From 2001-2013, Price worked as a pitching coach for the Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Reds. He took over as the Reds’ manager for the 2014 season and held that position until April 2018, when he was fired following a disastrous start to the season. He briefly returned to coaching after that, serving as the Phillies’ pitching coach for one year, before announcing his retirement from coaching following the 2020 season. However, he worked as a senior advisor to the Padres’ coaching staff from 2022 to ’23, and when long-time friend Bob Melvin moved from the Padres to the Giants, he convinced Price to come out of retirement and join him in the Bay Area.

The veteran coach explained to Baggarly that his return to the dugout was always meant to be a short-term arrangement. To that point, the Giants offered him a two-year contract last winter, but he requested a one-year deal. Price was born in San Francisco and couldn’t refuse the offer to coach for the team he grew up supporting.

It certainly wasn’t an easy season for Price, who had to deal with Blake Snell’s early-season injury woes, closer Camilo Doval’s unforeseen struggles, and Jordan Hicks’s difficult transition from reliever to starter to reliever again, among other problems. Still, the season wasn’t without its bright spots, most notably Ryan Walker’s breakout as a relief stud and Snell’s resurgence in the second half of. All things considered, the Giants’ pitching staff was slightly worse in 2024 than it was the year before – their ERA, FIP, and xFIP were all closer to league average – despite several notable additions in Snell, Hicks, and Robbie Ray. That’s not to say Price is to blame for all (or even most) of what went wrong, but it’s not as if Giants fans were begging him to stick around for another year.

It’s unclear if this is a proper and complete retirement for Price, or if he still plans to work in an advisory capacity with the Giants or another club. As for his replacement, Baggarly notes that Ryan Vogelsong, currently a roving minor-league instructor in the organization, is expected to have “an instrumental voice in the organizational pitching hierarchy.” That could mean helping to select Price’s replacement or filling the role himself. Baggarly also mentions that assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez and bullpen coach Garvin Alston are expected to return in 2025; if the Giants are considering internal candidates, either of them could be up for the job. Finally, Baggarly names Javier López, who is currently working as a color commentator on the Giants’ broadcast team. While Baggarly does not necessarily suggest the 14-year MLB veteran is a candidate for the pitching coach position, he writes that López could one day “transition into a role” in the front office or on the coaching staff.

How the shares are awarded within a clubhouse is determined by veteran players on each team.  Several players and managers automatically qualify for full shares, but the players must then vote on what other players (such as someone who was with the club for only part of the season) or uniformed personnel (coaches, trainers, support staff, etc.) will also get full or partial shares.  The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal shared some insight into the process, and how the D’Backs made their decisions in who and who didn’t get a $313.6K full share, but the team did its best to spread the wealth.  “I’m not rolling my eyes over a $300K check.  I’m just saying the impact that it has on me is not going to be as significant as on any of our younger players who have limited service time or our clubhouse attendants or our kitchen attendants,” Evan Longoria said.  “That impact is going to be much, much more for them….I want you guys to understand the perspective that I’m coming from when I say it’s life-changing for these people.”

More from around the National League…

• The Cardinals’ signing of Kyle Gibson this week ended a very long pursuit, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that the team’s interest in the right-hander dated all the way back to Gibson’s 2009 draft year.  “Multiple times since, the Cardinals have attempted to sign or trade for Gibson” Goold wrote, before finally landing Gibson on a one-year, $12MM deal.  The local connection was obvious, as Gibson played his college ball at the University of Missouri and he already lives in the greater St. Louis area during the offseason.  The righty’s results have been up-and-down over his 11 MLB seasons, but Gibson’s ability to eat innings should be very valuable for a Cardinals team badly in need of rotation depth before Gibson and Lance Lynn were brought on board.
• Newly-hired Giants pitching coach Bryan Price spoke with The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly this week about his decision to join the team, and end his three-year retirement from coaching.  Price had spent the last two years working as a a special advisor with the Padres and working with longtime friend and colleague Bob Melvin, so when Melvin left the Padres to become the Giants’ new skipper, Price couldn’t resist a reunion in his hometown of San Francisco.  Giants fans might also be interested in Price’s more old-school approach to pitching, coming off a 2023 season that saw the team use mostly bulk pitchers, openers, and piggyback starters to cover innings in patchwork fashion.  “I’m a simple person when it comes to my overview on pitching: The starters pitch the bulk of the innings and you utilize your bullpen as needed….So we can be creative but we’ve got to be responsibly creative in how we use the data and what we decide is usable information versus what takes us into a place where we’re constantly chasing greatness and it’s only taking us into mediocrity or failure,” Price said.
• Before the Mets hired John Gibbons as their new bench coach, the New York Post’s Mike Puma reported that Phil Nevin was a candidate for the job.  Let go as the Angels’ manager after the season, Nevin has a long relationship with Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza from their days on the Yankees’ coaching staff.  There was some speculation that former Mets manager Willie Randolph might’ve been a candidate for the bench coach job given Mendoza’s praise of his former mentor, but Newsday’s Anthony Rieber suggests Randolph could still return to the Mets in another capacity.

