MLB Winter Meetings Recap | Latest Cincinnati Reds Trade Rumors | Chatterbox Reds
๐ Published on: 2024-12-12 03:10:42
โฑ Duration: 01:01:36 (3696 seconds)
๐ Views: 2085 | ๐ Likes: 81
๐ Video Description:
Nick Kirby and Craig Sandlin will recap MLB Winter Meetings and discuss all of the latest Cincinnati Reds Hot Stove rumors. They will also talk about Reds Rule 5 Draft pick Cooper Bowman.
Chatterbox Reds is your home for coverage all season long for the Cincinnati Reds with LIVE postgame shows after EVERY game on YouTube, and NEW podcasts the morning after every game (including weekends)! SUBSCRIBE to the channel and turn on notifications to ensure you never miss a thing!
Join us in the Chat during the LIVE broadcasts, and we will do our best to answer any questions that you might have!
PODCAST LINKS:
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3jlFDPP…
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/733…
Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0…
iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/109483256
Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/chatter…
Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/id5327101?…
Player FM: https://player.fm/series/3450767
DSC COMMODITIES: https://deepsouthcommodities.com/
CALL OR TEXT 988 FOR HELP DAY OR NIGHT: https://mantherapy.org/get-help/national-resources/164/lifeline-crisis-chat
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Nick Kirby: https://twitter.com/Nicholaspkirby
Trace Fowler: https://twitter.com/CBoxTrace
Craig Sandlin: https://x.com/Craig_Sandlin
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cboxsports
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cboxsports/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CBoxSports
The Cincinnati Reds quickly added one veteran starting pitcher in a big trade and nabbed a $20 million free agent in another early offseason deal โ and now look whoโs coming to the annual winter meetings for the Reds to pursue this week in Dallas.
Not that the Reds are anybodyโs favorites to land young Japanese pitching star Roki Sasaki. In fact, theyโre just one of 30 teams in line to make a pitch to the right-hander during the allotted 45-day window once he gets posted by his Japanese team, which was expected to happen this week.
But like Shohei Ohtani when he first came to the U.S., Sasakiโs free agency falls under the amateur acquisition rules because heโs under 25, and that means bidding is limited to whatever teams have in their international bonus pool for 2025.
Japanese star Roki Sasaki pitching during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He is subject to the amateur acquisition rules because he is under 25 and the Reds have one of the eight largest pools of money to acquire him.
Again, the point isnโt that the Reds have enough perks to offer Sasaki to wrest him away from the Dodgers or anyone else from his allegedly desired West Coast.
Reds Golden At-Bat MLBW&W: Is MLB creating Savannah Bananas-like sideshow with Golden At-Bat idea?
Reds Jonathan IndiaJonathan India to Reds fans: ‘You guys always had our back through the good and the bad’
So where does he go from here to fill the roster needs after quick strikes to solidify the rotation by bringing Reds pitcher of the year Nick Martinez back from free agency for the $21.05 million qualifying offer and landing Brady Singer from the Royals in the Jonathan India trade?
Aren’t they done with the rotation after the Nick Martinez and Brady Singer moves?
Yes, with an asterisk named Roki Sasaki. Because the Japanese right-hander gets signed as an amateur, heโll make the big-league minimum in salary with six years club control for whoever lands him for that international pool bonus.
Also: Donโt believe the way every trade rumor is presented. Like that one last week about the Reds being one of the teams talking to the White Sox about Garrett Crochet. The Reds checked in on Crochet before they got Singer; the talks went nowhere; and thereโs no reason to think theyโll re-engage at this point.
The ideal fit would be in the outfield, which is in much more flux than an infield group that includes young All-Star Elly De La Cruz and two key players returning from injury: Candelario and Matt McLain.
โItโs probably safe to say that,โ Krall said. โAt the same time we still need to fill backup catcher. We signed (catcher/outfielder) Alex Jackson to a minor-league deal. But can we continue to improve that?
โWeโre just looking to get the best possible upgrade position-player wise.โ
The Reds are in the market for a power bat, preferably in the outfield, and the Guardians’ Lane Thomas and first baseman Josh Naylor (above) appear to be on the market.
The Guardians are said to be shopping arbitration-eligible center fielder Lane Thomas and first baseman Josh Naylor, both of whom come with significant projected salaries for the Redsโ budget โ along with the player capital cost of a trade. Franconaโs relationship with the Guardians and Naylor in particular might make it seem like a natural conversation. And the Reds have kicked the tires on those guys. But without a clear path for making either fit at this point.
