When the Cincinnati Reds play the Colorado Rockies on Friday night, the game will be a team of 25 players against a team of 26.
The Reds placed reliever Tejay Antone on the 10-day injured list before the game without replacing him on the 26-man roster. Before Sunday, the Reds plan to call up starting pitcher Tony Santillan from Triple-A to fill Sonny Gray’s spot in the rotation.
But Cincinnati could be short-handed until Santillan is activated.
“We’re going to be short tonight, and we may be short as well tomorrow, or (Santillan) could get added to the roster tomorrow,” manager David Bell said. “We’re going to see how tonight’s game goes, and we don’t want to make a decision sooner than we need to.”
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Bell said he knew shortly before Thursday's game against the Brewers that Antone needed to go on the injured list. It was too late at that point to put Antone on the injured list, so he went on the IL on Friday.
Instead of adding a 26th player, the Reds gave themselves the opportunity to have one of their Triple-A players available for a longer period of time later this month.
Once Antone went on the IL, the Reds had a few options.
The Reds could have called up one of their players on the 40-man roster in Triple-A. A pitcher like Cionel Pérez or catcher Beau Taylor could have been promoted as the corresponding move and filled Antone’s spot in the bullpen.
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The next step would have taken place before Santillan’s start on Sunday. Bell said there’s a “strong consideration” to bring outfielder Aristides Aquino off the 60-day injured list on Sunday, which would have required the Reds to designate a player for assignment or move a player to the 60-day IL.
On Sunday, the Reds could have promoted Santillan, activated Aquino, designated one player for assignment to account for Aquino’s return and then sent another player down to Triple-A. One of those players on the way out would likely be an outfielder, and the other could possibly be a relief pitcher or the player that could have been called up on Friday.
Then when Antone is eligible to return on June 18, the Reds could have optioned a reliever to Triple-A, and the 26-man roster would be back to normal.
While the Reds didn’t promote a player from Triple-A to replace Antone, there’s a viable reason for keeping the roster at 25 players on Friday. After being optioned to the Minor Leagues, a pitcher must remain there for a minimum of 15 days before becoming eligible to be recalled to the Major League roster.
So if the Reds called up a pitcher and sent them back to Triple-A as Antone returned, that player wouldn’t be eligible to return to the Reds MLB roster until July unless he was replacing someone on the injured list.
While the Reds are technically short-handed, the missing spot is a fifth starter, which would have been Gray’s spot if he were active. If healthy, Gray would have been unlikely to factor into Friday’s game.
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The Reds still had a full five-player bench and a full eight-man bullpen on Friday.
HERE COMES SANTILLAN: With Gray on the injured list, Bell announced that Santillan will enter the Reds starting rotation.
Santillan, the Reds No. 9 prospect, is having one of his best Minor League seasons this year in Triple-A. He has a 2.51 ERA and had 13 strikeouts over seven innings in his most recent start.
“We’ve gotten to know him over the last three years,” Bell said. “The communication between us and the coaches and everyone in the minor leagues, it’s all been really positive. Everyone loves Tony, not only as a pitcher, but as a competitor and (for his) work ethic. A lot to be very excited about.”
MOUSTAKAS TAKES A BIG STEP: For the first time since injuring his heel in May, Reds infielder Mike Moustakas took batting practice with his teammates at Great American Ball Park.
Moustakas hit with first baseman Joey Votto and catcher Tucker Barnhart, and Moustakas displayed some of the power that has made him a regular starter for the Reds. Moustakas also practiced running down the third base line and took ground balls at third base.
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