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Cardinals Activate Steven Matz, Place Jordan Hicks On 15-Day Injured List

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In between games of their doubleheader with the Reds today, the Cardinals activated left-hander Steven Matz from the 15-day injured list.  Taking Matz’s spot on the 15-day IL is Jordan Hicks, as the right-hander has been sidelined by both arm fatigue and neck spasms.  Hicks’ placement is retroactive to September 15.

After signing a four-year, $44MM free agent deal during the winter, Matz’s first season in St. Louis has largely been lost to injury — first a shoulder impingement, and then a torn left MCL suffered in his first game back aftr that prior IL stint.  Given the initial concern following the MCL tear, it is somewhat remarkable that Matz is back at all in 2022, but he will be able to work out of the bullpen rather than as a fully built-up starting pitcher.

Beyond just the health woes, Matz’s misfortune extended to his work on the mound.  Despite a very good 4.8% walk rate and 27.4% strikeout rate over his 42 2/3 innings of work this season, Matz has only a 5.70 ERA.  His 3.13 SIERA is far more favorable, yet Matz hasn’t received much batted-ball luck, as evidenced by his .336 BABIP.

Those struggles will be just a memory, however, if Matz is able to contribute as a reliever for a Cardinals team that looks bound for the playoffs, thanks to an eight-game lead in the NL Central.  Getting Matz in the bullpen may help make up for the loss of Hicks, who also missed about five weeks earlier this season due to a flexor strain.

Injuries have plagued Hicks in the past, including a Tommy John surgery in 2019 and a lengthy absence due to elbow soreness last season.  His flexor strain this year ended the Cardinals’ experiment with Hicks as a starting pitcher, and while his advanced metrics are better since his move back to the bullpen, he has only a 4.50 ERA over 34 innings as a reliever, after posting a 5.47 ERA over 26 1/3 innings out of the rotation.  It all adds up to a 4.92 total ERA, and one of the league’s worst (13.6%) walk rates.  Between this performance and now the injury concern, it remains to be seen if the Cards will include Hicks on their postseason roster.

Reds Outright Luke Farrell To Triple-A

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TODAY: Farrell cleared waivers, and he chose to accept his outright assignment to Triple-A.

SEPTEMBER 15: The Reds announced they’ve designated reliever Luke Farrell for assignment. Cincinnati also placed righty Justin Dunn on the 15-day injured list with tightness in his throwing shoulder. Dauri Moreta and Raynel Espinal were recalled from Triple-A Louisville to take the vacated active roster spots. Cincinnati’s 40-man roster tally drops to 39.

Farrell’s stint with Cincinnati lasted less than a week, as he was just added off waivers from the division-rival Cubs on September 9. He made two appearances in a Red uniform, working four innings and surrendering five runs (four earned) while walking four and striking out five. He’d previously tossed 11 frames with the Cubs, starting two of his four appearances for the North Siders. Between the two clubs, he has a 5.40 ERA with a 20% strikeout percentage and a 10% walk rate.

The 2022 campaign has been Farrell’s sixth straight year logging some big league action. He’s appeared with five different teams (including two separate stints each with the Cubs and Reds), compiling an even 5.00 ERA in 102 2/3 innings. Farrell has a solid 23.3% strikeout rate and 10.2% swinging strike percentage over that time, but he’s also issued walks at an elevated 11.7% clip and surrendered nearly two home runs per nine innings.

Farrell is out of minor league option years, so the Reds had to designate him for assignment to remove him from the big league bullpen. He’ll land on waivers for the second time in the past week. If he goes unclaimed, he’d have the right to refuse a minor league assignment and elect free agency, as he’s previously been outrighted in his career.

Dunn was acquired from the Mariners in Spring Training as part of the Jesse Winker/Eugenio Suárez trade. The former first-round pick was battling shoulder discomfort at the time — the Reds were aware of the issue before making the deal — and he spent the first three months of the season on the injured list. Dunn made his Cincinnati debut on August 8, and he’s started seven games for the club over the past month and a half. They’ve not gone well, as he’s surrendered more than three home runs per nine innings with mediocre strikeout and walk rates (15.2% and 12.3%, respectively) en route to a 6.10 ERA.

Renewed shoulder issues now send the 26-year-old back to the IL. With only three weeks remaining in the season, it’s possible this will conclude what has mostly been a lost year. Dunn will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason, leaving the Reds to decide whether they want to tender him a contract.

