The Reds have spent much of this season getting blamed from every direction, and the front office is taking plenty of the heat. That comes with the territory when a team is underperforming, but one move is looking worse by the day: the deal that sent Mike Sirota to the Dodgers in exchange for Gavin Lux and a Competitive Balance Round A pick.
Cincinnati made the move because it needed offense, but giving up Sirota has aged badly. At the time, he was already one of the stronger prospects in the Reds’ system. Now, he’s climbing fast in another organization and making the trade look even rougher for Cincinnati.
Sirota has been raking with the Dodgers. This season, he is hitting .322/.481/.563 with an OPS over 1.000 and 21 doubles.
That production has pushed him up the national prospect lists, with Baseball America ranking him No. 12 overall and MLB Pipeline placing him No. 11.
That kind of rise is exactly what makes the trade sting for the Reds. They didn’t just give up a good prospect - they gave up one who is now being viewed as one of the best in baseball.
Lux’s run in Cincinnati did little to soften the blow. He did not provide much help to the lineup, and his work in the field was below average. The Reds later moved him for Brock Burke, a deal that has helped the bullpen, but it still doesn’t come close to offsetting the loss of Sirota.
The Reds do not usually make win-now trades, but this was one of those exceptions. Instead of paying off, it has become one of the clearest examples of a front-office move backfiring.
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