๐ Channel: Chatterbox Sports | Cincinnati Sports Talk & more
๐ Channel Country: United States
๐ Tags:
cincinnati reds,reds,cincinnati,cincinnati reds news,cincinnati reds podcast,cincinnati reds de la cruz,cincinnati reds highlights,cincinnati reds elly de la cruz highlights,chase burns cincinnati reds,cincinnati bengals,cincinnati reds tv,cincinnati reds trade,chatterbox reds,locked on reds,reds recap,reds podcast,reds news,cincinnati reds new manager,reds trade,reds trade deadline,mlb draft lottery,reds draft lottery,reds draft,winter meetings
๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ Transcript:
change in the air to deep right field and the get out of here B he SC oh my God can you believe it Johnny B is tiing it Happ the Cincinnati Reds win the World Series in four straight it was a sweet in the dir it’s a wild P the the P won the game that ball is fair Cincinnati’s ahead two games tonight welcome Joe Rando to Cincinnati Adam gun has done it again Binger backing and calling and the 1990 World Championship belongs to the Cincinnati Reds Mar yes Adam from Milwaukee hey Adam how you doing I’m good how are you good do you think Scott hadberg is a good player G up there with the bases loaded the Outfield deep and around toward right and the 1 oh on the way to the plate swung on Long Drive Great F and this one Bel do their R and a high drive hit back into deep right field Junior has just knocked the door down to the 500 CL def’s first home run as a walk up winner that ball had a family and deight Cruz is oh my goodness look at this kid run my oh my that is a Triple M mcan’s first big league bomb Spencer steer first big league hit is a home run to straightaway center field Joey botto’s done it again the pitch Botto swings high in the air right field yes yes he pointed to the Dugout to say I told you that is Joey bot’s 35th career goahead rivy only Johnny Bench had more as a red and I can’t tell you how much it means to play in front of everyone here in Cincinnati as a red what a gift what a tremendous gift so thank you thank you I think I can speak for all of Red’s country Joey V thank you I left Center feet racing back to the world B the Rams are National League Central Division champion in the air left center field did he he wi the right f j the first round with hold run in the [Music] game you believe it in the air down the White Field lde go the W on a three run home opening day by Ramon Hernandez strike away and outway is Homer Bailey round ball to third fre gloves throw to first and Homer bailing for the second time in his major league [Music] career are you kidding me the player in history to home run in the first 10 game in the air the r wi what a beginning to the career [Music] Bruce how’s everybody doing the winner meetings are winding down we’ve had the draft lottery the rule five draft player signings trades and rumors goal lore of course uh how many of those affected the Reds uh did the Reds make any moves we’ll dive into that and more on this live episode Nick Live on YouTube for those of you that are listening on Thursday morning welcome in as always as well we appreciate you checking it out in the podcast form as well but we are live tonight on YouTube appreciate everybody tuning in uh we’ll do our best if time permits to answer any questions uh from the chat at the end um if there is something that pertains to the topic we’re talking about at the time we’ll do our best to fit it in when we can as well but appreciate everybody tuning in I am your host Craig San joined by my buddy Nick Kirby Nick a little bit of a hectic Wednesday night I know for you but how we doing buddy doing well doing well as always uh you know winter meetings looks like it’s pretty much come and gone I I my favorite thing about the winter meetings is like you get to the end and it’s like this Panic like the season starts tomorrow like this is the roster the reds are gonna have what a reality I mean the major majority of the Red’s moves in recent memory have been after the the winter meetings I mean Nick casianos was signed at the end of January like there’s still two months plus left so take a deep breath um no one else in the L Central has made a single move other than the Pirates Who traded their their at least their best pitcher against the Reds in Luis Ortiz yeah and uh you know it is it is it I don’t know about if you feel the same way way it felt outside of the wand sto signing it felt like a rather underwhelming winter meetings I feel like maybe I’ve had some different uh perspective in the past but uh you know doing this show and and planning for the show uh you know even last week when we were talking about doing it uh was expecting maybe a little bit more hoping for a little bit more to say the least but uh at least on the RS run of somewhat quiet winter meetings um obviously over the course of the next hour so we’re going to get into a lot more details um and talk about you know some more specifics but uh let’s just start with what’s your main takeaway from the 2024 MLB winter meeting so far yeah I I got this sent to me uh a shout out to uh my Pala uh Chris uh k um works for the Reds this was not sent by the Reds but he found this on something and this is a really great illustration if you’re watching on YouTube if you’re not I’ll explain it but the winner meetings are like the start of these discussions it’s where you have a lot of these face-to-face meetings and if you’re watching that that that little blue in the middle that’s when that’s the winter meetings and as you see um the higher it goes that’s the more per day um there’s a lot that happens after the winter meeting so um there’s there could be a lot that happens I know the shinsu chu I believe was maybe like a week after and I assume like the the the foundation was laid was laid there so I don’t I don’t know if it was it’s kind of like an I would say probably an average winter meetings without having a you know full scientific scope on this because I feel like there’s been some that there’s been like absolutely nothing I mean at L this one you saw SoDo you saw freed um there has been a couple trades um there there’s been you know quite a few rumors but it wasn’t as crazy as some other years either yeah well let’s let’s jump into it um and let’s let’s kick started I think uh one Trend that we noticed uh that I want to get your take on real quick is uh a trend that we’ve texted back and forth about a couple times um and certainly I know uh social media has been talking about but the one thing that seems to be uh a steady this winter meetings and even before is pitching’s expensive Nick and uh I know a lot of people want the Reds to go out and continue to add to the starting rotation um there’s been some rumors about maybe the Reds moving a piece or two from their starting rotation but pitching’s pretty expensive and it seems like this year even more so than past yeah I mean when when the Nick Martinez qualifying offer was made I think I said to be honest I’m fine if it goes the other way I’m fine if the r just collect that draft pick and Nick Martinez moves on I kind of think I’m changing my mind and I think I’m thrilled uh that that that Nick Martinez did I would love to to see a conversation between Nick Martinez and his agent because you have to think they they’re regretting accepting that qualifying offer and I mean they were on a time crunch you know they had to make a decision by what was it like November 21st um and uh I I have to imagine they’re watching these these deals go through and going oh man we could have we could have got a lot more so uh I mean that signing just continues to age well every single day um you know you look at uh uh Nathan in that signing I mean solid pitcher but I mean I love the Red’s got Nick Martinez one year and and the Brady singer deal I also don’t think if the Reds would have waited on that that they could make that same deal