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Latest On Clubs’ Interest In Yariel Rodriguez

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December 28: ESPN’s Enrique Rojas reports (on X) that Boston, Pittsburgh and Toronto have all shown interest in Rodriguez as a starter. Cincinnati, San Diego and the Yankees prefer the right-hander in a relief role. Rojas indicates that Rodriguez prefers to start, although there’s no indication he has officially ruled out any teams targeting him in a bullpen capacity.

December 27: The Reds and Red Sox are among the teams still showing interest in free agent right-hander Yariel Rodriguez, tweets Francys Romero. Last week, Romero reported that the Pirates, Astros, Blue Jays and Yankees were also in the running.

Cincinnati hasn’t been frequently tied to Rodriguez throughout the offseason. The Reds were among roughly half the league that sent scouts to evaluate the righty’s throwing session in the Dominican Republic on October 10, a few days after he’d been granted his release from the NPB’s Chunichi Dragons. There hasn’t been much to connect the sides since that point, although it’s not especially surprising that Cincinnati is involved on one of free agency’s younger pitchers.

The Reds have made two major league additions to the pitching staff. Swingman Nick Martinez signed for two years and $26MM, while reliever Emilio Pagán inked a two-year, $16MM deal. President of baseball operations Nick Krall indicated that Martinez will compete for a rotation spot but stopped short of calling him a lock for the season-opening five.

Rodriguez falls into a similar category, as there’s some question about whether he’ll stick in an MLB rotation. The 26-year-old worked out of the bullpen with the Dragons in his final NPB season in 2022. He turned in a stellar 1.15 ERA while striking out 27.5% of opponents over 54 2/3 innings. His 8.3% walk percentage was right in line with the MLB average.

Despite the strong results in relief, it’s likely whichever MLB team signs Rodriguez will give him an opportunity to compete for a rotation spot. He had started in Cuba’s top league before his stint in Japan, and he worked out of the rotation for the Cuban national team during last spring’s World Baseball Classic. Clubs that feel Rodriguez has mid-rotation upside could entertain a noteworthy contract. One evaluator with whom MLBTR spoke before the beginning of the offseason suggested Rodriguez could land a guarantee between $30MM and $50MM.

The Reds have a projected rotation of Andrew Abbott, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft. Left-hander Brandon Williamson and Martinez stand as the top competitors for the #5 job. Aside from Martinez, it’s a generally young group. They’ve all shown promise at the MLB level, but each of Greene, Lodolo and Ashcraft battled injuries last season. None of Abbott, Williamson nor Martinez have ever pitched a full season out of an MLB rotation. That’s also true of Rodriguez, of course, but the Reds could view his youth and ability to work multiple innings as a strong fit as they move firmly into win-now mode after their 2022 retool.

Boston has been linked to Rodriguez more frequently throughout the winter. The 6’1″ hurler held a workout in front of Sox’s and Padres’ evaluators last month. Boston is casting a wide net on the rotation front. While they’ve been tied to top-of-the-market hurlers like Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier recently wrote they appeared more focused on the middle tiers of the free agent class.

Reds Re-Sign Buck Farmer, Designate Bubba Thompson

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The Reds announced they’ve signed reliever Buck Farmer to a one-year deal. Outfielder Bubba Thompson was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Farmer, an Excel Sports Management client, is guaranteed $2.25MM, reports Mark Sheldon of MLB.com (on X). Ari Alexander of KPRC2 adds that the deal includes incentives that could take the total to $2.6MM.

It’s the third straight season in which Farmer will work in Cincinnati’s middle relief group. The 32-year-old (33 in February) was a durable middle innings option for skipper David Bell last season. He made 71 appearances, which tied for 12th in MLB, and logged 75 frames. His results were around league average.

Farmer allowed 4.20 earned runs per nine. He struck out 22.7% of batters faced while walking 9.4% of his opponents. His 13.3% swinging strike rate was the highest of his 10-year big league run, although it didn’t translate into many strikeouts. Last season’s strikeout percentage was down from the 27.1% mark he posted in 2022. Farmer’s home run rate also ticked up.

