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Austin Wynns Accepts Outright Assignment With Reds

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Catcher Austin Wynns passed through waivers unclaimed and has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Louisville, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic on X. The backstop had been designated for assignment by the Reds earlier this week.

Wynns, 33, signed a split deal with the Reds in the offseason that pays him a $900K salary while in the majors and $300K in the minors. Since he is out of options, the club has outrighted him off the 40-man three times already this year. As a player with more than three years of service time but less than five, Wynns can reject an outright assignment but would have to walk away from his remaining money in order to do so.

That specific contract structure and service time situation have allowed the Reds to shuttle Wynns on and off the roster whenever they have needed a third catcher to support Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile. Wynns was added a couple of weeks ago when Stephenson was hurt but bumped off the roster when Stephenson felt better. Shortly thereafter, Stephenson went on the paternity list, which gave Wynns another few days on the roster before being bumped off again.

It’s possible that Wynns may be quickly needed yet again in short order. Maile appeared to injure himself running to first base today, with video relayed on X by Bally Sports Cincinnati. He initially stayed in the game but was later replaced behind the plate by Stephenson. Wynns has hit just .229/.276/.331 in his career but is generally considered a competent defender behind the plate.

GM: Reds Have Yet To Commit To Deadline Strategy

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The Reds entered the 2024 season as hopeful contenders but find themselves five games under .500 and 10.5 games back of the Brewers for the division lead in the National League Central. It’s certainly not how they drew things up, but the tightly bunched NL Wild Card picture still leaves Cincinnati with some legitimate playoff aspirations. The Reds are only four games back of the third NL Wild Card spot at the moment. They’re one of many teams on the Wild Card bubble whose deadline activity will likely hinge on how the team plays in the coming weeks. In fact, general manager Brad Meador effectively confirmed as much to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“We have to wait and see how we finish off this road trip and the homestand coming up, and then we’ll see,” Meador tells Wittenmyer. “We’re talking about it. We’d love to be able to add, but realistically, we’ll probably just have to see how it goes.”

The Reds control their own fate, in many respects, and they’ll head into the upcoming All-Star break with a series of eminently winnable games. They took the first of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium last night and have a tough task finishing off that series, but they’ll close out the first half against three teams with sub-.500 records — including the two worst clubs in the NL. On Friday, Cincinnati commences a 10-game homestand where they’ll host the Tigers, Rockies and Marlins for three, four and three games, respectively. The Reds will open the second half with a nine-game road trip through Washington, Atlanta and St. Petersburg before starting a home series against the Cubs on July 29 (one day before the July 30 trade deadline).

It’s a pivotal stretch of games for the Reds, to say the least. A winning streak could catapult them north of .500 and prominently into the Wild Card hunt (while narrowing the division gap), while an underwhelming stretch against some of the less-competitive clubs on the upcoming schedule could serve as a death knell for their 2024 postseason aspirations. Playing roughly .500 ball between now and July 30 would leave the front office with some tougher decisions to make. For now, Meador acknowledged “vague” conversations exploring both sides of the market while cautioning nothing is close.

Among the most notable trade candidates on the roster, if the Reds go that route, will be Jonathan India and Frankie Montas. India is hitting .275/.381/.405 with five homers and eight steals on the season. He’s fanned in a career-low 19.7% of his plate appearances and has restored his walk rate to a hefty 12.8% after seeing it dip to a combined 8.6% in 2022-23.

India is playing out the first season of a two-year, $8.8MM contract that bought out two of his three arbitration seasons. He’s locked into a $5MM salary for the 2025 season and would be arbitration-eligible in the 2025-26 offseason before hitting the open market post-2026. He’s not a good defensive second baseman, but he’s been a line-drive machine at the plate this year (24.9%) while showing his best K-BB profile since winning NL Rookie of the Year in 2021.

While India conceded to Wittenmyer that last year’s slate of trade rumblings got to him mentally, this time around he feels more prepared for it. The 27-year-old emphasized a desire to remain in Cincinnati long-term, noting he “loves” the city and organization while simultaneously acknowledging that a potential trade is beyond his control and not something on which he plans to dwell.

