Cincinnati Reds looking to find a direction this offseason

The Cincinnati Reds may be going in a different direction after being among the most active buyers last offseason

As of late, the Cincinnati Reds have seemed to make it aware that they are considering rebuilding their team after making the playoffs this past season.

They just recently traded away Raisel Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels for Noe Ramirez, similar players of his caliber could be found on the free agent market, along with a player to be named later or cash considerations. They’ve also been listening to offers on Sonny Gray and non-tendered three players in Archie Bradley, Brian Goodwin and Curt Casali.

So, what exactly are the Reds doing? It seems like they may be looking at rebuilding the team just one year after making huge free agent splurges.

Trading Iglesias away, their go-to guy in save situations for the past four seasons without a viable replacement, seems like a move a clear rebuilding club would do as it signals that they’re trying to get whatever they can for the trade chips they have. While they may get a minor league player in the deal, they are getting a major league piece in Ramirez who will immediately slot into a middle or long relief role.

Despite Ramirez being a significant downgrade to Iglesias, the former is entering his first year of arbitration while the latter is set to earn $9.125 million before hitting free agency at the conclusion of the 2021 season. This could simply be viewed as a cost cutting move in which many teams are looking to shed salary after gaining no revenues during the 2020 season.

By non-tendering Goodwin, Bradley, and Casali, the Reds saved themselves about $9-13 million. Despite trading for Goodwin at the trade deadline, it was probably the right move to non-tender him after combining to slash .215/.269/.417 and he was projected to earn as much as $3.6 million.

Non-tendering the other two guys may have been a mistake though. Casali was a serviceable backup catcher who was probably going to make no more than $2.5 million while Bradley, who the Reds acquired at the trade deadline, posted a 2.95 ERA in the 2020 season. Non-tendering him after trading away Iglesias weakens the Reds bullpen a lot and Bradley was projected to earn a significant amount less than what Iglesias is set to earn this season.

It’s quite surprising that the Reds are making Gray available in trade talks. Since he came to Cincinnati, he’s been playing the best baseball of his career posting a 3.07 ERA with 277 strikeouts over 42 starts. For a pitcher of his caliber, he’s quite cheap as he’s owed only $20.2 million over the next two seasons with a $12 million club option for 2023.

There’s no doubt that Gray would bring back an impressive haul but trading him away would only make the team worse.

Despite getting rid of some guys in the past few days, they’re still in a good position to compete. They have a strong offense that they built last season and they play in the NL Central which has a clear rebuilder (Pittsburgh Pirates), a cash strapped team with question marks (Chicago Cubs), a team with glaring needs (Milwaukee Brewers), and the other team, the St. Louis Cardinals, that are a good team but have some holes to address as well.

So, to answer the question of what direction are the Cincinnati Reds heading in: I really don’t know. We’ll find out over the next couple of weeks in regards to what moves they make.