Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 postseason. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
13. Cincinnati Reds, Nick Krall, vice president of baseball operations, Brad Meadow, general manager, +2.0
Placing the Reds front office among the upper half in the MLB for 2024 will come as a surprise to a lot of fans, especially those in Cincinnati.
After all, Cincinnati finished eight games below .500 last season and out of contention in one of the game’s weakest division, the NL Central. It’s also true that the Reds did not make any big-splash moves that would catch the eye of casual fans.
The real problem Krall and Meador faced was their failure to immediately recognize what would turn out to be their most important move, and thus their failure to take full advantage of it.
Back in December of 2023, the Reds signed journeyman free agent pitcher Nick Martinez, who had been released by Texas a month earlier. Martinez, whose best development occurred during the four seasons he toiled in Japan, was brought in as a low-budget filler piece on a pitching staff populated by young prospects.
Through July, he made only five starts, until finally somebody noticed that he was pitching like a staff ace. Inserted into the regular rotation in August, he went 5-2 with a 2.42 ERA down the stretch, good for +2.8 Wins Above Average. By then, however, the Reds were out of contention.
Five most impactful Krall-Meador moves
Transaction | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Signed free agent Nick Martinez | +2.8 |
Promoted rookie Noelvi Marte | -2.6 |
Released Nick Senzel | +2.3 |
Signed free agent Jeimer Candelario | -2.1 |
Promoted rookie Rhett Lowder | +1.6 |
As a small-market franchise, the Reds have frequently tried to follow the path of developing organizational talent. In 2024, however, fate and human frailty conspired against them.
Hotshot infielder Matt McClain was injured in before the season and missed the whole year. The other big blow came when third base prospect Noelvi Marte was handed a half-season suspension for use of performance-enhancing substances.
Marte returned in late June but was a bust, hitting only .210 with a microscopic .510 OPS and fielding poorly. It all added up to -2.6 WAA. That combination may not entirely undermine Marte’s future with the Reds — he’s still listed on the depth chart as the starter at third base — but the heat is on.
Krall and Meador also need more of a return on their investment from Jeimer Candelario, who they signed as a $60 million free agent through 2027. The initial returns were not good, as Candelario hit just .225 with average-at-best power in 2024, the numbers working out to a -2.1 WAA.
Overall, the Reds' front office made transactions involving 56 major leaguers, of which 26 worked out in Cincinnati’s favor, 28 produced negative value and six were neutral.
In the end, what saved the score for the Reds' braintrust was addition by subtraction. Last November, the Reds finally gave up on flawed system product Nick Senzel, turning him loose to free agency. Finding work in Washington and then on Chicago’s South Side, Senzel’s continued lack of production was worth 2.3 points to the Krall-Meador score, turning their margin from a net negative to solidly positive.
The front office has had an active offseason thus far leading into the 2025 season, and they'll be hoping to compete with the Cubs and Brewers in a weak division.
Previous Rankings
15. Arizona Diamondbacks, Mike Hazen, executive vice president and general manager, +1.9
14. San Diego Padres, A.J. Peller, president of baseball operations and general manager, +2.0
13. Cincinnati Reds, Nick Krall, president of baseball operations, Brad Meador, senior vice president and general manager, +2.2
Next: 12. Seattle Mariners, Jerry DiPoto, president of baseball operations, Justin Hollander, general manager, +2.5