right now I would think Brady singer’s price would have gone up do you yeah I would have to believe that it would have and you mentioned it with Nick Martinez but that’s one of the benefits of this qualifying offer is that the deadline is put on the player and they can’t extend it out for an exorbitant amount of time they either take it or they don’t you know you mentioned the Nathan yaldi Deal three-year deal I think you got 76 7675 million so $25 million a year for Nathan yaldi and again this is a guy who you know very similar to Nick Martinez in terms of some of the numbers that he’s been putting up so um definitely feels like the the Reds got uh good value out of that and uh and can’t really complain about it there’s certainly going to be more moves to be made and I know a lot of people are wishing that there was more to talk about tonight in terms of moves that have been finalized but still plenty to talk about from the Reds but before we do Nick I want to be sure to share the good word of our friends at DSC yeah as always Chatterbox Reds proudly sponsored by Deep South Commodities DSC is a leader in renewable commodities for biofuel production specializing in used cooking oil collection aggregation and sales please visit www.de southc commodities.com for more information thanks as always to John and his team at DSC of course now let’s get into some more red specific talk I know that’s what everybody is here for tonight I want to hear about the Reds so yesterday uh Nick and clay noden and myself were live uh for the draft lottery the Reds end up with the ninth overall pick in the draft the 2025 draft still a lot uh to be ironed out before we get to that point a whole another college and high school baseball season yet to be played so we won’t dive too much into their prospects and and potential draft picks there at least for several months most likely but uh another draft happened today Nick and that was the rule five draft uh red select right-handed pitcher Brandon comar of the uh St Louis Cardinals and also picked up left-handed relief pitcher Joel Valdez from the Yankees um Cardinals fans seemed kind of upset to lose Kar today um not sure if you saw that on social as well but uh seem to be disappointed to see him go and I mean if nothing else it’s got to feel good to take away a little bit of talent from a division rival and and uh do so while also adding to your uh to your roster yeah yeah absolutely I mean um uh comar I mean not super inspiring numbers by by any means but um you know a guy that that has some talent and you know I think you only pay 224 ,000 for one of these these um these rule five minor league selections which is what comar was and um they have to be in Triple A so there’s a very like small pool of players that you can that you can get from from there that was something I didn’t realize that that also is why there might be some finessing of where players end up in double A or triaa at the end of the year um that that I probably never thought of before um but but C uh Bowman yeah I just realized that I’m a terrible host and skipped ahead in my notes and went straight to the AAA portion of the rule five draft and completely sco skipped over our friend Cooper Bowman uh in the MLB portion of the rule five draft I apologize for that uh Cooper Bowman from the Oakland Athletics uh was added in the Major League portion uh utility man listed as an infielder sounds like he played some second base and some Outfield as well um let’s actually focus on Cooper Bowman before we worry about Kar in Valdez but uh Cooper Bowman from the athletic A’s where do you see him fitting in in in 2025 with the Reds yeah I didn’t have a whole lot of uh notes on the the triaa uh rule five minor league Edition because uh the the chances of those players reaching the big leagues are usually pretty pretty slim so um kind of skipped over him yeah coop Cooper Bowman I mean this is uh an interesting pickup um I I view this more as I think that the Reds really want some some more infield depth um the the Reds do not have a whole lot of infield depth in the upper uh levels of the minor leagues right now so um I think if Cooper Bowman makes the Reds it it probably is more to do with there being a bunch of injuries in spring training uh maybe he could kind of sneak his way into a you know super super utility role if he does play really well um you know in spring training and the Reds like what they see uh but you know I mean look you have to love a guy that that can play as many positions every you know second base Short Stop Third Base center field I mean you don’t have a combination of of you know Short Stop center field second base Third Base uh a whole lot so um you know has some Talent really well at daa um in in 80 games last year I mean that’s a 138 WRC plus has some speed stole 35 bags at 12 home runs so you know certainly some some Talent there but I think it’s more about insurance than than anything else well the here’s what I’m what I’m maybe over reading into it um we’ve talked a lot about Noel V Marte uh this year um we’ve talked about his struggles uh throughout the course of this past season at least the second half of it when he was playing talked about his struggles in the Dominican winter league and ultimately right now what it means is that the reds are going to be left with potentially looking at a guy like Santiago espanol and jamer candelario being your third baseman most likely espanol more than candelario just based on his defensive ability in what we saw out of the two last year but that leads leaves the Reds with a need of a guy similar to Santiago espanol which I I don’t think Red’s fans are going to want to hear because I think they were had higher hopes for the starting third baseman and uh and maybe what that would look like in the future but ultimately if you have to rely especially early in the year on Santiago espanol being your everyday third baseman you’re gonna need some sort of versatile backup player to be able to whether it’s Matt mlan whether it’s Ellie needing a day off whether it’s TJ Fredo need a day off like you mentioned Cooper Bowman’s played all over he can play any of the infield positions he can play Outfield played center field some um so it is insurance but it’s also just that versatile backup and the other piece is that he brings a lot of speed to this team which which we know is something that the Reds have valued in the past and um saw that he holds several records uh in terms of stolen bases and he had a lot of success with that in the minor league so I would expect that there’s a little bit of that as well um in terms of looking for additional threats on the base path yeah I’m reading you know reading through the scouting report on him um from from baseball America it uh talks more about how second base is is much more natural fit uh a solid defensive player there doesn’t really have a great arm which would makes him not a great option for third base and shortstop um but they hadn’t really updated it since he played more center field this season but they actually it’s funny because in the spring they were speculating that he might be a really good fit um in the Outfield because of his speed um and you know they expected to be his ability to cover ground so um it’ll be interesting to watch I’ll be kind of fascinated to see kind of how he looks in in in spring training um but again I view this more as just you know trying to have as many options just in case bad things happen in spring training um I mean you know who would have thought this time last year you know the Reds would have ended up with a situation they were at the end of spring training without the center without their starting center fielder their starting second basement and they starting third basement on opening day so you never know you know really what can happen and uh you know I don’t think Bowman would be an option that you