Cincinnati’s refusal to move expiring contracts backfired as front offices ridiculed their astronomical demands for the surging catcher, leaving the franchise stuck in a tailspin.
The Cincinnati Reds' season has been steadily going downhill over the past month. The Reds are 11-14 in August, with a road series against the Chicago Cubs coming before the month’s close.
This all comes just after the Reds made little to no effort to sell players on expiring contracts at the trade deadline. Players like Eugenio Suarez, Tyler Stephenson, Brady Singer, Brock Burke and Pierce Johnson were all on expiring contracts or contracts with mutual options after this season, which could have provided some sort of return to make shipping them off worth it.
Nevertheless, the Reds stood pat, only trading Nate Lowe and Caleb Ferguson under the guise that they were still focused on fielding a competitive team for the rest of the season, despite the fact that Cincinnati was 53-58 on the day of the deadline and in last place in the NL Central.
Less than a month later, the Reds placed Suarez, whom they didn't trade, on waivers in an effort to save $3 million.
Robert Murray of FanSided went on the Just Baseball Show and spoke about the Reds’ deadline at length saying the Reds' asking price for Tyler Stephenson was so high that other front office executives were “mocking” them and that Nick Krall and company basically made it impossible to move the catcher at the deadline.
Stephenson had heated up and had one of the best months of his career in July, so his stock absolutely rose, but not to the point where getting a deal done should have been impossible. It was such a foregone conclusion that Stephenson would get moved that he got emotional after what he thought would be his final game in Cincinnati, in which he hit a home run in his last at-bat.
Even more, Hunter Greene’s right elbow injury flaring up and leading to surgery, which surfaced the day after the trade deadline, makes everything even harder to accept for Reds fans. Your chances of having a competitive roster tanked when one of your ace pitchers hits the IL, and he had only made a handful of starts coming off his most recent injury before being back on the IL; now he will miss the majority of the 2027 season as well.
The decision to hold on to Greene to field a competitive roster, without any guarantee he could remain healthy, was a huge gamble by the Reds front office that did not pay off.
Murray also discussed what this offseason should look like for the Reds, saying they should listen to trade offers for everyone, including Elly De La Cruz, but clarified that it would take a “Godfather” type package to get the Reds to actually ship him off, given he is a big part of their core. Murray also said Cincinnati has to give fans a reason to come to the ballpark, and De La Cruz no longer being on the team wouldn’t help that.