Price is best known for his tenure as the Reds’ manager, which lasted through parts of the 2014-18 seasons and ended in April 2018 after Cincinnati got off to a brutal 3-15 start.  Price had a 279-387 record as manager, though that record isn’t an entirely fair assessment since the Reds were going through a rebuild for much of Price’s time captaining the dugout.

Beyond that one managerial job, Price has had a long stretch of success as a pitching coach with the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Reds (from 2000-13), and then one more year as a pitching coach with the Phillies in 2020.  That season was reportedly Price’s last as a coach, as he then moved into a senior advisor role with the Padres over the last two seasons, yet it seems as though the 61-year-old will return to again team up with Giants manager Bob Melvin.  Beyond the San Diego connection of the last two years, Melvin was managing in Seattle and Arizona during Price’s previous stints as pitching coach.

Price takes on an interesting challenge in a Giants pitching staff that posted generally solid results in 2023, albeit in unusual fashion.  Logan Webb and Alex Cobb were used as regular starters, but for much of the season, the rest of the rotation spots were filled by a collection of bullpen games, piggybacked pitchers, and opener/bulk pitcher combinations.  Anthony DeSclafani, Ross Stripling, and younger arms like Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn could again be used in some sort of similar capacity in 2024, yet the Giants are known to be looking at adding some regular starters this winter, including such top names as Yoshinobu Yamamoto.  It could be that Price’s hiring might indicate some further move backwards an older-school approach to pitcher usage, and away from the more modern “outs by any means necessary” approach of former manager Gabe Kapler and former pitching coach Andrew Bailey.

With these two hires now official, the Giants have their coaching revamp, bringing in several names who are long-time Melvin staffers, former Giants players, or both.  Price has some San Francisco ties himself, as he was born in the city back in 1962.

According to Sharma and Mooney, the Cubs will “incorporate Mallee’s experience and expertise” in a new role, rather than replace anyone currently on the coaching staff. He was the hitting coach at Triple-A Iowa in 2023, and he earned “rave reviews” for his work at the minor league level. Evidently, the Cubs have decided he can have a greater impact with the MLB club, even in a less defined role.

In other coaching news from around the league…

• In addition to hiring a new first base coach, the Rays could look to hire a couple of additional coaches to replace Jonathan Erlichman, the former process and analytics coach, and Dan DeMent, the former assistant hitting coach (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Erlichman has taken on a new role with the team, while DeMent has parted ways with the organization after 13 years as a minor league coach and two with the big league club. The Rays have another assistant hitting coach, Brady North, and with Erlichman remaining in the organization, they don’t necessarily need to hire a direct replacement for either Erlichman or DeMent. As Topkin notes, the Rays could look to add a couple of coaches in new roles instead.
• On Monday, Susan Slusser of the San Franciso Chronicle discussed the Giants’ director of pitching role, which has been vacant since the White Sox hired away Brian Bannister to be their senior pitching advisor. She suggests Bryan Price, a long-time pitching coach and former Reds manager, to fill the role. Price is currently employed as a senior advisor to the coaching staff in San Diego, but it’s not out of the question he could come over to San Francisco alongside Bob Melvin, Matt Williams, and Ryan Christenson. Price spent 14 years as a pitching coach for the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Reds, and Phillies. He announced his retirement as a pitching coach after the 2020 season, but a director of pitching job could represent an intriguing new opportunity for the veteran coach.
• Joey Cora, the Mets’ third base coach in 2022 and ’23, has drawn interest for several coaching positions around the league, per Andy Martino of SNY. Cora, the elder brother of Red Sox manager Alex Cora, has been coaching since 2004. His contract with the Mets expired at the end of October. In further Mets news, Martino notes that first base coach Wayne Kirby’s contract has also expired. Evidently, the team saw no reason to retain all of their coaches without a new manager in place.