Montas would be the roster’s most straightforward trade candidate. The 31-year-old hasn’t bounced back to his Oakland form but has been healthy with the Reds after missing nearly all of the 2023 season due to shoulder surgery. He’s on a one-year, $16MM contract and has pitched to a 4.23 ERA in 72 1/3 innings across 15 starts.

Montas’ 95.1 mph average heater (via Statcast) is down from its 96.8 mph peak, and his 18.6% strikeout rate isn’t close to his career-best 26.6% mark, set back in 2021. Still, he’s pitched like a capable enough fourth starter and has seen his velocity build as the season has progressed. Montas sat 94 mph with his fastball through late April but is at 95.5 mph dating back to May 1.

Over Montas’ past six starts, he’s pitched 31 1/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball with a much-improved 23.3% strikeout rate. His 10.9% walk rate in that stretch is too high, but the velocity and missed bats are beginning to resurface. If he can continue some of those positive gains in velocity and strikeouts, Montas could be of interest to teams looking to add to the middle tier of their rotation.

The Reds have other candidates to be moved, though their willingness to give out some surprising opt-out clauses over the winter could work against them in that regard. Veterans Emilio Pagan and Nick Martinez signed two-year contracts worth $16MM and $26MM, respectively, but the second season of each of those deals is a player option. As MLBTR’s Anthony Franco detailed for MLBTR Front Office subscribers earlier this week, such clauses often present severe impediments to trading a player.

Other names to watch in the event of a Reds sale would include relievers Buck Farmer, Lucas Sims and Brent Suter. All three are free agents at season’s end. Each has had varying levels of success this season while playing on an affordable salary. The return for any one of those three likely wouldn’t be enormous but could shed a small money off the payroll while adding a lottery-ticket prospect to the lower tiers of the farm system.

All of that is putting the cart before the horse, however. The Reds’ roster will have a nice window of winnable games to convince the front office that adding pieces is the proper route in the weeks ahead. Cincinnati has received negligible production from the outfield, designated hitter and first base this season — although Noelvi Marte’s recent return likely means they’ll install a productive hitter (Jeimer Candelario) in at first base more regularly now. Adding some kind of bat to help boost the offense would be prudent — assuming the Reds can keep themselves afloat or even improve upon their standing in the next couple weeks.

Reds Designate Austin Wynns For Assignment

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The Reds announced that catcher Tyler Stephenson has been reinstated from the family medical emergency list, with fellow backstop Austin Wynns designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Wynns was selected to the roster on Friday as Stephenson went on the paternity list. Stints on the paternity list come with a maximum of three days but Stephenson stayed away from the club a little longer, getting transferred to the family medical emergency list yesterday. Now that Stephenson has returned to the club, he’ll take over sharing catching duties with Luke Maile and nudge Wynns off the roster.

The 33-year-old Wynns has been bouncing on and off the Cincinnati roster all year. In December, he signed a major league split deal that pays him $900K while in the majors and $300K in the minors. The Reds designated him for assignment in January and passed him through waivers. Since Wynns has more than three years of service time but less than five, he can reject an outright assignment but would have to forfeit his remaining salary to do so.

Since he is out of options and has that unique contract status, a similar series of transactions has played out a few times during the season already. He was selected to the roster on June 21 while Stephenson was hurt but then was designated for assignment a few days later, accepting an outright. He got his roster spot back a few days after that and has now been bumped off again.

The circumstances effectively allow the Reds to treat Wynns like an optionable player but without him taking up a 40-man spot when he’s down in the minors. Any club could claim him off waivers but doing so would mean taking on that money and keeping him on the active roster, at least temporarily. Since he’s already been passed through waivers twice this year and accepted an outright assignment both times, it would appear likely to happen yet again in the coming days. Wynns has hit just .229/.276/.331 in his career but is generally considered a solid defender.

