The Cincinnati Reds pulled off one of the bigger trades, acquiring Trevor Bauer from the Cleveland Indians in a three-team trade involving the San Diego Padres.
Wow, that came out of leftfield! No one was anticipating Trevor Bauer going from the Cleveland Indians, a team in the thick of a playoff hunt, to the Cincinnati Reds, a team seven games out of a potential wild card spot.
No one could have predicted that two of the biggest starting pitching trade targets would be going to the New York Mets and the Reds. Let’s take a look at this trade from the Reds perspective and break the whole thing down.
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This was a three-team trade between the Indians, Reds and San Diego Padres. The Reds give up Taylor Trammell and Yasiel Puig in exchange for Bauer. The Indians give up Bauer and receive Puig, Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen, and Victor Nova.
The Padres give up Reyes, Allen, and Nova to get Trammell. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Reds minor leaguer Scott Moss is also involved, but unsure of where he is going.
The Cincinnati Reds get a great pitcher in Bauer who is 9-8 on the year with a 3.79 ERA and 185 strikeouts. They get someone who will help improve an already great starting rotation. The downside is Bauer is only signed through this year and will be a free agent.
There is the possibility of them signing him to an extension, which I assume will happen with everything they gave up to get him.
Their current rotation is made up of Luis Castillo (2.71 ERA), Sonny Gray (3.45), Anthony DeSclafani (4.01), Tanner Roark (3.95) and Tyler Mahle (4.93).
While they only received one player, they got a great player. Unfortunately, in Trammell, they are giving up their top prospect and the No. 30 prospect in all of baseball.
In Puig, they let go of someone who didn’t even last a year and is slashing .255/.305/.480 who is also only signed through the end of the year. In both cases, Bauer and Puig’s it appears as the rest of the season will determine what happens next year with their new teams.
Most in Cincinnati will be silently celebrating Puig’s departure after his involvement in a bench-clearing brawl in tonight’s game.
It is unfair to try to grade this trade as so many prospects are involved and we have no idea how they’ll turn out. Only time will tell which team will fare better in this trade.