Ryan Christenson has been given the title of associate manager. The 48-year-old joined Melvin in making the jump from the A’s to the Padres last offseason. Christenson had been Melvin’s bench coach in Oakland from 2018-21 and took on that same role for his first season in San Diego. He now earns a bump in title to associate manager, though his position as Melvin’s top lieutenant seems unchanged.

Filling the role of bench coach is Ryan Flaherty, who’s going into year four on the San Diego staff. He also gets the title of offensive coordinator, essentially taking on the hitting coach duties vacated when Michael Brdar was poached by the Tigers at the start of the offseason. San Diego will go without anyone assuming the traditional “hitting coach” title.

The 36-year-old Flaherty has spent the past two seasons as a quality control coach. He drew interest from the Mets in their bench coach search last offseason, but the Friars denied New York’s interview request. One year later, the former Orioles infielder gets both that title and the lead hitting responsibilities in San Diego.

He’ll be joined on staff by assistant hitting coaches Scott Coolbaugh and Oscar Bernard. The 56-year-old Coolbaugh joins the Friars after two years as the lead hitting instructor with the Tigers. He’d also previously served as hitting coach in Baltimore and Texas and an assistant role with the White Sox. He brings plenty of coaching experience to help Flaherty in his first crack as offensive coordinator.

Bernard, meanwhile, gets promoted to the MLB staff after seven years as San Diego’s minor league hitting coordinator. The 39-year-old spent some time as a player and instructor in the Cubs’ minor league system before joining the Friars in 2016. It’s the first big league staff job for the Dominican Republic native. Also joining the group is catching coach Brian Esposito. The 43-year-old spent last season managing the Friars’ Low-A affiliate in Fort Wayne.

The rest are holdovers from last season. Ruben Niebla is back for a second year as pitching coach, pairing with bullpen coach Ben Fritz. Matt Williams and David Macias will coach the bases and defense — Williams the infield, Macias the outfield — with Peter Summerville and Herberto Andrade as coaching assistants. Former big league managers Bryan Price and Mike Shildt will reassume the advisory roles they manned in 2022.

Price’s hire was not previously reported and comes as something of a surprise, given that he’d announced his retirement following the 2020 season. Price spent that year as the Phillies’ pitching coach and also managed the Reds from 2014-18, though the 59-year-old comes with decades of experience beyond those most recent roles.

An eighth-round pick out of UC Berkeley by the Angels back in 1984, Price pitched in parts of five minor league seasons before setting out on a coaching track that would make him one of the more successful and well-regarded coaches in recent memory. He spent 11 years as a minor league pitching coach and/or pitching coordinator in the Mariners’ system from 1988-99 before joining their Major League staff as pitching coach. Price held that role through the 2005 season, working as pitching coach under Melvin there for two of those seasons (2003-04).

Price was named the D-backs’ pitching coach prior to the 2006 season — again serving under Melvin — and remained there through the 2009 season. At that point, he was hired by the Reds as pitching coach, holding that post until being promoted to manager in the 2013-14 offseason.

Aside from Price, there are no new surprises included within San Diego’s announcement, as the entirety of the staff’s composition had already been reported. Ryan Christenson will follow Melvin from Oakland to San Diego, reprising his role as bench coach. Ruben Niebla heads over from Cleveland after serving as an assistant pitching coach there last year. Matt Williams will also reunite with Melvin as third base coach after spending the past two seasons managing in the KBO. (He’d previously been Melvin’s third base coach in Oakland, in addition to a two-year stint managing the Nationals.) David Macias, who formerly managed in the Mariners’ system and was on the East Carolina University staff, is the team’s first base/outfield coach. Recently retired catcher Francisco Cervelli is the team’s new catching coach.

The Padres are also welcoming back a few coaches from former skipper Jayce Tingler’s staff. Quality control coach Ryan Flaherty (best known for his six-year stint as an Orioles utilityman), bullpen coach Ben Fritz and game-planning/coaching assistant Peter Summerville are all on the staff again under the newly hired Melvin.

