of wRC+.
Designated hitter/outfielder Nick Martini has also cooled after a blistering start to the season; he homered twice in the season opener and slashed .290/.303/.677 through his first 33 plate appearances but has just five hits in 46 subsequent plate appearances. Martini has a minor league option remaining but could be a DFA candidate, given his journeyman status. Encarnacion-Strand has a full slate of three minor league option years remaining, if Cincinnati wants to give him a breather in Louisville to get back on track. Speculatively speaking, swapping out Ford for either of Martini or Encarnacion-Strand makes some sense in the short term.
Martini would make sense to option if the Reds want to add Ford, since they’re serving essentially the same role. But they’d need a 40-man spot for Ford, and Bubba Thompson’s more or less just occupying a roster spot until TJ Friedl is ready. With Benson and Fairchild handling CF, they could DFA Thompson, add Ford, and then option either Martini or CES when Friedl returns.
Look around. Most of the lineup is not hitting. They are lucky they are 16-14 with that kind of ineptitude.
Good thing they are pitching well! The major thing you criticized them all off season for not trading away everyone for starting pitching
Small sample size. The season is FAR from over.
Watch after July.
They didn’t have to trade anyone and there were starting pitching options even as late as spring training began.
With the money they wasted on Candelario and Montas, they could have had a real ace starting pitcher to fill that hole in the rotation you could drive a truck through and still be at 90 million on payroll like they are now.
Also a small sample size for Candelario’s batting stats but hey, never stopped you from blaming front office for signing him. Be fair for once.
Reds should sell off and rebuild why they can
Candelario is a lifetime .243 hitter. Let’s not pretend we are talking about Joe DiMaggio here.
Who would you sell? Besides Montas (who is on the IL) and a couple of relievers? It’s not like there a big market for .190 hitters.
So SSS Only applies to when the Reds have positive outcomes only. When it’s negative then it will not improve. Nothing to see here but more unmitigated moronic almost pathological stupidity.
You continue to amaze in your hatred towards Krall or anything they do. Did they turn you down for a job? Did Krall personally insult you?
Reds have a 116 ERA plus going into Fridays game. 3rd best in the NL and you choose to focus on Montas having 2 bad starts. You choose to ignore all positives and say SSS while the hitting is not a product of SSS. While the whole of MLB is down hitting. I think league wide OPS is barely at 700.
What ace starter was available for that money??
If you want to say they should have signed Seth Lugo and or Flaherty. I can do that. I like Lugo better. However no way was anyone expecting them to pitch this good at this point. But again. As you said earlier. SSS. But that only applies to anything good the Reds do.
Another JA that a village is missing an idiot from.
They already did that. That’s what 2022 brought on. They already went past that. Let’s sell in early May. You’re a fan of any other NL Cebtral team clearly.
@Coy: Regarding the ace starter comment, I think Red is making the argument that after every team saw the market for starting pitchers had collapsed, the owner should have made an exception on their budget and signed one.
That’s a legit argument to have. Even if it was just for one year, it would have been a nice bone to throw to the fans.
Sonny Gray signed for 3 million dollars more than the Reds offered him. Are you related to Nick Krall by the way?
Sonny Gray flat out said he only wanted to play for the Cardinals at this point. But sure maybe he decides if the reds offer him a lot more. Which by the way. How much do you know what was offered to begin with? But if the offer him more maybe he changes his mind. Cardinals though have more available money just by the ability to draw better for years.
Krall has a not buying any criticism just not the over the top BS this regular poster trolls out. Krall should be able. By now. To find a power hitting OF to nab especially for this ballpark in the last few years.
Which one? Snell or Montgomery? Which was plausible that they would sign. They already had signed Montas and Martinez. They saw depth with Williamson and Connor Phillips. I would have preferred Seth Lugo over Montas. Just based on health. Martinez is great because this team has lacked long middle relief in this new age of bullpen over reliance. Where Krall could have done better was in the OF. By the time TJ then Matt went down the pickings for better depth in the OF was Adam Duvall. Not a bad option. But like a lot of players this year he’s hitting badly.