That said, he has generally been a solid bullpen option since joining the Reds on a minor league contract in 2022. He owns a 4.06 ERA in 122 innings with Cincinnati. Bell has generally deployed Farmer in medium-leverage situations with decent results, even if his production tailed off in the second half of 2023.

Farmer earns a slight raise relative to his $1.75MM salary from his final arbitration season. He steps into a relief group that’ll also include Lucas Sims, Sam Moll, Tejay Antone, Alex Young and free agent acquisition Emilio Pagán to bridge the gap to closer Alexis Díaz. Righty Ian Gibaut is out of options, which gives him a good chance to secure an Opening Day job. The Reds could look for another high-leverage arm as they enter the 2024 season with legitimate postseason aspirations.

Tacking on $2.25MM brings their payroll commitments to roughly $88MM, as calculated by Roster Resource. That’s a few million dollars north of last year’s approximate $83MM mark. It’s still well below the $115-120MM range of the preceding two seasons, so Cincinnati should have the ability to bring in another acquisition or two as they look to round out the roster. Rotation depth seems the primary concern and the team could look for a right-handed platoon bat in the outfield.

Cincinnati claimed Thompson off waivers from the Royals earlier this offseason. The 25-year-old outfielder had spent his entire Kansas City tenure in Triple-A. His MLB experience consists of 92 games for the Rangers over the past two seasons. He’s a .242/.286/.305 hitter over that stretch, striking out nearly 30% of the time.

Thompson hasn’t produced much at the plate in the minors either. He hit .259/.339/.395 over 302 Triple-A plate appearances a season ago, well below-average production given the hitter-friendly nature of the top minor league level. Strikeouts have been an issue throughout his career. Thompson has top-of-the-scale speed and the ability to play all three outfield spots, however, so he could be of interest on the waiver wire. Teams typically have seven days to trade players or run them through waivers following a DFA, but that clock is paused this week for the holidays.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Reds, Brett Kennedy Agree To Minor League Deal

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Right-hander Brett Kennedy has returned to the Reds on a minor league contract, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. He had elected free agency within a few days of the end of the regular season.

Kennedy, 29, made five big league appearances for Cincinnati last season. He started two of those games, tossing 18 innings of 13-run ball. It was the Fordham product’s first MLB work in five years. His only previous major league experience consisted of six starts for the 2018 Padres.

A former 11th round draftee, Kennedy first signed with the Reds out of independent ball last May. He spent the bulk of the season at Triple-A Louisville. Working out of the rotation, he pitched to a 4.81 ERA through 78 2/3 innings. Kennedy’s 20.8% strikeout rate and 9% walk percentage were each slightly worse than average.

It’d be a surprise if Kennedy is in the mix for an Opening Day roster spot. He showed enough that the organization decided to keep him around as rotation or long relief depth, however. He’ll likely begin the year in Louisville. If the Reds select Kennedy onto the 40-man roster at any point, he can still be optioned to Triple-A for another two seasons.

Reds Sign Conner Capel To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have signed outfielder Conner Capel to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league Spring Training, per a club announcement.

Capel, 26, was a fifth-round pick by Cleveland in the 2016 draft before being swapped to the Cardinals in 2018 as part of the return in the Oscar Mercado trade. Capel spent the next several seasons in the minor leagues before making his big league debut with the Cardinals in 2022. In nine games with the big league club in St. Louis, Capel struggled to a slash line of just .176/.211/.353 before the club designated him for assignment in late September. Once the Cardinals placed Capel on waivers, the A’s swooped in and claimed him before adding him to the big league roster for the stretch run. Capel caught fire with Oakland during his 13-game stint with the club to end the year, slashing an incredible .371/.425/.600 in his final 40 plate appearances.