Injury Notes: Olivares, Greene, Wheeler

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The Royals announced today that outfielder Edward Olivares was reinstated from the 60-day injured list, with first baseman Nick Pratto getting optioned in a corresponding move. Olivares went on the IL in mid-July due to a left quad strain. The club already had a vacancy on its 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move was required in that department.

The injury was ill-timed for Olivares, 26, as he seemed on the verge of a breakout prior to that. In 36 games this year, he’s hit .303/.358/.434 for a 125 wRC+. With just over two weeks remaining until the offseason, he will try to get back into a groove and go into the winter with a strong finish. He’ll jump into the outfield mix with Michael A. Taylor, Drew Waters, Kyle Isbel, Hunter Dozier and Nate Eaton, with catcher MJ Melendez occasionally heading onto the grass as well.

Other injury updates from around the league…

  • The Reds announced that right-hander Hunter Greene was reinstated from the 15-day injured list. He is slated to start the second game of today’s doubleheader. Fellow righty Raynel Espinal was optioned in a corresponding move, while righty Kyle Dowdy is serving as the “29th man” for the twin bill. One of the top prospects in the game coming into this year, Greene hasn’t exactly been dominant in his MLB debut. He has a 5.26 ERA through his first 102 2/3 innings in the big leagues, though with a very strong 28.8% strikeout rate. Since the Reds have traded away established pitchers like Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle this year, they will need the prospects to step up and form the core of the next rotation. It’s possible there’s already a decent nucleus in place, with Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft all showing some signs of promise this year.
  • The Phillies have been without Zack Wheeler for almost a month but he could return this week without a rehab assignment, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. The tentative plan is for the righty to start Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jays, though probably not for very long. His most recent work was throwing two innings in a simulated game, which he will be gradually building on over the final two weeks of the regular season. As Gelb notes, Wheeler could potentially be lined up to start the first game of the Wild Card playoff round, but the Phils will have to make it there first. The club is in decent position to make the postseason since they are currently in possession of the second of three NL Wild Card spots, 1.5 games ahead of the Padres and 3 ahead of the Brewers. Getting Wheeler back will be tremendously helpful, assuming he doesn’t have any rust from his absence. Through 138 innings on the season, he has a 3.07 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 44.1% ground ball rate.

Reds Acquire Nick Northcut From Red Sox

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The Reds announced Wednesday that they’ve acquired minor league infielder Nick Northcut from the Red Sox as the player to be named later in the deadline trade that sent Tommy Pham to Boston. Northcut hasn’t been on a Major League roster or injured list this season, so he’s eligible to be traded now even with the deadline having passed. That allows the Reds to get a late look at him in their system, rather than waiting until the offseason.

[Related: How to Acquire Players After the Trade Deadline]

It’s a homecoming for Northcut, a Cincinnati-area native and graduate of William Mason High School — which sits just 25 miles from Great American Ball Park. The 23-year-old Northcut was selected by Boston in the 11th round of the 2018 draft. However, he was considered a top-100 talent in that year’s draft and only lasted as long as he did because he was considered a tough sign who was likely to honor his commitment to Vanderbilt. Boston swayed him with a $565K bonus — roughly in line with late-third-round money. (Pick No. 99 that year, the 25th in the third round, carried a $564K slot value.)

The right-handed-hitting Northcut has appeared at the infield corners almost exclusively in his career, though he did log six innings at shortstop earlier this season (likely in something of emergency fashion). That’s been his lone appearance at any position other than either third base, where he has 1580 professional innings under his belt, or first base, where he’s played 605 frames.

Northcut has shown plenty of pop in the minors this season, swatting 30 home runs and 18 doubles in 428 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A. However, he’s also whiffed in 35% of his trips to the plate and turned in a combined .219/.276/.491 batting line. Northcut’s power is evident, but he’s drawn walks at only a 5.8% clip so far in 2022, which hasn’t been enough to offset the pronounced swing-and-miss in his game.

The struggles to make contact have increased in recent years and prompted Northcut to fall out of the top tiers of the Red Sox’ system; Northcut ranked 19th among Sox farmhands at Baseball America and 23rd at FanGraphs back in 2019 but has fallen off the radar on most prominent assessments of their system. He’ll add a project to Reds’ system, but one with local roots and power that draft-time scouting reports graded as high as 70 on the 20-80 scale.