Whole ML BA is as low as it has been this far into a season since 1968. Yes l did use BA which is still a stat that’s not completely irrelevant. OPS is the lowest it’s been in years all over baseball too.
Mitch Garver has a 553 OPS. Looking like a questionable decision, especially since the Mariners were cutting costs everywhere else on the roster.
No GM in MLB is gonna pay 12 million a year to a backup catcher who only plays every few days.
Ford might actually catch on with a MLB deal if he is released.
The As need a 1B
There you go, Mariners. You KNOW you want him back in Tacoma…
Tacoma?? They need him on the big league roster. France is not the answer at 1b and Garver is struggling at DH. He can get plenty of AB at either of those spots.
France may not be the answer at 1st but at least he can play the position. And they are not going to take pa’s from Garver, and if they do it will be with Raleigh. Its May 1st for crying out loud. I like Mike Ford too but he has no place on this roster.
The Mariners could use Garver as the backup catcher. That actually makes sense unlike carrying 3 catchers.
France has been a non-factor in the line up since the all of last season. He’s a decent 1B and slightly better than Ford. I would rather see him platoon with Ford against RH pitching and also give him a few AB at DH as well. Garver has been highly disappointing and looks like he’s trying to hit everything over the fence. Maybe he will get back in the groove, but the only reason the M’s are in 1st place at this point is the rest of the AL West has struggled, otherwise they would be digging themselves out of a hole, just like the last 3 seasons.
If there was no room for Votto, there is no room for Ford.
But there was no room for Candelario either, and we know what happened there. What a great decision that was, especially with starting pitching giving up 5-6 runs a game.
Reds’ Starters have a 3.92 ERA (15th in MLB) with a 1.21 WHIP (12th in MLB). They aren’t as bad as you make them out to be.
I agree Candelario looks like a mistake thus far, but there’s still hope. Sucks to see the team carry Nick Martini and potentially Mike Ford, but not Reds Legend, Joey Votto.
By the way, they should bring up Mike Ford over Martini or Bubba Thompson.
Those numbers have been brought down from Lodolo’s and surprisingly Greene’s last two starts. It looks like Greene picked up some things on how to pitch from Montas, which supports my contention the young pitchers needed a veteran to learn from last season.
Martinez has proven he’s a bullpen guy as he gets hit hard second time around and that inflates things. An inconsistent performance from the bullpen against quality opponents don’t help.
The rest of the rotation have been so-so so far, though I suspect Ashcraft and Abbott have better days ahead. The jury is still out on Montas as well, for sure, if and when he comes back.
Then most of ML rotations are somewhat less than “so-so” by any set of stats that I’m aware of. Reds have been operating with a 10-11 man position player active roster since India and Fraley took ill, That’s problem one. Add in that Martini & Thompson’s bats are MIA. I let Martini walk. Add Capel in his spot. Send down Espinal and bring up Livian Soto on Friday. Thompson optioned by the end of the homestand if he can’t start making solid contact.
If you are talking supposed contending clubs, they do not have rotations that are so-so.
But then, some accept mediocrity and some demand excellence.
I will agree with one thing, though. Martini and Thompson should have never made this ballclub. The right handed hitting OF situation should have been long ago addressed in the offseason. There were plenty of options and enough cash above 90 million to do it. But it was ignored like the back end of the bullpen sitiation leading to Diaz. We have already seen what the two inning save situations last year did to him.
This is a team in transition. It was always going to be a team in transition. The pitching staff overall is developing nicely. Definitely a top half of ML pitching staffs and possibly becoming top ten by June. Because of McLain, Friedl, and Marte the offense is behind. It’s just ludicrous to believe that $15MM not spent here or another $10MM spent there would convert this team into an Atlanta Braves or LA Dodgers.. Reds have to develop from the inside and over time- whether you like it or not.
Who said they were going to be the Braves or Dodgers. They play in the NL Central, not the East or West.
You brought up the point though. Who’s the three man playoff rotation, should they actually make it? They couldn’t even compete.
But you just described why they haven’t won a playoff series since 1995. That attitude.
You act like you have all the time in the world when people off this team are going to start being lost in a couple of years to bigger markets. Then they start all over again with the sell off and “rebuild”. Kick the can down the road again.