Price, 58, was in-demand at this time last year. He reportedly spurned pitching coach offers from the Diamondbacks and Padres to take the same position with the Phillies. 2020 marked Price’s 15th season as a major league pitching coach, as he previously served in that capacity with the Mariners, Diamondbacks and Reds.

Of course, Price is more famous for his time as Cincinnati’s manager. He skippered the Reds from 2014-18. That wasn’t a particularly successful stint, as the club managed just a 279-387 record in that span, failing to reach the postseason. Nevertheless, Price remained well-regarded in the industry, as evidenced by the number of opportunities available to him last offseason.

Philadelphia manager Joe Girardi will now hunt for a new voice to lead the pitching staff. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola present an enviable top two starters with whom to work. Zach Eflin seemingly turned a corner in his age-26 season and Spencer Howard is one of the sport’s most talented prospects.

That said, the Phillies will certainly have some work to do in the coming months. Howard struggled as a rookie, while Jake Arrieta and Vince Velasquez continued to underperform at the back of the rotation. The bullpen was atrocious, contributing to Philadelphia getting left out of the 2020 expanded playoff bracket. Price’s replacement will work on building up depth behind that strong core. As Meghan Montemurro of the Athletic observes (via Twitter), that person will be the Phillies’ fourth pitching coach in as many years.

9:22am: The Phillies have made a key hire for the staff of incoming manager Joe Girardi. As expected, the team will bring on Bryan Price as pitching coach, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic (via Twitter). He’s said to have turned down offers to serve as the pitching coach with the Diamondbacks and with the Padres this month, instead opting for the Philadelphia opportunity.

Price, 57, served as the Reds manager from 2014 until his firing early in the 2018 campaign. Before that, he had a lengthy history as a pitching coach, including stints with the Mariners (2000-06), Diamondbacks (2007-09), and Reds (2010-13). He’s the first major addition to incoming manager Joe Girardi’s new-look pitching staff, and the Phillies can now shift their attention to find a replacement for interim hitting coach Charlie Manuel.

OCT. 29: Former Reds manager Bryan Price is a legitimate candidate to become the Phillies’ pitching coach, Jim Salisbury and Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia report. New manager Joe Girardi revealed Monday the Phillies have already conducted “a couple of interviews” with pitching coach hopefuls, though it’s unclear if they’ve spoken with Price.

A Price hiring for the Phillies may not be imminent, but it’s worth noting he just rejected the Diamondbacks’ interest in him for their pitching coach position. Price has talked to the Red Sox in regards to their vacancy, meanwhile, but it looks as though they’ll select Dave Bush over him.

If the Phillies truly do want to hire Price, it appears the stars are aligning for that to happen. However, the Phillies could still consider other candidates – perhaps including Larry Rothschild – per Salisbury and Seidman. Rothschild came available Monday after a long run as the pitching coach for the Yankees, originally joining the team when Girardi, then New York’s manager, hired him in 2011.

The 57-year-old Price would bring extensive experience to Girardi’s staff in Philly. Before managing Cincinnati from 2014-18, Price held pitching coach roles for the Mariners (2000-06), D-backs (2007-09) and Reds (2010-13). Whether the Phillies choose Price or someone else, that individual will be taking over a pitching staff that failed in 2019 on account of a combination of subpar performances and injuries. As a result of their woes this season, the deep-pocketed Phillies seem likely to focus on giving their next pitching coach more to work with in 2020 than the ousted Chris Young had at his disposal this year.

7:34am: Former Reds manager Bryan Price turned down an offer at a second stint as the Diamondbacks’ pitching coach, Zach Buchanan of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). The 57-year-old Price managed the Reds from 2014-18 and spent the 14 previous seasons as a pitching coach in Seattle (2000-06), Arizona (2007-09) and Cincinnati (2010-13).

That Price even took the interview obviously suggests that he’s open to coaching again, though it’s possible he’s holding out hope of landing a role with a different organization or simply didn’t feel that a return to Arizona was the right fit after sitting down with the current regime. In addition to the D-backs, the Red Sox are also considering Price in their search for a new pitching coach, but it’s not clear that he’s any kind of favorite for that job.

Other pitching coach vacancies throughout the league include the Pirates, Phillies, Mets and Dodgers (although Los Angeles may stick internal and elevate Mark Prior to replace the newly retired Rick Honeycutt). The Angels had been searching for a replacement for Doug White, but they’re reportedly set to hire Mickey Callaway. Other vacancies could yet open up, as there are still several ongoing managerial searches — the outcome of which will assuredly impact the composition of those teams’ coaching staffs.

