Cincinnati Reds 2016 Season In Review
The Cincinnati Reds finished the season with a 68-94 record, “earning” them the 2nd overall selection in the 2017 draft. Let’s take a look at the 2016 season at the management level, hitters, and pitchers.
Management
2016 was Bryan Price‘s 3rd year as manager of the Reds. He’s amassed a 208-278 record in that time, yet he was rewarded with a one year contract with an option for 2018 before the end of the season as his contract was up this offseason. Price has had an often tumultuous relationship with the Cincinnati media and national media after he was promoted from pitching coach to the manager’s role in 2014. Many had speculated that the Reds may pursue another option in the offseason, like Bud Black or another more “experienced” manager.
President of Baseball Operations Walt Jocketty has been with the club since 2008, working as the General Manager from 2010 until 2015 before moving into his current role. He had previously been the St. Louis Cardinals general manager from 1994 to 2007. When he was bumped up in title, the team hired Dick Williams as the general manager. No, not the Hall of Fame manager – this Dick Williams is a mid-40s Cincinnati native who happens to be the son and nephew of two minority owners of the team, which has led to plenty of fan dismay over his decisions, believing he is maliciously influenced by the ownership.
Williams’ first draft this June was a big one as the Reds had the biggest draft budget of any team in the draft with the #2 overall selection. Some were a bit upset that the team went with the high-floor guy in Nick Senzel from Tennessee with the #2 overall selection rather than a guy with a bigger upside. Then they turned that notion right on its heals by going after arguably the best athlete in the entire draft in Taylor Trammell and grabbing one of the biggest upside, if most raw, high school arms in the draft in Nick Hanson. The team also found a steal in outfielder Daniel Sweet, who they selected in the 29th round. Senzel had a tremendous start to his pro career, but for a guy with a high floor, he reached the full-season low-A Dayton team in the Midwest League and didn’t move from there.
One of the biggest things the Reds did in a positive light was moving Aroldis Chapman before the season. It is always difficult to know when to make the move on a player accused of domestic violence, and I believe the Rockies and Braves management would tell you that attempting to hold onto the player once he’s been suspended is a road to nowhere good. The Reds, instead, chose to move Aroldis before the season to the New York Yankees. Now, the Yankees received more for Chapman at the trade deadline than the Reds did when they moved him, but one thing is clear – the Reds received incredible praise across the baseball industry for being so definitive in their stance with Chapman, even knowing they were getting less at the time than they could in return for him by letting him return and show himself again.
Next: Hitters
Hitters
Joey Votto had a tremendous season, especially his second half. Overall, his line was .326/.434/.550 with 29 home runs. With nearly nothing to support him in the Reds lineup in the second half, his performance is even the more impressive. He even stole 8 bases. With nearly no one on base for him, he found a way to drive in 97 runs. Yes, he’s now a $20M man as his long contract with the team first hit that level this season, but at the very least he produced at that level this year.
On the opposite end, Adam Duvall came out in the first half and hit monstrous home runs on his way to a 33 home run season. Overall, Duvall hit .241/.397/.498 on the season, but his first half was .249/.288/.551 with 23 home runs. The second half was better as far as his walk rate and Duvall did reduce his strikeout rate, but he also hit 10 home runs, so less than half the home runs as the first half of the season.
Billy Hamilton started slow, but he took off in June and by the time he ended up on the DL for the end of the season in mid-September, he ended up with 58 stolen bases (and only 8 caught stealing). His defense was impressive, to say the least. His move from shortstop to center field has been successful in general, but in the view of many in baseball, Hamilton took a major step forward this year from an already solid base.
Eugenio Suarez followed Duvall’s lead in the first half and ended the season with 21 home runs, establishing himself as an infield starter. Interestingly, Suarez had a higher slugging percentage in the second half, but he had 15 home runs in the first half and only 6 in the second half. He also stole 11 bases.
