Spencer Steer’s Sunday exit added a fresh wrinkle to a Reds team already sorting through trade-deadline possibilities.
The Cincinnati utility man hurt his right wrist while swinging against the St. Louis Cardinals, fouled the pitch off, and immediately began shaking the wrist before leaving the game. Edwin Arroyo took his place.
Steer has been one of the names circulating in trade chatter, with multiple teams reportedly interested and the Seattle Mariners among them. He’s been a useful all-around piece for Cincinnati, hitting .238/.319/.421 with 16 home runs and 40 RBI while handling both the outfield and infield.
Those 16 homers have him on pace to top his career-best 23, which he set as a rookie in 2023. He is expected to undergo X-rays on his hand, with more information to come once it’s available.
How the Reds handle Steer from here could depend on the severity of the injury. If it’s minor, he can still stay in the trade mix. If it’s more serious, that could change the return Cincinnati gets back.
Tyler Stephenson is another name to watch as the deadline approaches. He’s in the final year of his contract and has been swinging a hot bat for more than a month.
Over his last 30 games, the 29-year-old is hitting .333/.377/.525 with four home runs and 11 RBI. He’s also become a standout in ABS challenges, leading the league in overturns.
Earlier this season, he went 5-5 in ABS challenges, and he also won a challenge that helped secure pizza for Reds fans after the call led to the team’s 11th strikeout of the game. Stephenson has been linked to the Yankees and White Sox, though more clubs could jump in before the deadline.
Brady Singer is also drawing attention. Over his last seven starts, he’s gone 3-3 with a 2.98 ERA, 41 strikeouts, 12 walks, and a 1.02 WHIP.
Like Stephenson, Singer is in the final year of his contract and will be a free agent after the season. The White Sox have been mentioned as a possible landing spot.
Other names in the mix include Eugenio Suarez, Nathaniel Lowe, JJ Bleday, and, less likely, Hunter Greene. Cincinnati has won its first two series coming out of the All-Star break and sits six games back in the Wild Card race. The expectation is that the Reds will still sell what they can, though they may lean toward a softer sell if they want to keep one eye on being competitive in 2027.
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For a club that has spent much of the year trying to piece together its pitching staff, any new scare carries extra weight. The Reds still had to finish the game without Franco, and the bigger question now is whether this latest setback becomes just a brief interruption or another hit to a rotation and bullpen that can hardly afford one. [Read more 🡒]
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Kenya Huggins has had a tougher go of it with the Athletics at Double-A, which is part of the uneven picture the Reds left behind when they cashed in those prospects. Serwinowski and Huggins are both eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter, adding another layer of uncertainty to how those deals will be judged in the long run. For Cincinnati, the deadline haul is still being measured against the upside it gave up, and that evaluation is only getting more interesting as the former Reds prospects continue down very different paths. [Read more 🡒]