Of Boston’s quintet of potential LeVangie successors, the previously reported Bryan Price is the only one with experience as a major league pitching coach, Speier relays. Although Price is best known for his ill-fated run as the Reds’ manager from 2014-18, he’s a former professional hurler who oversaw the pitching staffs of the Mariners, Diamondbacks and Reds for a combined 13 years before Cincinnati chose him for its top job.

It’s not fully clear whom Price is vying against to join Boston’s staff, though Speier notes the club has also spoken with in-house candidates and possibly even coaches from the college ranks. Sean McAdam of the Boston Sports Journal (subscription link) suggested last week that Dave Bush, an ex-big league right-hander who has worked with the Red Sox for three seasons, may be in line for a promotion to take over as either the MLB team’s pitching coach or its assistant pitching coach. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes that Bush is “surely” one of the four non-Price choices the Red Sox have interviewed. If true, that still leaves three mystery names in the running for the position.

With Dana LeVangie transitioning to a role in the Boston scouting department, the next pitching coach will mark the fourth person to hold the post in the last six seasons. Certainly, the organization would like some stability in the position; we’ll see if Price is the man to do just that.

While Price’s track record as a manager is not especially inspiring, he’s generally well-regarded as a pitching coach. Prior to being hired by the Reds, he served as the pitching coach for the Mariners and Diamondbacks. All told, he has 13 years of experience as a pitching coach, so he seems to fit the qualifications for the Red Sox job. He was rumored to have attracted interest last offseason, but if hired, it would be his first MLB coaching job since the Reds fired him in April 2018.

Interestingly, the Red Sox are proceeding with the search for their next pitching coach while the organization’s general manager chair remains unfilled after the deposition of Dave Dombrowski. However, recent news from Boston indicates that the team may be leaning towards an internal candidate to succeed Dombrowski, so the front office may be in sync despite the lack a nominal GM.

Whoever the new pitching coach is, he will certainly have a number of intriguing weapons at his disposal. He’ll be tasked with getting Chris Sale, David Price, and Nathan Eovaldi back on track; all three have demonstrated their sky-high potential but stumbled through 2019, failing to live up to the hefty price tags to which they are attached. Of course, those costly starters aren’t going anywhere, and they’re undeniably instrumental to Boston’s future success, so Price’s approach to solving their issues will likely be a topic of discussion during the interview process.

Beyond that trio, Eduardo Rodriguez was perhaps the most dependable starter in the Red Sox 2019 rotation; at just 26, E-Rod may yet have his best years ahead of him. Much has been made of the barren bullpen mix, and it’s true that there’s considerable ground to be made up in that department; still, relief aces Matt Barnes and Brandon Workman comprise a fine pair of foundational relievers.

A few more notes on some coaching situations around the league…

• Former Reds manager Bryan Price is drawing interest around the league as a pitching coach, tweets Jerry Crasnick. Price, who was dismissed by Cincinnati in April, was a well-regarded pitching coach with the Mariners and Diamondbacks before serving in that role for the Reds. He ultimately succeeded Dusty Baker as the skipper, but didn’t find much success (not that anyone else would likely have fared much better). In all, Price has 13 years of experience as a big league pitching coach between the three organizations, so he’d bring plenty of experience to a new club in a return to that role.
• The Rangers’ meandering search for a new manager could suggest some indecisiveness on the team’s part, writes Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram. It originally appeared that the club would choose one of eight initial interviewees, but after three of that group — Joe Girardi, David Bell, and Rocco Baldelli — were eliminated, the Rangers have changed course, expanding the search and interviewing more candidates. With no decision imminent, the hiring process may not conclude until after the World Series. Among the most notable names linked to the job are Eric Chavez, Stubby Clapp, and Astros bench coach Joe Espada.
• Shiraz Rehman, recently hired by the Rangers to be their new assistant GM, has the potential to one day shed the “assistant” from that title, writes Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. In addition to tracing Rehman’s path to this point of his career, Grant covers the reason for his decision to leave the Cubs to join the Texas organization. Although his title will remain unchanged, it appears that Rehman will enjoy an expanded role and take up a loftier spot on the decisionmaking ladder with his new club. He’ll also be looking at ways to squeeze value out of the team’s resources. Among other things, Rehman says he sees “some real low-hanging fruit, especially in player development,” that he hopes to take advantage of.