would be thrilled with but you know I think there’s enough there that uh it’s a lot better than you know really having to you know dig deep down into the miners and and also you know you don’t really want to rush Edwin a Royo if you don’t feel like he’s ready yeah that’s certainly another piece of it too I know Edwin Royo showed out pretty well in the Arizona fall league that they’re really high on him but this is also a guy who was in doublea uh last year and so you know he’s got some progression still to go before they’re ready and like you said that you look at the Red’s top prospect list and there’s really not anybody at Triple A or at the upper levels that would expect to be able to fill in that kind of infield role so um unfortunately for the Reds a majority of their top prospects right now are down in the rookie ball or a ball so still a while away so you’re going to need some guys to fill in for the next year or two potentially before those guys are ready so uh I mentioned it before it doesn’t sound like we need to spend a whole lot of time on it but during the minor league portion of the rule five draft um the Reds did select right-handed pitcher of Brandon Kar from the Cardinals left-handed relief pitcher Joel Valdez from the Yankees both lower level guys Brandon comar was a double A for the Cardinals Valdez at at high a for the Yankees so uh yet to be seen there um real quick though Nick in addition to the to the three additions that the Reds made in the ru five draft they did also lose a player uh when the Rockies selected shortstop Jose Torres uh what are the Reds losing in Torres uh to the Rockies and Torres was was at one point a highly coveted Prospect one of the a lot of people thought he could potentially be the Red’s future shortstop but just unfortunately never hit at all in the minor leagues um he was a guy that I know Barry Lin really liked and and tried to mentor and stuff and was a big fan of but fortunately he just he hasn’t hit it all um you know seems like he’s a pretty solid glove but you know not anyone that was in any way shap re form in the Reds plans and um you know best of luck to him but it doesn’t really seem like like like that that big of a loss um you know for the Reds but just I know a lot of people wonder and I know the rule five is very confusing in terms of of Cooper Bowman just to kind of explain that real quick the Reds had to pay a $100,000 to the Athletics just the Athletics not Oakland the Athletics only the athle baseball club um and then he has to stay on the 26-man roster the entire season if he doesn’t he gets returned if he makes it through the entire 2025 season Red’s can do whatever they want with him in 2026 so he just have to keep him on for a full year and if he gets hurt that still counts as being on the big league roster so um again I don’t have high expectations for him but I also don’t think this is a nothing Burger either kind of that’s kind of where I’m at yeah the Reds I mean I don’t know if you have any history on this but I it doesn’t feel like the reds are a team that are gonna just burn money on a guy unless they actually believe that he has a role with the team obviously sometimes it’s a little bit of a roll of the dice and if you get to spring training and it nowhere near where you want it it’s not a super expensive thing but the same time the Reds uh not one of those teams that go out of their way a whole lot to uh you know take risky moves I guess is the best way to put it um real quick want to acknowledge Sean kutka uh with a $5 Super Chat uh we’re going to get to to this in a little bit but uh Reds need to partner with goodear tires with all the tires that were kicked this week well like Nick showed earlier on kicking the tires now leads to deals in the next 10 days so if you looked at that graph that he showed earlier there was a lot of movement in the in the 10 days after the winter meetings because of the conversations that happened during the winter meetings so certainly understand the frustration and uh the end of the day more tires will be kicked more rumors and names will be thrown around I promise you that uh and as always Nick and I will be here to cover those uh but Nick before we move on to the rumor mill I want to tell everybody that it’s okay if you’re not okay yeah uh as always um we are proud to partner uh with the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation uh 988 which is always available uh anytime that you need it uh the 98 suicide and crisis Lifeline um is there for support for anything related to mental health whether it’s an immediate crisis simply wanting to find out how to connect with care or anything in between it’s 100% confidential secure and Anonymous way to reach out for help when you don’t know where else to turn to connect call our text 988 or visit mantherapy.org to get help yeah and before we continue uh Chad again if we have any questions feel free to drop them in the chat we’ll do our best to get to some of them at the end we can kind of favorite them on our back end here to be able to come back to them later so uh feel free to drop them in as you think of them uh but you know the kind of just talked about it with that Super Chat the winter meetings are always an active time in the rumor mill uh this week no different the Reds were tied to a few different different players of interest in quote unquote kicking the tires on them and uh I want to kind of go player by player on some of these names get your take on the rumors how legitimate they may or may not be if you were the GM are they names that you would be pursuing uh would you P prefer that the Reds passed on these players I’m sure like always it’s going to be dependent on the price tag but uh we’ll get your thoughts Nick and and first I want to start with the report from Joel Sherman today of the New York Times uh that Reds checked in on starting pitcher Nick pavetta yeah interesting I mean it seems like the reds are still trying to get their hands on any pitches or at least be on the conversation for for anyone still seems like a long shot the Reds would land Peta I mean he’s a solid pitcher uh very similar like numbers the last three years four years to Brady singer and um you know I’ve said before you can’t have enough of those type of arms leads me to a couple trains of thought number one could be are the Reds trying to get another picture because they’re trying to capitalize on this market and they want to trade one of their young controllable starters for a bat or number two is there something we don’t know about the current pitchers uh do the Reds uh think that nickol loolo there’s something going on there um and I’m just fully speculating trying to make sense of this I don’t know anything you know so I’m not trying to say nicolo’s toast or anything please don’t take it for that but could there be something there could could the Reds say hey we think we might have to move Nicolo to the bullpen which I would not be a fan of but it could become a necessity if if if they think it’s better the best way for him long term and he’s not going to be able to um you know stay healthy or it could be any of the other ones there could be something else that we don’t know um the Reds certainly aren’t going to you know be broadcasting during the off season that one of their starting pitches you know they’re concerned about um that’s not really the way this works so I I think it’s probably you know one of those those two things is is kind of the the the truth here but again you can you can never have too much pitching I I would much rather the Reds be on the um cautious side of having enough pitching and go too far overboard on that than the offense which I know most people disagree with I I just don’t think the Reds can just go find bitching they can you can find hitters you can find some offensive players and the Reds have a lot of options they may not all be great