GOODYEAR, Arizona – After waiting all spring, the Cincinnati Reds have some clarity on the roster status of three players who were waiting to learn if they still had minor-league options.
An arbitrator ruled that right-handed pitcher José De León and left-handed pitcher Cionel Pérez will have a fourth option year and outfielder Aristides Aquino is out of options. It has implications on the Reds’ Opening Day roster because Aquino cannot be sent to the minor leagues at any time without passing through waivers.
More:Amir Garrett looks in mid-season form, Jeff Hoffman recovers in Cincinnati Reds' spring loss
Aquino could have higher odds of making the Opening Day roster as a bench bat because he’s out of options, though he's certainly not a roster lock. He spent most of the 2020 season at the club’s alternate site because the Reds wanted him to improve his consistency as the plate. He’s a power right-handed bat, and he’s been competing in camp for the fourth outfielder spot with Tyler Naquin and Mark Payton.
"I don't think it's going to affect our decision-making very much in his case or any of the other guys," Reds manager David Bell said. "We're still going to make the best decision for our team and what's going to give us our best team on the first of April and throughout the year. We've kind of talked about both scenarios and were prepared for either way. In the end, I don't think it's going to change much in how we're thinking about it."
The Reds maintain some flexibility to keep De León as a starting pitcher, the role he’s had throughout spring training, because he doesn’t have to be on the Opening Day roster to remain in the organization. If De León was out of options, he would’ve likely fit in the bullpen because it’s the easier way to keep him on the active roster. Lucas Sims was out of options prior to the 2020 season and it prompted his move to a full-time reliever. The same thing happened with Robert Stephenson in 2019, too.
Pérez is a candidate to make the Opening Day roster with the way he’s pitched in camp, but relievers with options are valuable from a team’s perspective. When General Manager Nick Krall was asked at the beginning of the offseason about the team’s biggest need, he mentioned shortstop and bullpen flexibility.
“We got stuck a couple of times last year because we had to take a couple guys off the roster who were out of options,” Krall said in November. “We might have played an extra-inning game and/or had a doubleheader the day before.
More:Four burning questions for the Cincinnati Reds' roster before camp ends next week
“I mean, we lost Brooks Raley and Nate Jones. We had to make a move. You don’t want to take certain guys off the roster because they’re helping you in one way or the other, but at the same time, it’s just where you are and you’re doing the best with the guys you have.”
De León, Aquino and Pérez were among a small group of players throughout the league that had unresolved situations with their minor-league options, which was subject to a grievance and an arbitrator’s ruling.
Players who are on the 40-man roster can be optioned to the minor leagues for three years, burning a year once they spend 20 days in the minor leagues. It doesn’t matter how often a player is sent to the minor leagues during an option year, but once a player is out of minor-league options, he must be designated for assignment and pass through waivers before a team can demote him to the minor leagues.
The issue was the way last season was calculated. MLB’s website says, “for the purposes of this rule, spending at least 90 days on an active Major League or Minor League roster during a given season counts as one full season.” Last year’s shortened season was fewer than 90 days.
More:Reds notes: Could infielder Max Schrock make the Opening Day roster?
Teams awaited the arbitrator’s ruling all spring because it does have implications on Opening Day rosters. Other out-of-options players the Reds lost on waivers (or traded before they reached waivers) last year include outfielder Phillip Ervin and pitcher Cody Reed.
CRACKING DOWN? Major League Baseball sent a memo to teams Tuesday that it plans to further enforce the rule that prohibits pitchers from using a foreign substance.
It’s not the first time MLB sent a memo about cracking down on foreign substances, but there are some changes coming this year:
- There will be compliance officers monitoring for violations in the dugout, clubhouse and bullpen.
- Baseballs will be submitted to the Commissioner’s Office, which will partner with a third-party lab, to conduct tests for foreign substances.
- The Commissioner’s Office will review Statcast data to analyze changes in spin rates, which could signal new use of foreign substances.
Former Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer estimated that 70% of pitchers used foreign substances in an interview with HBO’s Real Sports last year.
“It needs to be talked about more because it affects every single pitch,” Bauer told HBO Real Sports, “and it’s a bigger advantage than steroids ever were. If you know how to manipulate it, you can make the ball do drastically different things from pitch-to-pitch at the same velocity.”
Bauer, who won the National League Cy Young last year, saw drastic improvements with his spin rates last season.
GRAY PROGRESSING: Sonny Gray threw about 40 pitches in a bullpen session Tuesday. He did put a black brace or heating pad around his back after he finished throwing.
He's expected to begin the season on the 10-day injured list after an MRI showed mid-back muscle soreness earlier this month. He has yet to pitch to hitters since his setback, but he's scheduled to throw another bullpen Friday.
"The fact that he has another one scheduled Friday, that’s a great sign," Bell said. "He recovered well."
Source link
