Hunter Greene Responds to Question About Reds Future Amid Trade Buzz

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene has been on quite the roller coaster over the past few days. As the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches, there have been numerous reports about his availability. It started with a report that Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall would listen to offers for his ace starting pitcher. Then it became clear Cincinnati was receiving significant interest from other teams in a potential trade for Greene.

That report evolved the next day into a report from Mark Feinsand stating there was a 50/50 chance Cincinnati would trade Greene, all before Krall made it clear that Greene was no longer available and that the Reds would move forward with him on the roster.

Now, could this be a leverage play by Krall to drive up the asking price for teams desperate to acquire Greene? Sure. Think about NFL players requesting trades before signing long-term contract extensions with those same teams. I'm not ruling out the possibility that Greene could be on a different team by Aug. 4, but Krall may simply be trying to pour cold water on the idea.

After his start Friday night, in which Greene allowed four runs over six innings while striking out four, the Cincinnati Enquirer's Gordon Wittenmyer directly asked Greene whether he thought it was his last start in a Reds uniform.

Greene said no, giving more credence to the belief that he will remain with the team beyond the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

I've been vocal about my opinion that the Reds should seriously entertain trading Greene, but I also understand the argument that now is not the right time because he is at his lowest trade value in a long time. It would be very difficult to receive equal or greater value for an ace-level pitcher who is under team control for less than $22 million per year over the next three seasons. It would likely require multiple top prospects, and it does not sound as though teams have been willing to meet that asking price.

The focus for Greene, as long as he remains with the Reds long term, is staying healthy. If Cincinnati can deploy a rotation featuring both Chase Burns and Hunter Greene for multiple seasons, I think it would rank among the best rotations in baseball. Then the focus becomes figuring out the offense, which is obviously easier said than done.