Reds Outright Peyton Burdick

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The Reds have sent outfielder Peyton Burdick outright to Triple-A Louisville, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Burdick, now 27, showed some big promise early on in his professional career but has been struck out more and more as he has climbed the minor league ladder and reached the majors. As recently as this offseason, he was still generating plenty of interest around the league. The Marlins designated him for assignment in February, which led to Burdick bouncing to the Orioles, White Sox, O’s again and then the Reds via waiver claims or cash trades.

Despite that interest, Burdick’s season has been a big disappointment thus far. In 240 Triple-A plate appearances across two different systems, he walked at a solid 12.9% clip but was also punched out a blink-inducing 42.5% of the time. He currently sports a batting line of .188/.308/.386 for the year and no club was willing to give him a 40-man roster spot despite the fact that he’s still optionable.

Players with at least three years of service time or a previous career outright can reject another such assignment and elect free agency, but Burdick doesn’t qualify in either column. He’ll stick with the Reds in a non-roster capacity and try to get things back on track. Over the 2019 and 2021 minor league seasons, Burdick slashed .257/.382/.490 for a wRC+ of 147. His 27.1% strikeout rate was high but he walked 14.1% of the time and hit 34 home runs in his 804 plate appearances. If he can dredge up a performance like that in the future, he could earn his roster spot back with the Reds.

Reds Designate Peyton Burdick For Assignment

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The Reds announced today that catcher Tyler Stephenson has been placed on the paternity list. Fellow backstop Austin Wynns has been selected to take his place on the active roster. To open a 40-man spot for Wynns, the Reds designated outfielder Peyton Burdick for assignment. Last night, Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported on X that Wynns was likely stepping in for Stephenson.

Wynns was selected to the roster a week ago while Stephenson was dealing with a minor injury, but was passed through waivers shortly thereafter and now has his roster spot back. He has hit just .226/.273/.324 in his career but is generally considered a strong defender behind the plate. He will share the catching duties with Luke Maile while Stephenson is away.

The Reds signed Wynns to a split deal in the offseason that pays him $950K while in the majors and $300K in the minors. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment but not enough to do so while keeping that deal intact. Since signing that deal, the Reds have twice passed Wynns through waivers and had him accept his outright assignment, which may happen again when Stephenson returns.

To get Wynns in to cover for Stephenson, the Reds are risking losing Burdick. They claimed the 27-year-old outfielder off waivers in April but have kept him on optional assignment. In 43 Triple-A  games since that claim, he has a strong 11.7% walk rate but has been struck out 43.3% of the time.

He was once a notable prospect as he put up huge numbers through Double-A but the strikeouts have been a problem ever since he reached Triple-A. He now has just under 1200 plate appearances at that level, striking out in 34.6% of them while slashing .209/.320/.416. He has also received 139 big league plate appearances with a 38.1% strikeout rate there.

The Reds will have one week to trade him or pass him through waivers. If anyone is interested and acquires him, he can still be optioned for the rest of this year and one more season as well. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Reds as non-roster depth.

Reds Activate Noelvi Marté

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The Reds announced today that infielder Noelvi Marté has been activated from the suspended list, having now served his 80-game PED suspension. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Liván Soto and transferred right-hander Emilio Pagán to the 60-day injured list.

Marté, 22, had an excellent debut for the Reds last year. Long considered one of the top prospects in the league, he was called up in August of last year and hit .316/.366/.456 in his first 35 games at the major league level. That set him up to be a key part of the 2024 club but he was hit with an 80-game suspension in early March after testing positive for Boldenone.

That has been just one of several notable absences for the Reds this year. Matt McLain, TJ Friedl and Christian Encarnacion-Strand have all missed significant time due to injury, with several pitchers having spent time on the IL as well. Those health problems and Marté’s suspension have left the club fairly hamstrung so far on the season.

Those issues have contributed to a fairly lackluster performance from the club, as the Reds are currently 37-43. That leaves them only 4.5 games out of a playoff spot in the fairly weak National League Wild Card race, but many expected better results this year after the club seemed to be overflowing with young talent towards the end of last year.

