Nick Krall’s front-office troubles with the Reds didn’t start with the more recent missteps. The real turning point goes back to the 2022 trade deadline, when Cincinnati tore the roster down and came away with a package that looked capable of changing the franchise’s direction.
At the time, the Reds were 42-61 and clearly in sell mode by the August 2 deadline. They moved veterans Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle, Tyler Naquin, Phillip Diehl, Tommy Pham, and Brandon Drury. In return, they landed Edwin Arroyo, Noelvi Marte, Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Héctor Rodriguez, and a few other lower-level prospects.
On paper, that was the kind of haul that can reset a club. Four years later, though, it has not played out that way.
Arroyo’s success in Triple-A hasn’t carried over in the majors. Marte has been given plenty of chances, but he still hasn’t hit and doesn’t have a clear defensive position.
Encarnacion-Strand never got the strikeout issues under control and is now hitting for the Baltimore Orioles.
Rodriguez’s big league results have been underwhelming so far, even if there is still time for him to change that. Spencer Steer is the one player from that group who has grown into an above-average contributor.
For a team with limited financial flexibility, that kind of hit rate is a serious issue. The Reds can’t build by constantly shopping outside the organization. Their best path is a strong homegrown core, and that’s what the 2022 deadline was supposed to help create.
If Cincinnati had hit on that wave of young talent, the picture would look very different now. Add in other young players the club has brought in, including Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, Chase Burns, and others, and the Reds would be viewed as an ascending team with a cheap foundation. That kind of base would also have given them more room to spend selectively instead of having to patch holes across the roster.
Instead, the club has been forced into a tougher cycle. Rather than being able to outbid for a player like Kyle Schwarber, it has had to spread money around to names such as Ke’Bryan Hayes, Eugenio Suarez, and Brady Singer just to keep the roster moving.
A lot of what has gone wrong under Krall since then traces back to that deadline. The Reds had valuable trade chips and got very little back, which left the front office trying to improvise from there. The result is the situation they’re in now: a roster with some bad contracts, a farm system that isn’t ready to cover all the gaps, and a lot of work ahead if they want to be consistently competitive in 2027 and beyond.
In Other News...
Elly De La Cruz Exit Just Raised The Stakes For The Reds
Elly De La Cruzs night ended early against the Chicago Cubs after he left with tightness in his left quad, a development the Reds did not need in the middle of a game that already carried plenty of attention. Ivan Johnson took over for him in the seventh inning, giving Cincinnati an immediate look at how it would handle the rest of the matchup without one of its most dynamic players on the field.
Terry Francona is expected to have more to say after the game, and for the Reds, the real concern now is whether this is just a short-term hiccup or something that lingers. De La Cruz has become too central to what Cincinnati does to treat any lower-body issue lightly, so even a precautionary exit will be watched closely once the postgame update arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Elly De La Cruz Just Put Cincinnatis Stretch Run In Doubt
Elly De La Cruz leaving Tuesdays game against the Cubs with an apparent left quad injury was the kind of development the Reds could not afford at this point in the season. The team confirmed the injury on social media, and it comes with the September schedule tightening around them and a run of playoff-contending opponents looming.
For Cincinnati, the concern is bigger than one night out of the lineup. De La Cruz has now dealt with the same quad issue in back-to-back seasons, and he has already missed time this year with a hamstring injury, so every new setback adds another layer of uncertainty to the stretch run. The Reds have been trying to keep pace in a crowded race, and losing their most dynamic player would make an already difficult closing month even more complicated. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Deadline Fallout Just Took Another Brutal Turn
The Reds trade deadline shuffle already looked like a mixed bag, and it has only gotten messier in the days since. Cincinnati moved Nathaniel Lowe to the Guardians and Caleb Ferguson to the Cardinals, hoping to reshape the roster for the stretch run, but the early returns have not done the club many favors.
Fergusons rough stay in St. Louis ended with his release, underscoring how quickly a deadline move can turn from useful depth to a dead end. Around the same time, Carson Spiers began a rehab assignment as he works his way back from injury, while former draft pick Hunter Hollan was released from the organization, adding another reminder that the Reds are still sorting through the fallout of a deadline built on uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]