That strong performance to end the 2022 season earned Capel a spot on the Opening Day roster in Oakland. Though Capel received regular starts in the outfield corners for the first month of the season, Capel failed to make the most of the opportunity and slashed just .258/.347/.318 across 75 trips to the plate before he was optioned to Triple-A. Capel ultimately finished the 2023 season with a .260/.372/.329 slash line in the big leagues, good for a respectable wRC+ of 109. That success came over the course of just 86 plate appearances, however, and Capel’s mediocre .252/.346/.402 slash line at the club’s Triple-A affiliate, which plays in the offense-inflating Pacific Coast League, wasn’t enough to convince the A’s to keep Capel on the roster. The outfielder was outrighted off the 40-man roster back in August and subsequently hit minor league free agency, allowing him to sign on with the Reds on this non-roster pact.

Capel doesn’t exactly have a clear path to joining Cincinnati’s roster, as the lefty outfielder would be competing with the likes of TJ Friedl, Will Benson, and Jake Fraley for a spot on the club’s roster to say nothing of right-handed outfield options like Stuart Fairchild and Spencer Steer. While the Reds’ deep positional group seems likely to block Capel at least entering Spring Training, an injury or two at the big league level combined with a strong performance from Capel during Spring Training and in the minors could provide him the opportunity to break onto the club’s roster. Until then, Capel figures to serve as a depth option at the Triple-A level for the Reds, who have the likes of Nick Martini and Bubba Thompson also available at Triple-A.

Details On Dylan Cease Trade Talks Between White Sox, Reds

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There hasn’t been much on the Dylan Cease front since early December, when reports suggested that the White Sox were going to wait until the free agent pitching market had become a bit clearer before again weighing offers for the right-hander.  The Reds were known to be one of the clubs interested in Cease, though 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine reported that the Sox had asked for a four-player trade package — pitching prospects Rhett Lowder and Chase Petty, as well as two position-player prospects.

Jason Williams of the Cincinnati Enquirer sheds some more light on Chicago’s demands, writing that the White Sox wanted Lowder, Edwin Arroyo, Connor Phillips, “and at least one more prospect.”  This could mean that the Sox wanted a five-player return, with Petty and an unknown position player comprising the other two names involved. MLB Pipeline ranks Lowder, Arroyo, and Phillips within the top 68 prospects in all of baseball, while Lowder (45th) and Phillips (86th) also ranked within Baseball America’s last top 100 ranking from September.

New White Sox GM Chris Getz has been open about the fact that he is willing to discuss any player on his team’s roster in trade negotiations, though some obviously come at a much higher price tag than others.  Luis Robert Jr. may be the only player close to truly untouchable, and Cease might not be far off, though the two have differing levels of team control.  Robert’s contract contains two club options that control his services through the 2027 season, while Cease has only two more years of arbitration eligibility remaining before he can hit free agency in the 2025-26 offseason.

Still, two years of a frontline pitcher like Cease is still quite an asset — either for a White Sox team trying to get on track after a disastrous season, or as a trade chip the Sox can use to reload the roster for both now and the future.  The Reds are a natural trade partner on paper, given how Cincinnati is in sore need of pitching help and is also deep in position-player prospects.  Cincinnati was known to have interest in Chicago’s pitching even prior to the All-Star break, so it is safe to assume Cease has been on the Reds’ radar for a while, at least in some fashion.

Because the White Sox are known to be targeting pitching, however, the Sox and Reds might not quite line up as smoothly on a Cease trade as it might seem.  Obviously any team would be hesitant about moving three of its top-rated pitching prospects, and in particular, the Reds would be wary about cleaning out their pitching assets when they have so much of an surplus in another area (the infield) in their farm system.  Speculatively speaking, the Reds might be more willing to consider a package of Arroyo, another position player, and one pitcher for Cease, yet it isn’t surprising why Cincinnati would balk at moving at least two of Phillips, Lowder, and Petty on top of what is already a substantial return of infield talent.

