Nick Krall and the Cincinnati Reds front office: A mid-season grade
By Bill Felber
Acquired or traded
Probably smartly, Krall has focused on building the Reds internally. That has meant only minimal activity with other teams. Possibly his most significant move in this area doesn’t count toward his 2023 score because it occurred during the 2022 season.
At the August 2 trade deadline, Krall sent Tyler Mahle to the Twins in exchange for three minor leaguers. He immediately called up one of them, infielder Spencer Steer, and Steer has been a revelation. Dividing time between first base, third base and the outfield, Steer is hitting .279 with 12 homers and 46 RBI.
As noted above, because Steer was a 2022 acquisition who saw major league time, he doesn’t count against Krall’s 2023 score. But because he played so little last year, he could count in the NL Rookie of the Year race, for which he is eligible.
Krall landed four players who do count toward his rating, and sadly for him three currently are carrying negative WAA scores. The hardest to take is veteran Kevin Newman (-1.2), who came over from Pittsburgh in November.
The outlier is outfielder Will Benson, obtained in a deal with Cleveland last winter. Benson started slowly, but has found more playing time as both he and the Reds have heated up. He’s got his average up to .278 in 35 games and his WAA recently turned positive at +0.1.
Only four players left the Reds orbit in deals with other teams, the biggest names being pitcher Chase Anderson and infielder Kyle Farmer. Neither is likely to be missed.