It was news that first showed up in Baseball America’s minor league transaction log: The Cincinnati Reds released Brandon Finnegan, the 28-year-old lefty who hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2018.
Finnegan was the last player in the organization from the Johnny Cueto, Aroldis Chapman, Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier and Mike Leake trades. The returns from those deals serve as a cautionary tale as the Reds’ front office listens to trade offers for some of their best players, including Luis Castillo and Sonny Gray.
Prospects are called prospects for a reason. It’s extremely difficult to predict which ones will be successful at the Major League level. When the Reds began rebuilding after the 2014 season, they were counting on Finnegan, Cody Reed, Keury Mella, John Lamb, Rookie Davis, Jose Peraza, Dilson Herrera and Adam Duvall to become the next core of their roster.
That didn’t happen.
Failing to net more value from trading key players from their 2010-13 playoff runs was a big blow to their rebuilding efforts. They’re just beginning to see returns from their top picks at the top of the draft – Tyler Stephenson (2015, No. 11 overall), Nick Senzel (2016, No. 2), Hunter Greene (2017, No. 2), Jonathan India (2018, No. 5) and Nick Lodolo (2019, No. 7) – and now their own payroll limitations may affect their competitiveness.