The return of Marté could perhaps give them a boost, though for what it’s worth, he hasn’t been in good form after his layoff. He began a rehab assignment a couple of weeks ago and hit .151/.151/.170 in 15 Triple-A games. That’s a small sample size and perhaps some rust is expected after missing time, but the Reds will obviously hope for better than that going forward.

The Reds still have McLain, Friedl and Encarnacion-Strand on the injured list while Jake Fraley and Jeimer Candelario are each dealing with minor ailments. Despite Marté’s poor form during his rehab, he might get some runway to get in a good place with so many other players ailing. He was primarily playing third base during his rehab, which has been Candelario’s home for much of this season. Santiago Espinal has been covering that spot lately but is hitting just .203/.253/.297 on the year. Even when Candelario is healthy again, he is capable of moving over to first base, while regular first baseman Spencer Steer could perhaps move into the corner outfield mix.

As for Pagán, he landed on the 15-day injured list June 9 due to a right lat strain. This transfer suggests the Reds don’t expect him back until early August in a best-case scenario. He signed a two-year, $16MM deal in the offseason, with the chance to opt out after one year. He has a mediocre 4.43 earned run average on the year and seemingly won’t have a ton of time to improve that number after this IL stint. The Reds could look to improve their bullpen prior to the trade deadline, but their aggressiveness in that department will depend on how the club plays over the next month.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand To Undergo Wrist Surgery

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Reds infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand will have wrist surgery on July 11 and there’s a three-month recovery timeline. If that timeline holds, that means he won’t be able to return during the regular season. Manager David Bell relayed the information to reporters today, with Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer among those to pass it along. X link one and two.

It’s been a frustrating and unusual saga for Encarnacion-Strand. Back at the end of April, he was hit on the hand by a pitch and X-rays were negative but revealed a small pre-existing fracture. The infielder said he didn’t know how that came about and that he wasn’t in any discomfort prior to being hit by that pitch.

He was placed on the injured list about a week later, with the club describing his ailment as a right ulnar styloid fracture. Just over a week ago, Bell revealed that surgery was being considered and it now seems that it has been deemed necessary. Given the three-month recovery timeline, Encarnacion-Strand won’t be able to return this year unless the club makes the playoffs and survives through the middle of October. Even if that does come to pass, it will be a challenge for him to get back into game shape and earn his way onto the roster, so it seems there’s a decent chance his 2024 is effectively done.

That’s a very frustrating blow for Encarnacion-Strand and the club. A highly-touted prospect, he debuted with a splash last year by hitting 13 home runs in his first 63 major league games. He slashed .270/.328/.477 overall for a wRC+ of 112.

He was undoubtedly hoping to build off that with a healthy and productive showing in his first full season, but it hasn’t come to pass. He hit just .190/.220/.293 in his 29 games this year and that will almost certainly be his final line when the year is over. He’s already on the 60-day injured list and is now slated to stay there for the rest of the campaign.

For the team, this just adds to the number of missed opportunities by their players this year. Noelvi Marté was hit with an 80-game PED suspension and has missed the entire season thus far. Injuries have plagued Matt McLain, TJ Friedl and various pitchers on their staff, leaving the club fairly hampered all year long.

Their season is still alive thanks to the weak National League Wild Card race. The Reds are just 37-41 but that is only 2.5 games out of a playoff spot at the moment. That’s somewhat encouraging but it also leads to plenty of “what if” questions amid all the various issues the club has dealt with.

Encarnacion-Strand was the everyday first baseman prior to the landing on the injured list but that job has primarily fallen to Spencer Steer in recent months. Marté could return soon to possibly factor into the third base mix and perhaps that will lead to Jeimer Candelario moving over to first base at times. That could push Steer into a corner outfield role, where Will Benson and Jake Fraley are having underwhelming seasons.