The Pham swap has worked out reasonably well for the Red Sox, who’ve seen the veteran corner outfielder post a .262/.321/.416 batting line with five homers in 162 plate appearances to this point. That’s about six percent better than league-average, by measure of wRC+, but taking a broader look at the team’s deadline maneuverings as a whole, things simply haven’t panned out. Boston traded away catcher Christian Vazquez and veteran reliever Jake Diekman while bringing in Pham and Eric Hosmer and holding onto its most appealing trade candidates (e.g. Nathan Eovaldi). The Sox were 52-52 when the deadline hit but have played at just a 17-21 pace since that time, falling to 10.5 games out of the American League Wild Card chase.

Reds Release T.J. Zeuch

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The Reds announced today that right-hander T.J. Zeuch has been released. That comes as part of a series of transactions that also saw righty Justin Dunn reinstated from the injured list and right-hander Raynel Espinal optioned to Triple-A Louisville. Dunn had been on the Covid-related injured list, hence the need for a 40-man move to reinstate him to what had been an at-capacity roster.

The 27-year-old  Zeuch has been on the injured list himself for the past three weeks due to a back issue. Players on the injured list cannot be placed on outright waivers, so the Reds’ options with Zeuch were to move him to the 60-day injured list for the remainder of the season or release him.

Zeuch began the season with the Cardinals organization but was designated for assignment and released in May. He caught on the Reds shortly thereafter and, after a solid run of five starts with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, found himself selected to the big league roster in Cincinnati. He made three starts prior to landing on the injured list, but the results were brutal; in just 10 2/3 innings, Zeuch was tattooed for 18 runs on 24 hits and seven walks with as many home runs allowed as strikeouts recorded (five).

While Zeuch never found extensive big league experience in parts of six seasons with the Blue Jays organization, this year’s calamitous, small-sample 15.19 ERA is a marked departure from past levels of performance. In parts of three seasons with the Jays from 2019-21, the 2016 first-rounder posted a respectable 4.59 ERA in 49 frames, logging a strong 50.9% ground-ball rate but struggling in terms of strikeout rate (14.1%) and walk rate (10.9%).

In parts of three seasons of Triple-A ball, Zeuch has a 4.71 ERA in 216 innings, although that’s skewed by an awful showing with the Cardinals earlier this year. Take out that span of 19 1/3 innings (25 earned runs allowed), and he’s sitting at a 4.02 mark for his career at that level — right in line with his broader 3.99 ERA in a total of 484 2/3 minor league innings.

Zeuch doesn’t appear to be at 100 percent at the moment, and with such little time remaining in the regular season, today’s release could very well end his 2022 campaign. He’ll enter the offseason likely to land a minor league deal and compete for a job somewhere next spring.

Reds Select Kyle Dowdy

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The Reds announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Kyle Dowdy. He has been appointed the club’s “29th man” for today’s doubleheader. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move will be required.

Dowdy, 29, has 22 1/3 innings of MLB experience on his résumé, which all came back in 2019 with the Rangers. Texas has claimed him off waivers from the Mets, who had nabbed Dowdy from Cleveland in the Rule 5 draft. He stuck with the Rangers through the end of July but was eventually returned to Cleveland after posting a 7.25 ERA over 22 1/3 innings.

He signed a minor league deal with the Reds in December of last year and has been with the Louisville Bats for all of 2022 so far. In 48 2/3 innings on the season, he has a 4.25 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate and 38.2% ground ball rate. However, that’s come with a concerning 13.2% walk rate, something that’s been an issue for Dowdy in recent years. He also registered a 14.7% walk rate in Triple-A last year, in addition to a 16.4% rate in his time in the majors.

Despite those control issues, Dowdy has made it back to the big leagues for the first time in over three years. He has a full slate of options and less than a year of MLB service time, meaning he could potentially provide the Reds with a depth arm that can be moved between the majors and minors as long as he retains his spot on the 40-man roster.

Reds Select Raynel Espinal

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The Reds made some roster moves today, with Mark Sheldon of MLB.com relaying them on Twitter. Right-hander Justin Dunn, who was sick yesterday, has been placed on the injured list without a designation, implying he is on the COVID-related injured list. Right-hander Raynel Espinal has been called up from Triple-A to take his place on the roster. Additionally, outfielder Albert Almora Jr., who was designated for assignment last week, has been released.

Espinal, 30, has MLB experience, though his résumé is quite short. He made one appearance for the Red Sox last year, throwing two innings, his only appearance in the big leagues so far. As he was a COVID substitute player, he was removed from Boston’s roster without being exposed to waivers, reaching free agency at season’s end. He signed a minor league deal with the Giants but went to the Cubs in the Dixon Machado trade. Espinal was released a couple of weeks later, landing with the Reds on a minors deal.