• The Cubs have placed long reliever Eddie Butler on the 10-day DL with a groin strain. He turned in four strong appearances to open the year but has been knocked around in his last two and now owns a 4.30 ERA over 14 2/3 innings, with ten strikeouts against five walks. There’s no reason at this point to believe that Butler will be sidelined long. Fellow righty Luke Farrell received the call to take the open active roster spot. He, too, ought to be able to give the team innings in some volume when needed, as he’s stretched out to start.
• C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic breaks down the Reds’ firing of skipper Bryan Price in a subscription piece. As Rosecrans observes, it is in some regard actually more surprising that Price lasted this long, despite never overseeing a winning product, than that he was fired so early in the current season. Of course, the struggles during his tenure have hardly all been his fault, and it may be that the long-rebuilding team finally felt this was the time to make a statement. There were some internal hopes of improvement entering the year, making it all the harder to stomach an ugly start to the season. GM Dick Williams explained that “now was the right time to do something about” the fact that the team’s offseason work had gone so far south. At the same time, he acknowledged that “this is an organizational disappointment,” not something that falls only at the feet of Price and his staff. It’s certainly hard to escape that conclusion; as I documented in breaking down the Reds’ offseason just yesterday, Price was not exactly given a compelling roster to work with this year or in the past.
• Fresh off an offseason extension, Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong has continued to carry above-average overall offensive numbers in his sophomore campaign, due mostly to a healthy .477 slugging percentage. But as Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch observes, DeJong is also exhibiting a worrying rise in strikeouts. Indeed, a league-leading thirty of his seventy plate appearances have ended with a K thus far. And DeJong has drawn only four walks, leaving him with a .286 OBP on the young season. As Frederickson notes, the 24-year-od is showing much greater selectivity thus far in 2018 than he did last year, but he’s also swinging and missing at rates typically procured only by elite relief pitchers. Much like young Rockies shortstop Trevor Story, DeJong still needs to show he can get on base consistently enough to be a compelling offensive player.

Entering the season, Price was widely speculated to be on the hot seat. The 55-year-old former Reds pitching coach was entering his fifth season as manager in Cincinnati, but the Reds had opted only to exercise his 2018 club option rather than extend him to a longer team deal.

That decision came on the heels of four consecutive losing seasons, and while one can hardly blame the manager for not piling up wins on a clearly rebuilding club, Cincinnati also didn’t seem to demonstrably improve under Price’s watch. The Reds won 76 games in his first season as skipper back in 2014, and since that time they’ve won 64, 68 and 68 games in the respective seasons to follow.

This year’s Reds have been all the more disastrous, opening the year with a 3-15 record with a -46 run differential that easily ranks as the worst in the Majors. The Cincinnati front office clearly felt it was time for a new voice to guide the club, though it’s fair to question why that decision wasn’t simply made before exercising Price’s option, as not much has changed since last September. It’s also worth pointing out that Cincinnati hired former Red Sox and Blue Jays manager John Farrell in a scouting capacity this past offseason, and he’ll almost certainly join the list of managerial candidates when the Reds begin searching (if he doesn’t already top their list).

As for Jenkins, he took over for former pitching coach Mark Riggins back in July 2016, but Reds hurlers haven’t improved much, if any, under his tutelage. The Reds, to be sure, have had their share of meaningful injuries in recent seasons — perhaps none more notable than Anthony DeSclafani, who has not pitched since 2016 — but that doesn’t explain the general lack of development among the team’s more promising young arms. As MLBTR’s Jeff Todd wrote last September:

By measure of fWAR, at least, the 2016-17 Reds hurlers have turned in a two-year stretch of futility that is orders of magnitude worse than any other organization of the past two decades, falling well shy of the dreadful 2004-05 Royals and 2002-03 Devil Rays units.

The 2018 Reds staff hasn’t done anything to correct that tailspin. Cincinnati’s 5.42 ERA, 4.64 xFIP and 4.91 SIERA marks all rank second-worst in the Majors, while their 5.26 FIP as a collective unit is the highest mark of any team in baseball. Cincinnati pitchers rank near the bottom of the league in strikeout percentage and have also posted one of the highest walk percentages of any team in baseball this season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.