Austin Wynns Accepts Outright Assignment With Reds

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June 25: Wynns cleared waivers and has accepted an outright assignment back to Louisville, tweets Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

June 23: The Reds announced this morning that they’ve designated catcher Austin Wynns for assignment. The move opens up a spot on the active roster for infielder Livan Soto, who has been recalled to the majors from Triple-A.

Wynns, 33, was brought up to the majors by the Reds on Friday to act as a third catcher behind Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile while Stephenson has been day-to-day with an unknown issue. Evidently, whatever concern the club had regarding Stephenson has passed as the 27-year-old returned to the starting lineup behind the plate today after pinch hitting in yesterday’s game. The catcher is now set to depart the Reds without having made an appearance at the big league level for the club.

The 33-year-old got his start in pro ball as a tenth-round pick by the Orioles back in 2013. He made his big league debut with Baltimore in 2018 and served as a backup for the club behind the plate in parts of the 2018, ’19, and ’21 seasons. He hit just .216/.255/.326 during that time but was generally regarded as a solid defender behind the plate. The Orioles outrighted Wynns off their 40-man roster shortly after the 2021 season concluded, allowing him to test free agency. He found a minor league deal with the Phillies in relatively short order but was swapped to the Giants in June of 2022 and was selected to the club’s 40-man roster when the Giants demoted former top prospect Joey Bart to Triple-A.

Wynns found some success with the Giants in 2022 as he broke out with the bat, slashing a decent .241/.315/.356 (93 wRC+) across 177 plate appearances in that time. Despite that solid success, Wynns nonetheless found himself outrighted off the roster in San Francisco last January. He accepted that outright assignment with the club and found himself added back to the 40-man roster in early April of last year when Roberto Perez was sidelined by a rotator cuff strain, but made it into just one game before being designated for assignment. Wynns briefly caught on with the Dodgers later that month but was designated for assignment once again in early May. His tour of the NL West continued when he was claimed off waivers by the Rockies, and that turned out to be a more permanent home for the veteran as he remained with Colorado through the end of the season, appearing in 45 games but hitting just .214/.273/.282 in that time.

Once again on the open market after being outrighted off the Rockies’ 40-man last October, Wynns found a split big league deal with the Reds back in December and remained with the club even after being outrighted to the minors in January. Looking ahead, Cincinnati will have one week to either trade the journeyman or attempt to pass him through waivers and outright him back to the minor leagues. Although Wynns would have the ability to reject that outright assignment, it seems as though he would be unlikely to do so given the nature of his split contract with the club, which offers him a $300K salary in the minor leagues.

As for Soto, the infielder appeared in 22 games with the Angels between 2022 and 2023 and made the most of that playing time, slashing .375/.414/.531 over the course of his 71 big league trips to the plate. Soto nonetheless found himself designated for assignment by the Angels this past offseason, and he was claimed multiple times by both the Orioles and Angels throughout the early stages of the season before he was finally claimed by the Reds in early April after what proved to be an eventful winter for the 24-year-old. The youngster’s unsustainable .469 BABIP at the big league level suggests that he won’t be able to keep that fantastic slash line up in his third stint in the big leagues, but even Soto’s .292/.384/.385 slash line at the Triple-A level this year would make him a useful bench piece for the Reds infield mix.

Reds Place Nick Lodolo On Injured List, Recall Yosver Zulueta For MLB Debut

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The Reds announced Tuesday that they’ve placed lefty Nick Lodolo on the 15-day injured list due to a blister on his left index finger and recalled righty Yosver Zulueta in his place. If Zulueta gets into a game, he’ll be making his MLB debut. Francys Romero first reported early this morning that Zulueta was being called up for his debut.

The 26-year-old Lodolo’s IL placement is retroactive to yesterday. He lasted just 4 2/3 innings in that start and issued four walks in his shakiest start in over a month. While injuries like blisters and cracked fingernails can seem minor on the surface, they can often make it difficult for a pitcher to properly grip his pitches, depending on their placement. A blister on the fingertip of the index finger would make it particularly difficult for Lodolo to execute his curveball, which he’s thrown at a 28% clip this season. He’ll let the issue cool down for the next couple weeks in hopes of a quick return.