Between the three organizations, he’s thrown 102 1/3 Triple-A innings on the year over 25 appearances, 21 starts. He has a 5.63 ERA in that time, though with a strong 27.2% strikeout rate. It’s possible that he might be designated a COVID substitute again, just like with Boston last year. If that is indeed the case, he would be able to be removed from the roster without being exposed to waivers.

Reds Designate Albert Almora For Assignment

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The Reds announced that outfielder Albert Almora Jr. has been designated for assignment. The move opens an active roster spot for infielder Matt Reynolds, who is back from the 10-day injured list.

Almora signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati in Spring Training. He made the big league roster in late May and has spent the past few months in the majors as a depth outfielder. Almora has gotten into 64 games and tallied 235 plate appearances, by far his largest workload since 2019. He’s made plenty of contact and played excellent defense, but he hasn’t drawn many walks or hit for much power. He carries a .223/.282/.349 line with five homers and three stolen bases.

A former sixth overall pick of the Cubs, Almora was a regular earlier in his career on the strength of his glove. After a trio of roughly league average seasons at the dish to begin his career, the right-hander’s production has tailed off. Since the start of 2019, he carries a .219/.265/.344 line between the Cubs, Mets and Reds. He’s settled into a fourth/fifth outfield role as a result.

The Reds could’ve controlled Almora for another season via arbitration, but they were evidently prepared to non-tender him after this season. As they play out the remainder of a non-competitive year, they’ll keep Stuart Fairchild on hand as the fourth outfielder behind TJ Friedl, Nick Senzel and Aristides Aquino.

Cincinnati will place Almora on outright or release waivers within the next couple days. There’s not much of a distinction in his case, as the 28-year-old has more than five years of big league service time. That gives him the right to refuse a minor league assignment in favor of free agency while retaining his salary if he clears waivers. If he goes unclaimed, it’s likely Almora will return to the open market.

Reds Claim Luke Farrell

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The Reds have claimed righty Luke Farrell off waivers from the Cubs, per a team announcement. Cincinnati already had an open spot on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move wasn’t required.

Farrell, 31, has spent parts of six seasons in the big leagues. This will be his second stint with the Reds, for whom he pitched in nine games back in 2017. The son of former Red Sox skipper John Farrell, Luke has totaled 98 2/3 innings at the MLB level and posted a 4.83 ERA with a 23.3% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate. He’d tossed 11 innings with the Cubs this season, allowing five runs on a dozen hits and three walks with nine punchouts.

Two of Farrell’s four appearances with the Cubs were starts, and he worked multiple innings in every outing with Chicago dating back to late August. He’s maxed out at 71 pitches during this stretch, so he could give the Reds an option to make a spot start, if needed, or otherwise provide some length in the bullpen. Farrell is out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent down to Triple-A without first clearing waivers; he’d need to be designated for assignment if Cincinnati wishes to remove him from the 28-man roster at any point.

Reds Release Colin Moran

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Sept. 8: Cincinnati announced today that Moran has been released. He’s a free agent who can now sign with any team. If he lands with another club and is added back to the Major League roster, he’d technically be under club control for another season, as he’ll finish the year with five-plus years of service, though this year’s struggles may render that a moot point.

Sept. 6: The Reds announced that they have reinstated outfielder Albert Almora Jr. from the injured list, with infielder Colin Moran getting designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Moran, 29, is in his seventh MLB season. He spent the 2018-2021 stretch with the Pirates, hitting .272/.330/.428 over the first three years of that time. That production was exactly league average, as evidenced by his 100 wRC+. He took a bit of a downturn last year, slashing just .258/.334/.390 for a wRC+ of 97. Moran was making $2.8MM last year and headed for a raise through arbitration, but the club decided to move on, designating him for assignment in November.

He ended up landing with the Reds on a $1MM deal but hasn’t fared much better this year. Moran hit .211/.305/.376 across 42 MLB games, getting optioned multiple times and outrighted in June. He slashed .249/.310/.415 in 53 Triple-A games and was selected back to the 40-man roster just over a week ago when Mike Moustakas landed on the IL, but he’s now lost his spot yet again.

The Reds recently promoted corner infield prospect Spencer Steer, whom they acquired in the Tyler Mahle trade a few weeks ago, likely playing a part in nudging Moran out of their plans. They can use the final weeks of the season to evaluate Steer and see if he fares well enough to secure himself a job on next year’s team.

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