On April 30, the Cincinnati Reds were riding high at Great American Ball Park. They had just knocked off the Colorado Rockies 6-4 behind home runs from Nathaniel Lowe and TJ Friedl, with Andrew Abbott giving them five solid innings and allowing two runs on five hits. The crowd of 17,212 had plenty to feel good about, and the standings backed it up: the Reds were 20-11, sitting in first place in the National League Central and leading the Chicago Cubs by a game.
That version of the Reds feels like a different team now.
Since May 1, Cincinnati has gone 21-37, the worst record in MLB over that stretch. The club has slid from first to last in the division and now trails the first-place Milwaukee Brewers by 14 games.
Even worse, the Reds are 1-6 against Milwaukee and 5-20 against the rest of the NL Central. They are not only in last place, they are four games behind the fourth-place Pittsburgh Pirates.
The problems are everywhere. The bullpen, which looked airtight in April, has fallen to 25th in MLB.
The offense has been stuck in the mud, especially with runners in scoring position. And the rotation, which was supposed to be a strength, has been battered by injuries.
Hunter Greene missed time and only returned last week. Nick Lodolo was out more than a month with blister issues.
Abbott has also been sidelined. Brady Singer was expected to bring stability and experience, but he is 3-8 with a 5.02 ERA.
The lineup hasn’t offered much relief. Matt McLain’s batting average has been underwater for a second straight season.
Friedl, who was one of baseball’s best leadoff hitters last year, was so ineffective that he was sent to Triple-A Louisville and only came back because injuries thinned the outfield. Eugenio Suarez was brought in to add right-handed pop in the middle of the order, but outside of one game in which he homered twice and drove in six, he has been quiet.
Remove that outburst and he has six homers, 30 RBIs and a .208 average.
Ke’Bryan Hayes was signed for his glove, and the glove has delivered. His bat, though, has not. He is hitting .142.
Elly De La Cruz has been slowed by a hamstring injury, but he has recently started running again, stealing three bases in two games against the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend. With Friedl struggling and Blake Dunn and Dane Myers on the injured list, Terry Francona had no true leadoff option, so he moved De La Cruz to the top of the order.
The move has worked in the sense that De La Cruz has been getting on base; he reached six times in the first two games against Baltimore before going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts Sunday. Even so, his power is down and the strikeouts are up.
He has 88 strikeouts in 275 at-bats.
For all the turmoil, the Reds do have two bright young anchors. Sal Stewart, 22, leads the team in hits, doubles, homers and RBIs, and he has handled both third base and first base. Chase Burns, 23, is 10-1 and has separated himself from the rest of the staff with his fastball and slider.
The schedule doesn’t get any kinder. Cincinnati opens a three-game series Tuesday, July 7, against the Philadelphia Phillies at Great American Ball Park, then hosts the Chicago Cubs for three games to close out the first half. If the Reds want any shot at sneaking into the wild card race, they have to start beating teams like the Phillies and division opponents like the Cubs.
They also have to stop wasting series. Since the April surge, the Reds are 5-14-1 in series. That kind of run, as the numbers make plain, simply won’t cut it.
In Other News...
Reds Fans Can See Where This Former Core Piece Is Headed
Matt McLains season has reached the point where the Reds are making quieter but telling decisions around him. During a recent game against the Phillies, Terry Francona turned to Ivan Johnson in a late spot instead of sticking with McLain, another sign that Cincinnati is trying to squeeze more offense out of a lineup that has not gotten enough from one of its former core pieces.
McLain has already been moved down in the batting order, and the numbers have only deepened the concern about where this is headed. For a club that has fallen from a fast start into last place in the NL Central, every at-bat matters, and the Reds now have to weigh whether a reset is the best way to get McLain back on track before the seasons next roster decisions start to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Francona Just Sent A Clear Message About Ellys Role
Terry Francona has made the early call on where Elly De La Cruz belongs, and for now it keeps the Reds most electric player right where he has been setting the tone. De La Cruz has been giving Cincinnati plenty to like at the top of the order, with a recent stretch that included hits, walks and stolen bases, the kind of production that can change the feel of an inning before the rest of the lineup even steps in.
Franconas stance matters because the Reds are still sorting out how best to maximize an offense that leans heavily on De La Cruz to spark it. The managers view is that moving him would not improve the lineup as a whole, which leaves Cincinnati with a clear message about how it plans to attack games for now and a strong hint about who it expects to carry the load when the bats get rolling. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Fans Wont Believe Which Core Starter Just Entered Trade Buzz
The Reds rotation has been one of the more stable parts of the roster, but the trade deadline always has a way of turning stability into speculation. MLB insider Jon Morosi raised eyebrows by floating the idea that Cincinnati could listen on Andrew Abbott, a left-hander who has become a familiar part of the staff and still fits neatly into the clubs long-term plans. Even if the notion feels far-fetched, it is the kind of rumor that forces a front office to think about how much pitching depth it really wants to protect.
There are other names in the mix if the Reds decide to explore the market, and Nick Lodolo has quietly made himself harder to ignore with the way he has thrown the ball lately. Brady Singer also stands out as the cleaner deadline fit because of his contract situation, while the return of Hunter Greene has already tightened the rotation picture and pushed other arms into different roles. For Cincinnati, the real question is not whether it has pitching to talk about, but which arm it would be willing to move if the right deal comes along. [Read more 🡒]