Lodolo has been the Reds’ most effective starter this season, pitching to a 2.96 ERA in 70 innings. He’s fanned 25.1% of his opponents against a sharp 6.5% walk rate. This will be his third IL placement of the season, having previously missed time due to minor groin and calf injuries. He’s also spent time on the 60-day injured list in each of the past two seasons, owing to back and calf injuries.

With Lodolo shelved for what’ll presumably be a relatively brief stay on the IL, the Reds’ rotation will be down to Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, Frankie Montas and Carson Spiers. Right-hander Graham Ashcraft, who was optioned to Triple-A earlier this month, has tossed consecutive quality starts since being sent down and yielded a total of four runs in 12 innings with a 12-to-2 K/BB ratio. He could be in the mix to come back to the big league roster in short order and step into Lodolo’s vacated rotation spot, but for the time being the Reds will add Zulueta to give their bullpen an extra arm.

Zulueta, 26, has pitched in 23 games this season and logged 30 2/3 innings of 2.93 ERA ball with a strong 28.3% strikeout rate and elite 60.5% ground-ball rate — but also an ugly 14.5% walk rate. The right-hander came to the Reds via an Opening Day waiver claim after he’d been designated for assignment. In parts of three seasons at the Triple-A level between the two organizations, the Cuban-born righty has a 3.71 ERA, 26.2% strikeout rate and 15.4% walk rate.

Reds Place TJ Friedl On Injured List, Select Levi Jordan

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The Reds announced that outfielder TJ Friedl has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain. In a corresponding move, the club has selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Levi Jordan. There was already a vacancy on the 40-man roster, which is now full.

It’s turning out to be a very frustrating season for Friedl, as this is already his third IL stint this year. A right wrist fracture and a left thumb fracture previously sent him to the shelf and now this hamstring strain has him back there again.

Around those injuries, he hasn’t been able to get into a good groove, with a line of .208/.309/.354 in his 111 plate appearances. That’s a far cry from the .267/.341/.456 line he had coming into the season, but it’s possible that the injuries have played a role in diminishing his performance, either because he’s been playing at less than one hundred percent or just hasn’t had enough runway to get in good form.

Speaking of not playing at full health, Friedl missed some time with this hamstring issue on Tuesday and Wednesday but was back in the lineup last week. “There was some risk involved in playing TJ last night,” manager David Bell said on Saturday, per Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer on X. “I listened to the trainers and TJ. It felt like we made the right decision. There was definitely risk.” In hindsight, taking that risk wasn’t the wise move, as Friedl is now out of action yet again. Today, Bell says that Friedl was around 80 to 85% yesterday and will hopefully be back in two to three weeks, per Goldsmith on X.

Notable absences have been a big part of the Cincinnati season thus far, with Noelvi Marté having missed the whole campaign thus far due to a PED suspension while injuries have hampered players like Friedl, Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and several pitchers as well. The club is 36-41 and still hanging around the weak Wild Card race, but the ongoing injury issues could hamper them in their attempts to climb in the standings.

For now, Friedl’s absence will pave the way for Jordan to get to the big leagues for the first time. Now 28, Jordan was a 29th-round pick of the Cubs back in 2018. He was never really a notable prospect during his time with the Cubs and they even left him unprotected in the minor league portion of last year’s Rule 5 draft.

The Reds grabbed him in the third round of the minor league phase of the Rule 5 and he has put together arguably his best minor league performance to date. He has hit .302/.384/.443 in Triple-A this year for a wRC+ of 118. The only time he had a wRC+ above that was during a 24-game stint at Double-A in 2022. In addition to his solid offense this year, he has stolen six bases while playing second base, third base and the outfield. He also has some past experience at shortstop and first base. He’ll give the Reds some depth all over the roster and will make his major league debut tonight. He’s in tonight’s lineup, playing right field and batting eighth.

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