There isn’t really any harm in aiming high, of course, as Getz has plenty of offseason left to continue to explore other potential trade packages involving Cease.  The fact that the Dodgers have already nabbed two of the top free agent (Yoshinobu Yamamoto) and trade (Tyler Glasnow) targets on the market has left a lot of other teams still in sore need of rotation help, so it certainly seems possible that Cease might be wearing another uniform by Opening Day.

It is also too early to rule the Reds out of any further Cease talks, even if that rumored four-for-one or five-for-one seems like a bridge too far.  Cincinnati has been aggressive in adding to its rotation and bullpen by signing Nick Martinez and Emilio Pagan, and bolstered its infield picture even further by signing Jeimer Candelario.  The addition of Candelario seemingly makes it more likely that the Reds could move an infielder in some manner of trade, whether for Cease or another pitcher.

Reds, Hernan Perez Agree To Minor League Contract

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The Reds have signed infielder Hernán Pérez to a minor league deal, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. It isn’t clear whether the veteran utility player will get a look in Spring Training.

Pérez, 33 in March, spent part of the 2023 season in the Minnesota organization. He got into 32 games with Triple-A St. Paul, hitting .279/.351/.485 through 231 trips to the plate. That solid production in limited time — he also lost around two months to an undisclosed injury — wasn’t enough to crack a deep Twins infield. He returned to minor league free agency at season’s end.

The last time Pérez donned a big league uniform was in 2021. He appeared in 10 early-season contests with the Nationals before being outrighted off the roster. Pérez played the second half of that year in South Korea and has spent most of the last two seasons in Triple-A.

The Venezuela native reached the big leagues every season from 2012-21. The bulk of his MLB time came in Milwaukee between 2016-19, highlighted by 34 stolen bases with a .272/.302/.428 slash for the Brew Crew in 2016. While Pérez has been a strong baserunner and shown plenty of defensive flexibility throughout his MLB time, a very aggressive approach has resulted in middling offensive production. He’s a .250/.280/.382 hitter in a little more than 1800 big league plate appearances.

Cincinnati has plenty of infield depth, so it’s hard to see a path to an Opening Day roster spot. He’s likely to begin next season at Triple-A Louisville as experienced non-roster injury insurance.

Reds Sign Brooks Kriske To Minor League Deal

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The Reds announced this morning that they’ve signed right-hander Brooks Kriske to a minor league deal. His contract contains an invitation to big league camp in spring training.

Kriske, 29, has appeared in parts of three Major League seasons, logging time with the Yankees, Orioles and Royals. He’s been tagged for 27 runs in a tiny sample of 21 2/3 innings, although he posted better results in a brief look with Kansas City last year when he held opponents to three runs on three hits and four walks with six punchouts in 6 2/3 frames. Kriske averages a bit better than 95 mph on his four-seamer, pairing that offering with a splitter and slider that sat at 84.4 mph and 82.2 mph, respectively, in his short time with the Royals.

While Kriske’s track record in the big leagues is obviously quite limited, he sports a career 2.91 ERA with a 33.8% strikeout rate and 10.9% walk rate in six minor league seasons. He’s also parts of two seasons in Japan, pitching to a combined 2.31 ERA in 35 innings between the Seibu Lions and Yokohama BayStars.

Walks and home runs have been issues for Kriske throughout his time in the big leagues. The latter of those two deficiencies is a particularly tough fit with the Reds’ homer-happy environs in Cincinnati, but Kriske throws relatively hard, gets decent spin on his heater and can miss bats in droves. On a no-risk minor league deal, he’s a fine flyer for a Reds club whose bullpen is lacking in established relievers beyond its top few names (Alexis Diaz, Emilio Pagan, Lucas Sims, Sam Moll, Tejay Antone).

Reds Trade TJ Hopkins To Giants

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The Giants announced Tuesday that they’ve acquired outfielder TJ Hopkins from the Reds in exchange for cash or a player to be named later. Cincinnati designated Hopkins for assignment last week.

