It has been a whirlwind 24 hours for the Cincinnati Reds. On Wednesday afternoon, they entered the ninth inning down 9-3. But they rallied for seven unanswered runs, capped off by a grand slam off the bat of Eugenio Suarez. It was their best win of the season and a bright spot in what has otherwise been a rough season for the Reds. But hours after the game was over, the celebration abruptly ended as the Reds placed Suarez and TJ Friedl on waivers. The two did not even last a day before clearing waivers and returning to the Reds’ roster. This whole situation just shows that the front office is one of the worst in baseball.
There Was a Better Way for the Reds to Handle This Situation
On the surface, there was some logic behind putting Suarez and Fredli on waivers. Both players have been massive disappointments this season, and a large reason why the Reds are last in the NL Central. If a contender were to claim these players, their contracts would go to them. The Reds would get around three million in salary relief if both players were claimed. Having them off the roster would also create opportunity for some of the young players in the organization.
However, this should have been done at the trade deadline. If you were ok with not having these players on the roster, you should have been shopping them. Especially considering you were ok with giving them up for nothing. You should have taken whatever offer a team gave you and shipped him off. That would make much more sense. Sure, whatever you got for them would have been next to nothing. But it’s better to get something rather than just giving up on the players.
Now this creates an awkward tension in the locker room. If you DFA them, then you cut them without getting the salary relief you were hoping for. Something that is big in the minds of the Reds. But do you really want to have two players on your roster you tried to get rid of? Sure, baseball is a business, but these two were probably not happy the Reds tried to dump them. This will create tension within the team. The locker room will grow toxic, and every loss will only make things worse.
It’s just another sign that Nick Krall and the rest of the Reds front office have no idea what they are doing. They already received a lot of criticism for how they handled the trade deadline. They could have been a seller and re-stocked the farm, but decided to stay put. The Reds already have serious questions, and these waiver moves only make it worse. Why would a free agent want to sign with them if they will just put you on waivers after delivering arguably the biggest hit of the season?
This whole situation was just mishandled, and it’s going to hurt the Reds for years. With this front office running things, they will be in the basement of the NL Central for years to come.
