The Cincinnati Reds shuffled their roster on Saturday, and the move that jumped out first was TJ Friedl being sent to Triple-A Louisville.
Friedl was optioned along with right-handed pitcher Julian Aguiar after Friday’s game. To fill those spots, Cincinnati recalled right-hander Zach McCambley from Louisville and added Oswaldo Cabrera, the infielder-outfielder they claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees, to the active roster.
Friedl’s demotion is the one that really turns heads. The Reds had already put him on waivers last month, and he went unclaimed.
That wasn’t a shock, given how rough his season has been. Through 91 games, Friedl is hitting .172/.255/.255 with just 11 extra-base hits.
Cabrera gives Cincinnati another layer of flexibility. He can handle both the infield and the outfield, and the Reds now get a chance to work him into the lineup and figure out where he fits best going forward.
Manager Terry Francona was clearly high on him Friday afternoon.
"This is a guy we view can possibly stay here and be on our club next year,“ Francona told Charlie Goldsmith. "The reports on him have been off the charts with makeup; he has played seven positions. We need to see where that goes and what we want to do after we talk to him."
On the pitching side, McCambley is back with the big-league club while Aguiar returns to Louisville. Aguiar had thrown three innings in relief in Friday’s win, so Cincinnati needed a fresh arm.
McCambley, who the Reds acquired from the Marlins for Rece Hinds earlier this season, gives the bullpen another multi-inning option. His results with Cincinnati have been uneven so far. In eight games, he has allowed four runs on 10 hits across 8 2/3 innings, with six walks and nine strikeouts.
One wrinkle with McCambley: he handled righties well in the minors, but the big-league numbers have gone the other way. Right-handers have an OPS of .935 against him, while lefties are hitting just .071 with an OPS of .421.
In Other News...
Chase Burns Is Giving The Reds A Rotation Question Fans Will Love
Chase Burns has already turned his breakout season into one of the most encouraging developments in Cincinnati, and the way he has handled the workload has only added to the intrigue. Reds manager Terry Francona has confirmed the club is monitoring his innings closely, but Burns has kept giving the team quality starts late in the year and now looks poised to reach a major benchmark for a young starter.
By getting to 30 starts, Burns would join Andrew Abbott and Brady Singer in giving the Reds a rotation with real depth at the front end. That kind of production is the sort of problem teams like to have, but it also comes with a built-in question for Cincinnati as it thinks beyond this season: how much more can Burns give before the club has to decide how hard to push him? [Read more 🡒]
Reds Keep Falling Short For One Reason Fans Cant Ignore
Defensive problems have been a nagging part of the Reds identity for a while now, and the numbers have tracked that frustration closely. In the David Bell years, Cincinnati posted very poor Defensive Runs Saved marks in both 2023 and 2024, then made a clear jump in 2025 under Terry Francona, when the club settled into slightly above-average territory.
Even so, the improvement did not last. In 2026, the Reds have the worst DRS in Major League Baseball, a jarring step back for a team that had reason to think the defensive floor was finally rising. For a club trying to turn small gains into real traction, the persistence of those issues has become hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Reds May Be Headed For A Painful Tyler Stephenson Decision
Tyler Stephenson has become one of the more complicated names on the Reds roster, not because of anything he has done wrong, but because time is working against Cincinnati. The longest-tenured player on the team is headed toward free agency after the season, and while the Reds have valued his presence for years, the business side of the sport is now forcing a harder conversation about what comes next.
Stephenson has said he is mentally prepared for the possibility of moving on, which only sharpens the reality for the Reds as they weigh whether to keep a familiar cornerstone or let the market take over. Finding a replacement internally is no simple task, and if Cincinnati wants to keep him, it may need to meet the kind of multi-year deal he figures to seek. [Read more 🡒]