There will be no additional help for this roster this year.
Austin Slater was a member of the Cincinnati Reds for a trio of weeks, coming to them from the San Francisco Giants when he had lost his job there to better hitters. With the Reds, he hit just .111 in his time - collecting 2 total hits - and that wrapped his experience in the Queen City.
As the July 30th trade deadline closed in, the Reds dealt him - and the recently DFA’d Livan Soto - to the Baltimore Orioles for cash considerations just before time expired. That freed up space on the 40-man roster (and active roster) for the recently acquired (and also recently DFA’d) Ty France, whom the Reds picked up from Seattle just yesterday.
The #Reds traded OF Austin Slater, IF Livan Soto and cash considerations to the Orioles in exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later.
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 30, 2024
Additionally, IF Ty France has reported. pic.twitter.com/zhCIdM4kWO
That deal came on the heels of one that sent veteran reliever (and pending free agent) Lucas Sims to the Boston Red Sox, a deal that netted the Reds a promising (yet far off) right-handed pitching prospect in Ovis Portes.
The deal that sent away Frankie Montas yesterday was the most notable thing Cincinnati did this deadline, a deal that brought back the potentially promising Joey Wiemer alongside veteran reliever Jakob Junis.
Margins. Marginable. The Cincinnati Reds opted once again to sit idly at their core and instead merely nibble at the margins this deadline. In all, we watched as Montas, Sims, and Slater exited while Junis, Ty France, and Wiemer rotated in, with the presence of Nick Martinez - himself a free agent at season’s end - now likely slated for a return to the starting rotation. There was a bit of money saved, none truly acquired, and the Reds find themselves once again a 51-55 club on the brink of last place in their division and needing to jump 6 teams in the crowded NL Wild Card race with a roster that seems eerily as disjointed today as it did yesterday.
They didn’t deal all their pending free agents in a way teams that are looking fully towards next year typically do. Each of Martinez, Justin Wilson, and Buck Farmer remain Reds. They also didn’t add anyone of note to an offense that has needed help for over a decade, a sign that they’re perfectly fine with letting this lackluster offensive performance continue through the end of the season.
That’s the ‘talking out of both sides of your mouth’ of baseball philosophy, with the overriding premise of ‘we just hope they play better baseball’ the one on which they are leaning once again.
The Reds and Chicago Cubs, who acquired Isaac Paredes this deadline, will once again tussle at 7:10 PM ET this evening.