options but they have a lot of different players that um if you gave playing time to you know have a chance to to to to mature into something so um yeah I’m all aboard the get as much pitching as possible train well I think you know we saw interesting quotes from Nick crawl over the last couple days and uh one of them was you know basically there’s been a lot more conversations about trades than there have been about signings and the other piece is that a lot of those trades are leaning to be major leager for major leager uh not so much Prospect for for major leager has been major leager for major leager so you know if the rumors are true that the reds are interested in making a trade for either of the two Guardians players that were discussed the other day it may mean having to give up someone like Nic loolo or Andrew Abbott or somebody else from the rotation that uh would ultimately need to be filled and maybe they just want to fill that role before they move forward with with the trade we saw uh Santiago espanol was announced his signing the same day that they traded away Jonathan India uh not saying that they were related or they weren’t but you know ultimately Nick craw’s a really smart guy and probably puts in a lot of time to make sure that uh he’s got his backup plan in place before he moves forward with something yeah I would not be shocked if the Reds have had conversations that if we can land another starting pitcher would you be interested in this pitcher and they almost have you know something that that’s you know almost a handshake agreement that if we can find another pitcher you would trade this player for for this player um but I think you’re seeing a lot of these you know trades of of POS of big leager for big leager because teams just value prospects more than they ever ever at any point in baseball because it seems like the Dodgers started realizing oh yeah these prospects are worth a lot you know spending money is great but man when you spend money and you have all these prospects you can really maximize your team so um I know everyone just wants the Reds to go out and you know make these moves and and trade whatever prospects because they’re sick of losing I’m sick of losing too but that’s what the big Mark of teams want you to do they are begging teams like the Reds blow up your farm system because guess what when you’re far when it runs out your little window you’re screwed you’re you’re toast that that’s why teams like the Guardians continue to win year after year after year because they’re very they’re they’re very patient and their fans get frustrated with it but I don’t know I would much rather take what the Guardians have gone through than maybe a one-year Miracle run of the World Series I just put it on the screen but Adam G in the chat said at some point the Reds have to take a risk prospects should be viewed as assets not as players I think there’s certain level of Truth to that but there’s also a certain level of the fact that those prospects can and should be part of your future mix I don’t think they have to be relied on to be the cornerstones in everybody that you rely on in the future to build your roster but you also can’t completely wipe out your organization and be left with nothing because then all of those prospects you gave up for one or two players guess what you have nobody left in the in the farm system and even though there’s a lot of talent in this farm system it’s not at the higher levels right now and so there’s going to be a certain level of time before those guys are ready that’s the challenge right is the patience piece of it and how how long can you be patient before at some point you have to put a winner on the field and obviously you know you make the move with David Bell at the end of this past season Nick crawl I would imagine has to be feeling some level of of pressure to to get things done I know he’s very well respected and I think ownership likes likes him but at the same time something has to give and so there’s got to be a little bit of give and take and that’s the challenge is finding that right balance right so you you have to find the balance of having the prospects in the pipeline to be able to fulfill your roster while also having the core pieces around it and whether that’s acquired via the draft and you know homegrown or via trade you still have to have them so you know we we’ll get into some of the the questions from the chat in in a little bit about uh potential trades or otherwise but uh just to stick on the the topic of names that the Reds have been tied to um John hus put it in the chat the choices are dwindling for backup catcher they better sign MCC or Diaz quickly and quit fooling around this is a no-brainer get the catcher um earlier this offseason the Reds did sign Alex Jackson uh to their roster um he is on the 40 man I believe or will is expected to be on the 40 man um my opinion is that there’s still in need of a backup Catcher And and James mccan was a name that jumped off the screen to me early on in the free agency process when I was looking at who might be a fit um would love to see what that package has to look like in order to make it happen for him um we’ve seen some catchers get some decent deals over the last couple weeks so I don’t know what a James mccan price tag might look like but what’s your take on McAn and what’s a price tag that you’d be comfortable bringing him in at I hate spending money on backup catchers like I I I fully believe there’s a massive importance to it but man just like throwing money to have someone that plays once a week it’s kind of kind of brutal um and most of them don’t hit a lick either so I mean James McAn is fine um 2022 taught us that you can’t just throw who ever in as a catcher because it can get really ugly when you have catchers that have no business being in the big leagues when you see pass ball after pass ball and um you know all that kind of stuff so yeah I mean James mccan is an option um I mean they’re they’re also let’s not forget the Reds could also trade for a backup catcher too at any point um you know so that that’s always going to be an option um as as the the season as the offseason goes on there also could be situations where uh a team runs out of 40 man roster spots at some point and they drop one of their backup catchers that are on the 4man roster I mean that happens all the time you know as as teams are filling out the roster so I I don’t necessarily think it’s as dire of a situation as I think some other folks might might view it right now because I still think you could you could you know go get something at any point um but yeah I mean it’s definitely something to to monitor but I don’t know it it’s it’s backup catch has always put my my brain in a pretzel in terms of how much I want to spend because it just feels so wasted but I know it’s not well I mean that’s the question though right and we had this conversation earlier in the offseason is what’s a realistic goal for Tyler Stevenson I mean you brought up the idea of playing you know once a week or whatever but if Tyler Stevens is a guy that you want to build around and I realize that that means that you probably don’t want to have him playing you know 50% of the games but you also don’t want him to be playing 90% of the games in this past year he played 120 games as catcher um so first of all that means that you’ve got about 25% of your games that are covered um actually higher than that 25% of your games that are covered by a backup catcher in that scenario where last season Tyler Stevenson played 120 but that was also a season where your backup catcher was Luke mey batting 146 or whatever it was for most of the season and taking you know him in the lineup was such a step back if you have a quality backup catcher is that number closer to 100 is it closer to 110 like what is that number realistically look like for Tyler Stevenson