We’ve seen it time and time again. This is the third group they’ve put together…and still no postseason success.
I guess you’re good with that. Most actual Reds fans who have been through this multiple times have not for quite some time.
Bob needs to sell the team or get someone who can put one together.
An actual functioning, entire roster.
Period.
Our rotation is behind the Cubs rotation slightly but a little better than Pirates and quite a bit better than Brewers or Cards.. If you’re referring to the Joketty “retool” where he traded Reds assets for injured and inept “ML ready” suspects, let it go. That was a doomed failure. Castellini put friendship above competent management. Current GM has the Reds returning to being competitive a season early and that competitveness is here now and possibly for the forseeable future.And yes I am good with the progrss made by Krall. Reds could trade say Lowder, Collier, Duno, and Petty- and assemble an active roster that would probably win the division this year but close their competitive window in 3 years. Obviosly the Castellini’s had the resources to purchase the controlling interest in the Reds. Don’t like it? Earn the financial resources required to buy them out and run the team your way. Them’s the rules.
If you don’t see thw competitive window already slamming shut in theee years anyway, you haven’t been paying attention.
Then again, with one who worships at the altar, that doesn’t surprise me.
Castellini said day one after purchasing the club, he would run it like the Cardinals and have long term success. Never happened. Never going to happen. That is why he gets so much blowback by Reds fans, baseball fans, and even observers like MLBTR writers.
Walt Jockety forgot more about baseball than Nick Krall will ever know. Krall is a failed scout who says “yes” to the owner enough.
15 yrs and no playoff series win. You are a koolaid drinker for sure. A manager well under .500 is on his third contract in 5 years, you really see a commitment to winning? The team was built by your boy Krall and they can barely hit .200? Because 3 guys were hurt? 2 of them have less than 500 at bats combined between them. You were/are dreaming. The Reds bank on fans like you.
What in the world are you talking about?
There was no room for Votto anywhere in MLB. He had to sign a minor-league deal, and that’s where he remains. The Reds wisely chose playing CES everyday vs giving Votto substantial playing time (much as I love Joey V). JV didn’t want to ride the pine and he would’ve been a distraction in 2024.
You say there was no room for Candelario yet he is sixth in total ABs thus far. Both he and CES have started off slowly this season, but Candelario’s bat MAY be coming to life with back to back 2-4s with a HR in the last 2 games. If the FO hadn’t signed him Mike Ford would already be starting at 1B for the Reds. And having Candelario allows you to cover for a youngster who might need more time in the minors to get going, which might be the case with CES.
The real head scratcher is this comment:
“What a great decision that was, especially with starting pitching giving up 5-6 runs a game”.
Time to put the pipe down. No one on the staff is giving up 5 to 6 runs a game. Nick Martinez, who was signed to be a swingman, has the worst ERA of the starters at 5.46, which is obviously calculated over nine innings, and even he is not giving up 5-6 runs a game. The remaining starters are as follows:
Lodolo: 1.88
Abbott: 3.27
Greene: 3.63
Montas: 4.19
Ashcraft: 4.40
The Reds pitching staff has a whole has an ERA of 3.85 which is sixth in the National League. The problem thus far has been the hitting, and the front office covered that contingency with the Candelario signing. MLBTR had JC as the 13th best free agent this past winter (4th or 5th best position player, depending on how you classify Ohtani) and predicted a 4 yr $70MM deal. The Reds did well to sign him to a three-year $45MM contract.
Warning: actual results may vary from This One’s preconceived, never changing narrative.
Sorry but no one would describe the Reds rotation as good in any scenario. There are easily 20 team rotations people would take before even considering the Reds rotation.
Nonsense. Per fandom:
“In modern baseball, an ERA under 2.00 is considered exceptional and is rare. An ERA between 2.00 and 3.00 is also considered excellent and is only achieved by the best pitchers in the league. An ERA between 3.00 and 4.00 is above-average”. The average MLB ERA for 2024 is 3.99.
The rotation’s ERA thru last night:
Lodolo: 1.88
Abbott: 3.27
Greene: 3.63
Ashcraft: 3.63
Montas: 4.19 (on IL)
Martinez: 5.46
Of the current rotation, 4 of the 5 starters are pitching above average or better and Lodolo has been exceptional. You said no one would describe the rotation as good – maybe you meant that they would describe it as very good.
