The Cincinnati Reds are expected to do some dealing before the August 3 trade deadline, and the obvious names on the move are the ones on expiring contracts. But there’s another layer to this deadline for Cincinnati: whether the front office gets tempted by the idea of moving a controllable player for a bigger return.
That’s where JJ Bleday enters the conversation.
C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic recently pointed to Bleday as a possible trade chip even though he still has multiple years of team control.
Rosecrans wrote, “Bleday would be a welcome addition to several teams, but he still may have the most value to the Reds, who don’t have many players they can pencil into an everyday lineup in the outfield for 2027," Rosecrans wrote. "The Reds signed Bleday after he was non-tendered by the Athletics last offseason.
"After he was called up from the minors early in the season, Bleday has been one of the team’s better offensive players. At 28, the former fourth pick is under team control for two more seasons. While he has more trade value than maybe anyone else on this list, it’s far from certain that the Reds would get more value in return than retaining him."
That’s the key point here: Bleday might draw interest, and the Reds will almost certainly listen if teams call, but moving him would be a mistake right now. He means more to Cincinnati as part of the lineup than as a bargaining chip.
And the production backs that up. Bleday has been one of the steadier bats in the Reds’ order this season, hitting .231/.339/.470 with 18 home runs in 79 games. It’s also the first time in his career that he’s finished with an OPS above .800, and the numbers suggest there’s real substance behind the breakout.
His bat speed has jumped from 71.6 miles per hour in 2025 to around 74 miles per hour this year. That kind of increase doesn’t happen by accident.
Bleday is swinging with more force than he has in the past, and the results have followed. If he can keep that bat-to-ball ability while maintaining this level of power, he profiles as a legitimate slugger in the majors.
Add in the extra years of control and the Reds’ thin outfield depth in the organization, and the case for keeping him gets even stronger. For Cincinnati, Bleday looks a lot more valuable in uniform than he would be in a trade package.
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The Reds have been looking for more depth behind the plate now and beyond, with Tyler Stephenson moving closer to free agency and the internal answers still not looking like starting-caliber solutions. O'Hoppe fit the profile of the sort of catcher Cincinnati could use, which is why a trade like this lands as more than a transaction elsewhere. It is another deadline-era signal that help at that spot does not stay available for long. [Read more 🡒]
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When the Reds summoned Edwin Arroyo in June, the move made sense as a short-term answer with Elly De La Cruz sidelined. Arroyo got thrown into a tough spot, learning on the fly at the major league level while trying to help stabilize the infield, but the longer this has gone on, the clearer it has become that Cincinnati is facing a decision it can no longer keep kicking down the road.
Matt McLain is nearing the end of his rehab assignment and has looked sharp enough to make the next step feel inevitable, especially with his glove at second base giving the Reds a steadier option. Arroyo, meanwhile, has struggled to make much of an impact in either phase of the game, and once McLain is ready, the club will have to decide whether to keep riding with the rookie or send him back to Triple-A Louisville and reset the infield picture. [Read more 🡒]