being your starting catcher he made great strides this uh the previous offseason defensively to where I felt more than comfortable him being behind the dish for 120 games and I know there’s catchers out there like JT real Muto who will go 150 games behind the dish without any issues I just don’t know that that’s what the Red’s plan is for Tyler Stevenson so what is what’s a realistic expectation in your eyes for 2025 Tyler Stevenson and what this backup catcher may have to fill I don’t think you want to go much more than 120 there’s very few catchers across baseball that that do um a team like the Dodgers like look at Will Smith’s usage he’s been a guy that’s pretty much stayed healthy and I don’t think he’s gone more than like 115 120 so I don’t think you want to push Stephen s more I was surprised how often he caught last year I was very surprised how how how big he he leaped to um but I’m not completely against if you get towards the end of spring and you resign Luke mey I know he was terrible last year but Luke Bailey out hit James mccan in 2021 in 2022 and in 2023 all three years like he was really bad last year but is the tradeoff of paying Luke mey $1 million or James mccan $7 million is that really worth it when you think of okay could I go get a really a solid reliever with that $6 million difference that’s where you have to wait backup catches are almost like Craig you know better me almost like a backup quarterback in the NFL like it’s great to have but are you gonna need it it’s one of those things like if you need it man you feel great that you went and got your a really good backup quarterback if you don’t they just sit there waste it all year right well I don’t know about that I I disagree with that comment a little bit I view so here’s where I’m at I view and this is kind of doing a little cross cross motion hey by the way jedar box Bengals will be live tomorrow night and uh but um I view it more like your third wide receiver where you know you’re going to use them but the ideal situation is that you don’t use them more than x percent of the time right like Andre yosias is in the game plenty and he gets plenty of run but if you have to throw to him you probably have an issue and if you have to throw to him 20 times you definitely have an issue and if he has to step up and be your number one or your number two you’re dead that doesn’t mean that Andre Yoshi BOS is a bad number three but he certainly can’t be your number one or your number two and it’s same thing with this like your backup catcher you have to be comfortable enough to use him to save Tyler Stevenson you don’t want he’s not GNA just sit and rot on the bench like Jake Browning does this year right but at the same time if if you have to rely on on him to be if if you had to rely on Alex Jackson to be your 120 game catcher next year I don’t think anybody would happy with that yeah James MCC James mccc’s not going to be a a great well James MC’s not that answer either way yeah yeah like I mean look look at this guy’s numbers I mean 78 WRC plus 57 77 89 the last four years like he’s about an instant out too uh so he’s not that much better so I don’t I don’t know I mean for for me with the backup catcher this is why it’s so hard I honestly would rather just have the guy that is Elite defensively or not has be elite but really good defensively that works really well with the pitching staff because most of these catchers they numbers like fluctuate year after year they’re almost like um relief pitchers right how we kind of see it’s a crapshoot if Ian Jabo is gonna have a good year or a bad year like that’s almost like how backup catchers are offensively because like it’s that’s not even most backup catchers that’s not even really their primary focus it’s calling the game and working with the pitching staff so so that and you can look at all the the numbers on on Fielding defense and stuff but when you’re you’re trying to find like what is James mccan R out in statcast well he’s only played you know 6170 and 66 games so they’re all pretty small samples so for me I would just want the Reds to go get someone that they know is going to work really well with the pitchers that is going to call a good game that’s not gonna screw anything up like like it’s more of a don’t screw up position for me than trying to find something great now ideally you’d have a system with multiple catchers that you can just call up that that have some offense and that’s where I hope the Reds get into a a much better flow because they have not done a good job developing catchers outside of Tyler Stevenson um over the last few years um and they they got to get better with that they’ve had so many like like Matt Nelson is just not not cut it Daniel vein a lot of people thought he was you know going to be pretty solid um um Michael Trot wine had a really just brutal year um offensively they’ve got to be able to pump some better ones out of that just because honestly I do feel like a lot of times it’s a wasted amount of money you’re spending on on a guy that sits on the bench you know eight out of 10 games well for context yesterday the orial signed Gary Sanchez we signed him to a one-year $8.5 million contract uh now Gary Sanchez is coming off of a year where he caught um 89 games for the Brewers hit 11 home runs but hit 220 307 392 slash line with uh seven doubles 37 RBIs and 30 runs scored knowing that Gary Sanchez signed for one one year eight and a half million what’s a price tag for a guy like James mccan gonna look like in your eyes I don’t know it’s so like Austin hedg just got what $4 million dollar like the worst hitter in the history of the sport I I have no idea I have no idea Craig if you told me James mccan signed for $2 million like okay told me James mccan signed for seven million i’ be like okay there it’s so hard to predict what what catchers get and again it’s because there’s not really good statistical numbers for their defense all these teams have like their internal evaluations that I think we into how much they get so um yeah I don’t know I don’t have a good answer for you on that I’m sorry it’s all good Austin haded just one year $4 million to return to Cleveland so um yeah interesting nonetheless uh certainly will be something that the Reds and Red’s fans will be tracking uh as we head into spring training because again I I don’t think they’re done at the catcher position and I think that’s the real piece right like I I don’t think they’re done right worst case scenario they’re going to bring someone else in on a minor league deal that has caught in the big leagues that worst case scenario that’s what they’re going to have I I think they probably bring in another Major League catcher um and ultimately I wouldn’t Ru it past it end up being Luke ba at the end of I’m sorry you and you and Luke meley um I hope he h 10 home runs next year Could Happen um yasmani grandall didn’t sign yet did he no I tell you who I I tell you I would love uh one one thing that I do kind of like about backup catchers if you’re trying to like sneak some extra value is you go find one that maybe is a terrible hitter but hits lefties well and you can have him like pinch it that’s like what Gary Sanchez did I know Gary Sanchez didn’t have like these these big numbers but when you had a team like the Brewers had a lot of left-handed batters Orioles are the same thing they have a lot of left-handed batters they’ll probably use Gary Sanchez a lot as a DH against lefties maybe to pinch hit and so they’ll get some extra value out of that um I don’t think grandall grandall is a switch hitter I can’t remember if he has like one big splits one way or the other he’s like dead even too um so yeah I mean that that would be gal’s been terrible in sties the last three years he had some great years early in his career so but that’s that is one other thing that you could maybe find a little extra juices if you could