Sigh.
Obviously the Reds need a SS. Desperately. They could also use some relief arms and/or a starting pitcher. There's a bunch of pitching still available on the open market, but Krall, Castellini, and the Red braintrust have decided to use Judge Potter as a model and greed their way through the season.
So what's left for fans to look forward to?
The Annual, Ownership Is Full of Greedy Crapheads Who Don't Care About the Integrity of the Game, the Fans, or the Team Beyond the Money It Can Make Them Thread-- AOIFGCWDCAIGFTB$, for short. (I really have to work on my acronyms.)
So who's likely to be available? What teams might be short roster spots?
A few candidates:
Shortstop
We already know Adames and Rosario are in various stages of ready and Story might be. Beyond that, things get murkier.
Boston has three guys signed on the MLB roster who can play SS. Christian Arroyo is out of options and might be available for cheap. (Red management's favorite word.) His OPS+ last season was 95, and Arroyo has a fairly long history of hitting well in the minors.
Tim Beckham had a good season a couple of years ago. He's an NRI invite in Chicago. At this point, he wishes he were Jonathan Villar with the glove, but hey, on the bright side, he's also probably not going to sign for $3.5M.
Matt Reynolds is another NRI for the TLR crew. He's probably not any better than what the Reds have, but beggars and choosers, amirite? Reynolds hit as a 28-year-old in the PCL in 2019. Maybe he had a late-career swing change?
Luis Rengifo might be available in the Angels' minor leagues. His minor league numbers are similar to Garcia's, but he has a couple of levels on him. Rengifo really struggled last year after being jerked around as an on-again, off-again trade piece.
Jorge Polanco might be available in Minnesota. Right now, Roster Resource believes he's a bench guy for the Twins. He's out of options. They may want to save some cash there. He's been good offensively and pretty poor defensively. (Bad ankles, IIRC.)
Tzu-Wei Lin played for Boston last year and put up really putrid numbers, but he was a league average bat in limited innings in 2018. Lin's got some interesting minor league numbers too. He's an NRI who's OoO, and, as unappetizing as he might be, his projections are an improvement over what Garcia might bring in 2021. Yay.
Jed Lowrie, in his last full season, enjoyed an 800 OPS. The one before that too. Of course, that was 2018, so the soon-to-be 37-year-old is well-rested. And grizzled. He was an All-Star in 2018 and is an NRI this year in Oakland. If I had to guess, this is the guy Cincinnati will acquire because why not?
Richard Urena was once a fairly interesting prospect for Toronto a couple of seasons ago. He's still toiling away and is only 24. Kid swings an anemic bat, but Marcel likes him enough to project a 718 OPS. Urena at least has upside.
Domingo Leyba had an outstanding 21-game stint in Arizona in 2019. 30 PA and an 807 OPS is more than acceptable. He's out of options and a non-roster invite in Arizona. He wasn't used in 2020 at all. Still just 25, Leyba's interesting enough to think he might have something-- if he gets cut.
Wilmer Difo was a starter for a couple of seasons in Washington. He didn't hit. That bat is probably available at the end of Spring Training. Yay...? As a SS, he's a fine 2B.
Hernan Perez is a veteran who doesn't hit much, has a bit of power, and doesn't walk much at all. He's Dee Strange-Gordon defensively, so that's not great.
And that's really about it, unfortunately. Any of these guys look better than others? Any you'd like to target?
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Originally Posted by MoneyInTheBank
