The Cincinnati Reds have some sorting to do this offseason, and it may not stop at shopping for outside help. If they want to climb out of the National League basement after last season’s rough finish, they may also have to decide whether a few current pieces should be used to bring back something different.
One name that could come back into the conversation is Spencer Steer. He was already on the radar as a trade possibility at the deadline before an injury took him out of the equation.
Even with that setback, the idea hasn’t gone away. Steer’s appeal is pretty clear: he can handle multiple positions, and that kind of flexibility usually plays well in trade talks.
At the same time, not every team will value him the way Cincinnati does, which makes him useful but not untouchable. If the Reds get the right offer, he could wind up as one of the more realistic chips on the roster.
Nick Lodolo is another player whose name has lingered in trade conversations for a while now. The Reds have had chances to move him before, but nothing ever materialized.
He still has the kind of talent that could draw interest, yet his injury history has made things complicated. Time is also becoming part of the equation.
Lodolo is entering his last year of arbitration, and if Cincinnati does not see itself as a serious contender, moving him within the next year starts to make more sense.
Then there’s JJ Bleday, who was one of the better players on the roster last season and still has a few years of team control left. That combination gives him real trade value, especially if the Reds don’t believe they’re positioned to contend over the next few seasons.
The thinking here is simple: trade him while his value is high. If Cincinnati decides to go that route, Bleday could bring back a meaningful return.
Still, that possibility comes with a catch. The Reds are thin in the outfield, and Bleday is under team control, which makes him a less likely trade candidate than the others. But if the front office decides that peak value matters more than keeping him in place, he’s a name worth watching.
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Cabreras return gives the Reds a player the organization already knows, which matters on a team trying to build depth without losing flexibility. He saw a few games in Cincinnati last year and handled himself well enough to leave a small impression, and now the club gets another look at a utility piece who could fit in several places if the roster picture shifts again. [Read more 🡒]