find that that fit that does you know hit lefties well names remaining on the free agency list in the catcher position James mccan who we just talked about Luke meeley yasmani grandall all we’ve discussed other names Kurt Cali still on the free agent Market Ellas Diaz uh is still on the market from the Padres Carson Kelly is a guy that know you’ve brought up in the past I believe uh and then our friend Tucker barnhard is uh is a free agent I know they brought him in at the end of last year uh at Triple A and and uh Martin Maldonado is listed as a unrestricted free agent for right now so uh unless any of those names stand out to you we’ll move on to the next name uh anything you want to touch on with those catchers Elias Diaz would be nice I feel like he’s a guy that maybe there is some upside there but again it’s it’s that Balancing Act of you want to spend you know five six million for Diaz or do you want to be a little cheaper and go get yourself a really good reliever it’s a tough call if Tyler Stenson gets hurt you’re gonna be thrilled that you spent that six or seven million dollars he stays healthy all year you’re gonna wish you had that extra reliever yeah um interesting point in the chat um Luke meley was on the 2022 Cleveland baseball team so could be a potential reunion there with Terry Frank cona uh another name that the Reds were tied to officially on the move today Chicago White Socks trade Garrett crochet to the Boston Red Sox so crochet switching the colors of his socks uh the Red Sox send back catcher Kyle teal outfielder Bron Montgomery along with two other minor Leaguers Chase midro and Wilman Gonzalez I apologize if I didn’t pronounce those names right gotta be honest don’t know who you are uh but Kyle teal and Bren Bren Montgomery both uh at or near top 55 prospects in the MLB seemingly a pretty good haul for the white socks yeah I would be estatic if I was a white socks fan you had Garrett crochet who was a career reliever up until last year they start him on opening day last year and get made fun of Garrick crochet is your opening day starter you’re having your your middle reliever be your opening day starter and of all the bad as everything is godone for the white socks that is one of the bigger organizational wins to then flip him for for that kind of hle um crochet is an incredible talent but man there is no way I would want to be giving up that much for a guy that’s only had one year as a big league starter didn’t go deeper than four innings in any start after June I think he only ended up what 140 150 Innings at the end of the year he’s only got two years left so I mean you know he’s had a lot of injuries he’s going to be trying to get get over that hump as we’ve see so hard with pitchers getting over that hump of like 140 to 180 Innings man he gets hurt one of those two years I mean that’s it that’s it I mean the the Red’s closest equivalent and it’s hard to really give a fair equ equalent because the White Sox made it clear they wanted hitters and every farm system and what you’re looking for is different but just going off the prospect rankings this would be like the equivalent of giving up Chase Burns Edwin aoya Ricardo Cabrera and like Mike soda for two years of a pitcher that’s again that’s what the big markets want you to do they want the Reds to make those kind of deals um the Red Sox I mean I saw them getting praised for this on on MLV Network earlier and I’m just like man all the national people they love to praise these deals when they happen but the reality is half of them at least like they don’t end up panning out well um I don’t know I’d be throw if I was a white socks fan is all I gotta say throw with that throw with that one part of their organization yeah it’s interesting Kyle teals is is a name that has been high on people’s list for a long time maybe not a long time but for a couple years now it always seems to be the guy whose name is brought up as the Cornerstone of any deal uh that the Red Sox are being involved in if it’s for a high-profile player interesting that Garrett crochet is the man that eventually gets the Red Sox to move Kyle teal um a little surprised to see them uh include Kyle teal and Braden Montgomery in that deal like I mentioned before uh both top 55 MLB prospects Kyle teal would imagine was on on Pace to become their Major League catcher in the next year or so um so interesting nonetheless and uh and we had a question earlier um in the chat that I’ll I’ll get your quick take on uh just in terms of how the Chicago White Socks view prospects and their players uh after seeing what it took to get crochet what do you think the asking price is for lubob uh according to Ryan Carroll it would have to be less right it better be Les I mean the guy’s making $55 million I mean G cruset is making pennies compared to that I think I don’t know what his arbitration estimate was but it can’t be that high because he hasn’t really pitched um yeah I mean Robert’s probably one decent Prospect is probably all you’d have to give up again I just have no idea why the white socks would trade Luis Robert right now unless some team get overpays for it him why would you not just hold on to him see if he can have a good two months reestablish his value and try to trade him at the trade deadline I I don’t I don’t really get get why they would be in a rush to move him um I don’t know I’ve talked about I know Clay was really high on him yesterday just that’s it’s a lot of risk to give up a good Prospect for and that would by all accounts pretty much end the Reds off season I mean based on what we’ve read I mean that would be the rest of your money I would just I I’d rather go somewhere else that I don’t have to give up a prospect for fair um not necessarily tied to the winner meetings but the Reds also released their promotional calendar today Nick not sure if you saw that or not but seven bobblehead games including two Ellie De La Cruz bobbleheads 11 fireworks Fridays and three postgame concerts headlined by country music stars Old Dominion and everybody’s 9s favorite train uh any promotions stand out to you Nick as your favorite of 2025 oh Ellie day La Cruz basketball jersey I mean that’s pretty cool I mean there’s zero chance I would fit into that but um but I I bet it looks cool maybe I’ll get it for my uh I’ll have to go get it for my son let him grow into that but that’s pretty cool I bet you’re the big I’m I’m debating is Craig sandin the Margaritaville night shirt or the city connect floppy hat I’m not sure which one you fall under I do love the city connects I’m not gonna lie I got the city connect sweatshirt on today and you can’t see it because it’s backwards but I got the city connect hat on today I do love the city connect look but not a whole lot of opportunities for floppy hats here in uh in Memphis uh I’m interested in seeing once it comes out the Ellie switch hitting B bble head that they’ll be giving away on April 12th is that going to be a dual bobblehead where it’s like him on both sides of the plate or two bobbleheads on the same bobblehead um I think they did that for somebody a couple years ago where it was like one of them was in the field and one was batting or something like that do you remember a dual bobblehead am I making that up yeah there’s a lot of them as a bobblehead connoisseur myself I have I I do not like the Dual bobbleheads I I they they they don’t if you’re if you like to display them they mess up your your like flow uh just I just want I want a traditional normal looking bobblehead maybe you have a little flare to it but the Dual bobbleheads not a fan of not a fan of the Dual bobbleheads all right well I uh I won’t ask you about May 14th we’ll uh we’ll leave that one for the uh for the people to ponder Nick Kirby’s opinion on that one uh want to take some more questions from the from the chat before we move out on uh heiney asked do you think that we’ll see