Nick Krall and the Cincinnati Reds front office: A mid-season grade

Overall grade

The system products are the obvious engines to Cincinnati’s surprising rise to contention. That shows up in the data on Krall as well; his trades and free agent signings both have stacked up as lackluster.

Here’s the first half report card on the Krall front office. Note that grades for players departing the organization are based on the reverse of those players’ WAAs with their new teams.

Mode                    WAA                   Grade

Acquired              -1.9                        D

Traded                    0.0                        C

Signed                  -0.8                        C

FA Lost                 -0.1                        C

Rookies                +2.3                       B

Overall                 -0.3                        C

Keep in mind that this is only a mid-term report. Kids are especially volatile, so it’s possible for Krall’s season-ending grade to look much better or much worse. That may depend on what if anything he can do to patch the pitching problems.

Those problems are serious. Despite a winning record, the Reds have been outscored by 16 runs. The Reds to date are fifth in runs per game and OPS, but 14th in ERA and runs allowed per game.

They have already played 18 games decided by five runs or more, and they’re record in those 18 is 6-12. It’s difficult to win with the league’s second worst pitching staff.