The Reds have a pitching coach opening, and if they want to swing big, Matt Blake ought to be on the short list.
That’s the kind of move Cincinnati made once before, when David Bell took over as manager in 2018 and pulled Derek Johnson away from the Milwaukee Brewers. Now Johnson is gone, and the Reds are again staring at a staff-shaping decision that could define how the pitching group looks moving forward.
Blake has been in charge of the Yankees’ pitching staff since 2019, and his contract situation makes this a conversation worth having. New York is down 1-0 in the ALDS after losing Game 1 to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, and once the Yankees’ season ends, Blake’s deal does too. He signed a three-year extension in 2022, then had the club exercise an option to keep him in the role this season, but he has not been signed to a new contract beyond that.
There’s also the obvious reason the Yankees are expected to try hard to keep him. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, New York intends to retain Blake after the season, which makes sense given how well the staff performed in 2026. The Yankees finished first in team ERA at 3.24 and ranked among the top seven in almost every other major pitching category.
A huge part of that success came from Cam Schlittler, who looks like the likely 2026 AL Cy Young winner. The 25-year-old right-hander posted a 1.95 ERA, a 2.56 FIP and a 31.4% strikeout rate. Only Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski had a higher fWAR than Schlittler, 6.6 to 6.2.
Blake’s path to this point runs through another familiar organization for Reds fans. Before joining the Yankees three years later, he worked in Cleveland under Terry Francona’s previous organization. The Guardians hired him as a minor-league pitching coordinator in 2015, then promoted him to assistant director of pitching development in 2016.
Cincinnati has already started sorting through its own options. The club has interviewed bullpen coach Oscar Marin and assistant pitching coach Matt Tracy for the opening, and it is also searching for a new Director of Pitching, the job Johnson held along with his major league pitching coach duties.
This is the kind of hire the Reds need to nail, and that means thinking aggressively. Getting Blake out of New York would be a tougher pull than Johnson from Milwaukee was, but the Reds should still make the call. If nothing else, the answer is simple: the worst thing Blake can say is no.
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The questions around Diaz are the ones that usually decide whether a bullpen arm can really climb the ladder. He has shown the kind of strikeout ability that gets attention, but his walk issues last season were just as noticeable, and the next step is tightening the command while fleshing out a deeper mix. For a Reds club hoping young arms can make a difference, what Diaz does next matters well beyond the AFL. [Read more 🡒]