Burns in the show this year yeah if I had to bet on it I would say yeah um I’m I’m gonna set the over under let’s see the last time I did this Ellie De La Cruz I said June 1st 3223 and we were pretty close to that um I’m gonna say July first is my over under for burns but there’s so many factors with Burns a lot more than a hitter um number one is the health of everyone else and the health of him um if he goes and he dominates like Paul SK and the Reds need a pitcher I I don’t think the reds are gonna be overly cautious with him um I think they’ll he’s a college pitcher they didn’t seem to be overly cautious with Rhett louder um they really in terms of pitchers they have not been very cautious overall I mean they’ve been pretty aggressive a lot more aggressive than they they were pre this current group of young starting pitchers we got a question on uh x.com before the show as well that I want to acknowledge and allow them to uh get their question in as well the question was uh basically focused around Bullpen depth and the uh potential need to add to the bullpen I know we’re focusing a lot on the Outfield and some other positions uh starting pitching uh do the Reds need more bull pen Health are they potentially relying on Nick Martinez needing to fulfill some role in the bullpen what’s your take on the bullpen situation as it sits today for the reds man the bullpen is tough because uh you have Zach Maxwell and Luis May that have all the talent in the world to be Bonafide studs in your Bullpen but they both have some some walk issues that that have kind of plagued them I’d love to bring Buck farmer back uh he been just Mr reliable I love that you can always count on him to be available every night seems like he’s liked it in Cincinnati it just seems like a no-brainer for both sides to to bring him back I I would love to get like one more really talented arm but man bullpens are just that’s so fluky and it’s so so hard to predict um you know you know these guys like Alexis Diaz Alexis Diaz turns back to 2023 Diaz I would be surprised Lex Diaz kind of continues to fade off I really wouldn’t be surprised it just it’s really hard to predict these guys and I know you’re a big fan of the comment that I just pinned as well Reds bring back Jacob junis to act as long reliever spot starter especially if Martinez is starting yeah yeah would love love another I would love another like junis junis guy um that that would that would make a lot of sense and buck farmer is also not that far off from a junis type a little bit more pitches higher volume of games than than Innings on a particular night but yeah I mean that that’s probably what I would be more interested in I would love to get one stud but it’s all about how much that cost either making a trade or money and the reliever Market I don’t even really think has been all that established I don’t think there’s been all that many Big Time relievers that have gone so I don’t really know what it’s going to look like all right we’ll do some quick hitting questions here uh we’ll go in uh lightning fashion here uh at this point Graham mashcraft is a setup man right what’s your expectations for gram mashcraft in 2025 right now um I would say i’ I’d prefer him to try to transition to the pen uh yeah I I think that’s my best guess is what they do with him uh give one prediction for a signing or trade by the end of the off season oh wow um not what you want to have happen predict it predict what will actually happen oh you have any more can I come back to that yep what would you offer for Taylor Ward just I don’t know why the Angels everybody loves why are the Angels out signing guys and training trading Taylor Ward like I don’t um Ian I’d give up a decent amount of of Prospect Capital for for Ward I wouldn’t my my Untouchables if anyone cares is Burns um Collier duno who clay despises hates Alfredo duno and his entire family um yeah those are pretty much my my Untouchables so I maybe I’d give up a South Stewart and another Prospect for Ward is there a uh is there a prospect that some people are high on that maybe you’re not as high on that you would be willing to move in a trade sou Stewart’s probably the highest prospect that I’d be willing to move and it’s not because I dislike s Stewart or think he’s a bust or anything I just look at him and I think he’s probably the one prospect that has overperformed and a lot of times when you see prospects that have overperformed there’s going to be maybe some some regression there so I think he’s the only one that I look at and I go I think he might be like right now he’s ranked ahead of Cam Collier on the Red’s Prospect list and I think that’s asinine so if if his value is actually ahead of Cam Coler that’s why I think he might be the the one guy that I’d be willing to trade all right everybody knows and believes that the Reds need to add outfielder if not Lou Bob which outfielder truly fits our needs In Your Eyes Nick uh Max Kepler and that’s probably prediction prediction and I think Max Kepler really good defensive player can play all the Outfield positions um I had um Peter appon he mentioned a Chaz McCormack trade with the Astros uh after I really started doing a deep on him really like him as well give me Kepler and M McCormack not as sexy as a lot of people think but that’d be a right-handed bat a left-handed bat in the Outfield that I think would fit the Reds really well and they’re great defensive players Max Kepler is good another one that I’m seeing a lot of is Randall gruk any thoughts on him real quick yeah he’s sneaky good I um I I was kind of surprised how good he’s been in recent memory uh the only thing with gritch that kind of makes me think he might be unlikely as remember the Reds literally passed on him uh two years ago they they got Bader and they got um Renfro and gritch got passed on so I don’t know if the Reds have changed their opinion on him but their opinion of him two years ago was he was not as good as those Harrison Bader is a sneaky other one that I wouldn’t be completely think I wouldn’t rule out as a possibility of the for the red yeah it didn’t work when this red signed him the first time but defensively he’s he’s really good uh could a couple of AAA starters be moved to the pen lion Richardson Carson spers uh I think they I think they’ll keep spers where he’s at I think spers was really really good and then just I don’t know ran out of gas or whatever uh I think lion Richardson I would say yes he probably ends up in the bull I know it’s early but we’re winning the central this year right who’s winning it if the Reds aren’t great question I never never count out the Brewers I will never I don’t care if the Brewers trade every player on their roster I’m never never counting those guys out ever again um I’m always going to say the Brewers are great um I respect them um I think they’re a beautifully run organization I will never doubt the Milwaukee Brewers again but I don’t know I think the red of is good a chance as anyone last one from the chat Nick Xavier or Cincinnati on Saturday I mean does zavier ever lose this shootout with that we’re going to end it we appreciate you all checking in uh Jacob and I will be live tomorrow night at 7 pm Eastern for Chatterbox Bengals as always Monday through Friday 10 a 10: am through 12: PM Off the Bench with the guys stick around right here on Chatterbox YouTube you will be immediately redirected to the premiere episode of the Cross they’re live they’re live they’re live now go we’re live [Music]
๐ Related Hashtags: #MLB #Winter #Meetings #Recap #Latest #Cincinnati #Reds #Trade #Rumors #Chatterbox #Reds
Disclaimer: This video is embedded directly from YouTube. All rights to the video and content belong to the original creator, Chatterbox Sports | Cincinnati Sports Talk & more. For more details, please visit the original source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzIr2sg0Wco.
