With the trade deadline just days away, the Reds are the kind of team that can get pulled into all sorts of deadline noise. They have expiring contracts, they have players who could draw interest, and they have enough useful pieces that rival clubs would absolutely call.
Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter recently tried to map out one deal every team should make, and his idea for Cincinnati was a big one: send Brady Singer, Tyler Stephenson and Brock Burke to the White Sox in exchange for infielder Javier Mogollon and right-hander David Sandlin.
Reuter’s pitch would have the Reds receiving “IF Javier Mogollon (No. 10 CWS), SP David Sandlin” while Chicago gets “SP Brady Singer, C Tyler Stephenson, RP Brock Burke.”
He argued that “The return here isn't earth-shattering, but Javier Mogollon has an .827 OPS in 59 games and was recently promoted to High-A, while David Sandlin made his MLB debut earlier this year and represents a plug-and-play replacement for Singer with upside,” Reuter wrote.
He also noted that “The Reds would trim roughly $7.5 million from the books if they offloaded the three players listed above, so that will also be motivation to get a deal done.”
On paper, the logic is easy to follow: all three Reds players are on expiring contracts, and Cincinnati could clear money. But the package still looks thin for what the Reds would be giving up.
Singer alone should bring back meaningful value. Starting pitching is always at a premium at the deadline, and there’s no real reason to bundle him with Stephenson and Burke.
Burke has been excellent this season, and he should have value of his own. Rental relievers usually don’t bring huge hauls, but recent moves have shown teams will still pay for help. The Twins, for example, traded their 21st and 29th prospects for rental reliever AJ Minter on Friday.
Stephenson may be the most interesting name in the group. He’s one of the better catchers available, and that alone should give him a market separate from Singer and Burke.
Mogollon is a real prospect, but he’s still just No. 10 in the White Sox system and has only recently reached High-A, so there’s a lot of development left. Sandlin has already made it to the majors and could fill Singer’s rotation spot, but he looks more like a back-end arm than the kind of difference-maker that would balance out a deal this size.
In the end, the proposal has Cincinnati giving up three useful big leaguers and getting essentially one notable prospect back. Even with free agency looming for all three Reds players, that feels like a light return.
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