Feel free to name those 20 teams with better rotations. You said it would be easy.
I felt that Brandon Williamson would have made the Reds rotation out of ST had he been healthy. I still think he has a near 50-50 chance to bump somebody out of the rotation by ASB if he gets healthy. That would made our rotation even more “very good”
And Chase Petty and Rhett Lowder could be in Cincy by season’s end or early next year. Which, when added to Brandon Williamson and the other successful starters, would make our rotation even more “very good”.
So MTTR said Candelario was the 13th best FA and you said “yeah that must be right?” The rest of us seen a .243 career hitter with no consistency from year to year and oh yea, he is 30. I hate to argue with another Red fan, so I’ll just say please start believing your eyes. Stop believing what people tell you and believe your own eyes. Your own eyes will tell you what the results of this franchise have been for the last 20 years.
There are several candidates that should go down in favor of him and that’s pretty sad Strad, Martini, etc… it’s Ford.
Surprised Tampa hasn’t grabbed him.
Padres,all the way
White Sox will take him. He might help Mr Jerry Riensdorf reams winning percentage of 193 zoom up to 220..
I always thought he’d end up a Brewer at some point. We’ll see…
As a red fan, I simply do not understand this. He’s never going to be an All-Star batter, but there are guys in our lineup that should not be. What would the harm of Ben and giving this guy a shot?
Looking at the history, too high a strikeout rate and low contact rate in the bigs.
They don’t need another guy like that.
He’s a better option than Martini Fairchild Espinal Thompson and Mahlie simply because they are automatic outs. Ford at least has produced at this level.
Granted Espinal was once an All Star but I can’t understand why.
l can see this guy playing in Japan next year. Just gotta change his last name though.
Honda-san.
Could just add Coppola. Or is that lost in translation?
Ford to the Houston Astros?
Ford to the Angels. He’ll get plenty of ABs
Reds and Orioles are similar young teams.
The difference is the Orioles have management that goes out and plugs all the holes in the roster. The Reds do not.
That’s why the Orioles are having success and the Reds are lucky to be .500 the way they are playing.
They might be similar but the Orioles are more like at least a year ahead. Orioles W-L record the last 3 years has been .321, .513, .623. Reds has been .512, .383, .506.
The O’s didn’t really add much last year ahead of that .623 record. Their one big add has been Corbin Burnes and that just happened this offseason. Other than that they’ve generally spent very little and held on to most of their prospects.
Irvin also came from outside. So did Kimbrel. Santander was a Rule 5, and so on.
While most of their guys are homegrown like the Reds, they went outside to fill prominent roles as needed and have a functoning roster even with injuries. The Reds did for some, but not all the holes. That was the point.
Hopefully everyone is now clear on the gap between the Orioles and the Reds.
Front office to blame, got it. Nothing to do with three frontline hitters being on the disabled list.
Front office is to blame, got it! Has nothing to do with McLain, Friedl and Marte being unavailable.
2 guys with 500 career at bats (McClain and Marte) between them is the reason why the team is hitting .210? Got it! Or the front office has absolutely no idea how to build a team? You were built on young guys with limited experience, high strikeout rates, and retreads (Benson and Candelario) and wonder why they cant hit? Not a single guy in the lineup has ever had 2 straight consistent major league seasons.
As a Refs fan, absolutely agree. And they hold onto guys waaaay tooooo long.
Brewers should pick him up and dfa Bauers.
In a related move,
Joe Chevrolet was also released.
That’s why we will never win with Bell or Krall running things. Strand should go down and The India extension should not of happened.Then the DA signed Candalario..who had what 1 season of luck? Heres 3 years and my wallet..Reds Mgmt
Boston Red Xox Jusssssssssssssst missed out!
Front office is to blame, got it! McLain, Friedl and Marte being out has nothing to do with it.
Pirates could DFA Rowdy & sign Mike Ford for 1st Base. A huge improvement Maybe?
Clown show… give the guy a shot. Everyone is hitting .200 he’d replace