Wednesday notes from spring training!
When the Cincinnati Reds swung large for Jeimer Candelario this offseason, we all squinted and stared at one another at Red Reporter HQ. Another infielder? What gives?!
The logjam there was obvious. Matt McLain looked like a Rookie of the Year winner for much of 2023, while the flashes Elly De La Cruz gave us on his best days reminded grayheads everywhere of Eric Davis. Christian Encarnacion-Strand has hit a billion homers at AA-AAA since the start of 2022 (and hit the ground running in his cup of coffee), Noelvi Marte hit better than all of those rookies last year, and Spencer Steer was the one who managed to both a) play well and b) play well all year. Oh, and Jonathan India never got traded.
Another infielder?
We eventually learned that adding Candelario came hand in hand with Steer, who was already versatile, moving almost full-time to the outfield. Rather than sign an outfielder, sign another infielder and fabricate an outfielder from within to fill a need! That looked sweet, of course, until you factor in that TJ Friedl owns center and both Will Benson and Jake Fraley looked rock solid in the outfield in their time, too. Oh, and Jonathan India never got traded (and will apparently get some time in the outfield, too).
Another outfielder?
These are good problems to have, having too many good players. Better an India on the bench (with his career .732 OPS against LHP) than, say, Kevin Newman (and his career .732 OPS against LHP). Right?
We assume that these are precisely the kinds of things that will sort themselves out as the season nears and everyday play commences. Injuries, as we all know, happen early and often, as they certainly did to the 2023 Reds. McLain was banged up then, and he’s banged up again now. India was banged up then, and some of the ways they’re describing his plantar fasciitis makes it sound like he may even be more banged up now. All of a sudden, we’re a month away from Opening Day and that infield mix looks like it’s just as up in the air as ever, even if the depth there should make for a solid set of options in some form or fashion.
Funny thing, then, to read about how the starting rotation and bullpen are both almost completely undefined at this juncture, too.
As the twin scribes of The Enquirer relayed today, the rotation ‘is definitely not set,’ per manager David Bell, despite Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez signing as free agents in the offseason and Hunter Greene looking as healthy as ever. Andrew Abbott’s stellar rookie season? Not a guaranteed spot! Graham Ashcraft and Nick Lodolo? May not be healthy! Brandon Williamson being solid, if unspectacular, and constantly overlooked because he wasn’t drafted and developed by the Reds? Probably being overlooked!
The overlap between sorting out those options and how the bullpen shakes out is obvious, but how the bullpen shakes out has become even less obvious. Thanks to almost everyone who was down there last year returning, the additions of Martinez, Emilio Pagan, and Brent Suter to the mix, and Ian Gibaut being out of options, it seems as if there will be several folks who’d otherwise be obvious candidates to break camp as members of the ‘pen on Opening Day who’ll be left out in the cold (read: Louisville).
The bullpen, as Charlie Goldsmith noted, is completely in-flux behind closer Alexis Díaz.
We don’t know who’ll be playing in the eight positions on the field most days, or who’ll be in the DH spot. We don’t know which five guys (or six?) will constitute the starting rotation. We don’t know which relievers are going to come in at which points in time. We unequivocally know that Tyler Stephenson and Luke Maile are going to take some foul balls to places that make us cringe thinking about, and that’s just about all we know right now.
Maybe that’s a good thing. It’ll foster competition to the hilt, I’d imagine, and so long as the depth isn’t used because half the team falls apart, the depth will be there to be leveraged routinely.
Maybe it’s a bad thing, though? Maybe, just maybe, there are at least a few guys in this mix who function just a little bit better knowing exactly what job they’re going to wake up and roll into the next day. Or, is that something that Bell, Nick Krall, & Co. were able to vet out of all their wheelings and dealings in building this team in the first place?
One thing, to me, has become abundantly clear: David Bell is going to have to be a master at the controls this year, because each and every time he makes a move there’s going to be an equally qualified player he looks past in his decision. Barring injuries across the roster, there are precious few ‘holes’ anywhere, meaning his decisions are going to have second-guesses built into them from the moment they are made.
Lefty brought in to the game in the Bottom of the 8th, Will Benson due up, Reds down 4-3 with a runner on 2B. India and Encarnacion-Strand in the dugout with helmets on and bats in-hand ready to go – who’s getting that opportunity? Or, rather, who isn’t?
The extension signed by Bell last summer that runs through 2026 will give him just about as much confidence as possible, as well as the chance to feel out how malleable his roster truly is in the early going. But if the Reds are going to excel in 2024 the way we all hope they will, it won’t be just because they’ve got some good players – it’ll be because the manager and general manager found ways to squeeze the excess value out of all 26 men on the active roster in ways that teams who build great starting lineups (and iffy benches full of guys not expecting to play much) can’t do.