Jose Peraza came off the bench all year, but he got hot in the second half, and his final numbers looked very solid. His slash line was .324/.352/.411. Peraza was acquired by the Reds in the three-team deal with the Dodgers and the White Sox that sent away Todd Frazier. Peraza rode a near-.400 BABIP to a second half line of .355/.380/.477. Peraza played short, second, center, and left on the season, so finding a defensive position will be important for Peraza going forward, but after dropping in value from the time he was an elite prospect in the Braves system 2-3 years ago, Peraza has come a long way this year. Peraza did have a disturbing 1/3 caught stealing rate, stealing 21 bases and getting caught 10 times.
Last, Jay Bruce established his trade value well enough to be moved to the Mets by hitting .265/.316/.559 with 25 home runs before being traded for Dilson Herrera and Max Wotell. Bruce had a 2017 option at $13M, but they were able to trade him this season due to his excellent hitting before he was traded.
On the down side, injuries ended Zack Cozart‘s season early and knocked out Devin Mesoraco for all but 16 games.
Next: Pitchers
Pitchers
The Reds pitching in 2016 was bad – real, real bad. How bad, you may ask? So bad that they became the first team in history that Fangraphs can find that actually accumulated negative WAR as an entire staff for the season. Jeff Sullivan recently wrote an article about it on the site and highlighted the piece, but I noticed this when I was looking up the team numbers and had already checked back a long while and not found anyone even close to 0, let alone negative, so this was an incredible feat by the Reds on the season.
Everything was not horrid, however. Dan Straily was acquired late in spring training and made 31 starts for the Reds, throwing 191 innings. He posted a very solid 3.76 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP on the season. Straily did allow 31 home runs on the season, but part of that is pitching at Great American Ballpark, a notorious hitter’s park.
Anthony DeSclafani missed the start of the season, but from the time he started his year, he was the ace of the Cincy staff, putting up a 3.28 ERA and 1.22 WHIP over 20 starts and 123 1/3 innings. DeSclafani often ended up toe-to-toe with aces of the league, and he performed very well against them, and he gave a radio interview that I caught in the last week of the season that he claimed that pitching in high-pressure situations energized him. He may be waiting a bit to have a pennant chase for his team, but he will be put in a position to match up against other teams’ best starters whenever possible by the Reds.
Brandon Finnegan started the season and struggled heavily, but in the second half, he really turned it on and finished the season with a 3.98 ERA and 1.36 WHIP over 172 innings. Acquired from the Royals last season in the Johnny Cueto deal, Finnegan’s second half 2.93 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and 31/72 BB/K showed the type of pitcher he could become, setting him as a solid 1-2-3 punch with Straily and DeSclafani.
The bullpen also featured a trio of solid performers with Raisel Iglesias really taking to his move full-time to the bullpen by throwing a 2.53 ERA and 1.14 WHIP over 78 1/3 innings on the season. Jumbo Diaz made 45 appearances, throwing 43 innings at a 3.14 ERA and 1.28 WHIP with a 19/37 BB/K ratio. Last was Michael Lorenzen, moved from the rotation to the bullpen, and he not only provided a 2.88 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and 13/48 BB/K over 50 innings. Lorenzen was also part of the most emotional non-Jose Fernandez video that came out on the season. Simply watch this and I dare you not to cry!
Baseball is more than just a game, this is incredible. https://t.co/gO3GcKrIpz
— Kent (@RealKentMurphy) August 27, 2016
Next: Twins 2016 Season Review
Of course, for that level of bad pitching, many pitched poorly, but some exceptionally so. Alfredo Simon had a 9.36 ERA, but was still given the ball for 11 starts and 15 times overall. John Lamb made 14 starts with a 6.43 ERA. Cody Reed initially threw well, but then ended his season at a 7.36 ERA before he was sent to the DL. J.J. Hoover posted a 13.50 ERA in 18 appearances, allowing an incredible 9 home runs in those appearances!