Hopkins, 27 next month, made his MLB debut this past season and went 7-for-41 (all singles) with a pair of walks and 17 strikeouts in 44 plate appearances. It was hardly an eye-catching debut, but the 2019 ninth-rounder’s production in Triple-A Louisville was far more intriguing. In his first full season at the top minor league level, Hopkins delivered a robust .308/.411/.514 batting line with a 14% walk rate, 23.9% strikeout rate, 16 home runs, 18 doubles, a triple and a pair of steals.

Hopkins has played primarily left field in his professional career but has plenty of experience in right field and center field as well. He’s been an average or better hitter at every minor league stop and steadily improved both his walk and strikeout rates as he’s climbed the minor league ladder. Hopkins was in the first of three minor league option years this past season, so he has two more remaining. He’ll give the Giants a right-handed depth bat to add to a heavily left-handed outfield mix.

Presently, the Giants project to have lefties Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski in the outfield corners, where they’ll flank newly signed center fielder Jung Hoo Lee. The KBO star — another lefty bat — signed a six-year deal that’ll pay him $113MM just last week. Also in the outfield mix in San Francisco are righties Mitch Haniger, Austin Slater, Luis Matos, Heliot Ramos and lefties Blake Sabol and Wade Meckler. Haniger, who’s entering the second season of a three-year contract, could see a fair bit of time at designated hitter. Sabol could see big league time as a reserve catcher and outfielder.

Blue Jays Interested In Jonathan India

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Jonathan India’s name has been swirling in trade rumors for months, and the Blue Jays are the latest team to show some interest in the Reds second baseman, according to Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network (X link).  Toronto has been mentioned as a speculative fit for India given the Jays’ need for second base help, though there isn’t any indication that a trade might be close, or whether this is anything beyond due diligence on the Blue Jays’ part.

Since Matt Chapman and Whit Merrifield are both in the free agent market, the Jays have been left pretty thin at both second and third base.  In-house candidates Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Davis Schneider, and Ernie Clement are all on the big league roster, while any of Addison Barger, Orelvis Martinez, or Leo Jimenez could make their Major League debuts in 2024 and work their way into the infield picture.

While Toronto has plenty of options in terms of volume, however, there isn’t much in the way of proven Major League capability.  Biggio and Espinal have been inconsistent during their big league tenures, Schneider and Clement both hit very well in small sample sizes in 2023, and the rest have no big league track records at all (though Martinez and Barger are highly-regarded prospects).

India could provide an answer at second base, though the former NL Rookie of the Year isn’t exactly a sure thing coming off two somewhat underwhelming seasons.  Since winning the ROY in 2021, India has hit .246/.333/.394 with 27 homers over 960 plate appearances for Cincinnati, with hamstring injuries and plantar fasciitis impacting his ability to stay on the field.  Public defensive metrics have also been very unimpressed with India’s glovework, so his contributions as a second baseman specifically could be limited.

Even with these factors in mind, India just turned 27 two days ago and is only entering the first of three arbitration-eligible years, so Cincinnati normally wouldn’t be looking to trade such a controllable player.  And, technically, the Reds aren’t open to a deal, as president of baseball operations Nick Krall has stated that the team isn’t “motivated” to move India elsewhere.  The question of big league experience is also a factor in Cincinnati, as while the Reds are overloaded with young infielders ready for more MLB time, Krall also values the stability and depth India brings in the event of injury problems, or if some of the youngsters need more minor league seasoning.

That said, the Reds’ signing of Jeimer Candelario only added to the infield surplus.  If Candelario is now taking regular time at third base, that leaves India, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, and Noelvi Marte all competing for middle infield spots.  Even if Candelario slides over to first base, Christian Encarnacion-Strand also needs a place to play, and the DH position provides some a few extra at-bats for the Reds to juggle all these options.

The fit in Toronto also wouldn’t be perfect.  As noted, India would be a defensive downgrade at second base, and the keystone is also the better defensive spot for most of the Blue Jays’ in-house options.  In his look at India’s trade market last month, MLBTR’s Nick Deeds observed that while the Jays are planning to contend in 2024, they also might not want to block Schneider or Clement entirely from at least semi-regular playing time.  Speculatively, an India trade package could involve the Jays sending one of their most experienced infielders (i.e. Biggio or Espinal) back to Cincinnati so the Reds could have some of the depth they crave, though pitching is the Reds’ greatest need.

It has been a quiet winter in terms of actual transactions if not headlines in Toronto, as the Blue Jays’ business has in some ways been impeded by their pursuit of Shohei Ohtani.  Obviously GM Ross Atkins and his front office weren’t singularly focused on Ohtani over the offseason’s first six weeks, yet after coming up short to the Dodgers in the Ohtani race, the Jays still have a pretty full to-do list that includes the two infield positions, left field, DH, and perhaps the rotation and bullpen.

Shin-Soo Choo To Retire After 2024 KBO Season

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Longtime big league veteran Shin-Soo Choo announced earlier this week (hat tip to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News) that 2024 will be his final season in pro baseball.  The 41-year-old Choo has played with the Korea Baseball Organization’s SSG Landers for the last three seasons, and he’ll spent one more year with the Landers before hanging up his cleats.  Choo is essentially playing for free in 2024, as he re-signed with the Landers for a KBO-minimum salary and will donate the sum to charity.

“I decided it was time for me to put a period on my baseball journey that started in 2001,” Choo said in a team statement to the Korea Times and other outlets.  “Since the 2024 season will be my last one, I want to show my gratitude to baseball fans, both at home and on the road, and give them long-lasting memories throughout the year.”

Choo hit .275/.377/.447 over 7157 plate appearances and 1652 games in the majors from 2005-20.  A “professional hitter” type, Choo delivered a very solid 123 wRC+ over his 16 MLB seasons, always showing a knack for getting on base even in his less-successful seasons at the plate.  Choo was also something of an underrated threat power-wise (218 home runs) and on the basepaths (157 steals in 212 chances), as he authored three 20-20 seasons during his big league career.

An international signing for the Mariners in 2000, Choo spent parts of his first two Major League campaigns in Seattle before being traded to Cleveland in July 2006.  It was a shrewd acquisition for the Indians, as Choo went on to become a lineup fixture over seven seasons with the Tribe.  However, as the team fell out of contention and Choo’s arbitration numbers began to increase, Cleveland dealt Choo to the Reds as part of a three-team, nine-player trade also involving the Diamondbacks in December 2012.

Choo’s lone season in Cincinnati was the best of his career, as he hit .285/.423/.462 with 21 homers and 20 stolen bases over 712 PA for a Reds team that reached the postseason.  This great platform year led to a big free agent payday for Choo in the form of a seven-year, $130MM deal with Texas.  Such a contract inevitably comes with high expectations, and unfortunately for both Choo and the Rangers, the deal didn’t really work out.

Between injuries and a declining glove, Choo’s value became entirely tied to his bat, and thus producing only good (111 wRC+) numbers in Texas wasn’t enough.  Choo ended up generating only 7.5 fWAR over the length of that seven-year deal, and it didn’t help that the franchise as a whole went into a rebuild period during Choo’s tenure.  After a pair of tough playoff losses to the Blue Jays in 2015-16, the Rangers didn’t post another winning record for the remaining four seasons of Choo’s deal.

After garnering only limited interest from big league teams during the 2020-21 offseason, Choo decided to head back to his native country and sign with the Landers (then known as the SK Wyverns).  Since Choo had signed with the Mariners as an amateur, he had never played in the KBO League prior to 2021, and his homecoming has been a successful one.  Choo has hit .259/.391/.427 over his three seasons with the Landers, and the team won the Korean Series in 2022.

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