ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Forget the swinging two-out strike three that got away from Cincinnati Reds catcher Austin Wynns to tie Sunday’s game at Tropicana Field or even Lucas Sims walking in the eventual game-winning run one batter later. The most impactful moment for the Reds’ trade deadline may have happened several hours earlier in the same building.
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The Tampa Bay Rays, who improved to 54-52 with Sunday’s 2-1 victory to take the three-game series from the Reds roughly 48 hours from the trade deadline, sent a setup man to the San Diego Padres for three of the team’s top prospects ahead of the deadline.
Two days before Sunday, even, Rays general manager Erik Neander sat in the team’s dugout at the Trop before the start of the three-game series with the Reds and explained why he’d traded away the team’s most recognizable player in outfielder Randy Arozarena and starter Zach Eflin, who was the franchise’s most costly free-agent signing in its history. It came down to probability, the team played in the most competitive division in the tougher of the two leagues in baseball. With the number of buyers on the market in a wide-open playoff race buoyed by not only three wild-card spots and the optimism of the Arizona Diamondbacks taking the third spot in the playoffs to the World Series last year, the Rays would play the odds and take advantage of the lack of teams selling to move their stock at its highest value.
On Friday, Neander was earning good reviews for the players acquired for Arozarena and Eflin. Sunday morning it was more like astonishment at his deal that sent setup man Jason Adam to San Diego for three of the Padres’ top prospects.
Simply put, it is a seller’s market and the Reds, now in a virtual tie for last place in the National League Central, would be wise to take advantage.
After Sunday’s loss dropped the Reds to 50-55 on the season, the team’s odds of making the playoffs fell to just 4.8 percent, according to FanGraphs.
The team already has a surplus of relievers and will need to make roster moves if the progressions of Ian Gibaut and Emilio Pagán go as expected.
Right-hander Sims and Buck Farmer are free agents at the end of the season, as is lefty Justin Wilson. Right-hander Nick Martinez, who will make $14 million this year, has an opt-out following the season or he can choose to return for $12 million next season.
Then there are those relievers who could be more than a rental, like lefty Sam Moll and right-hander Fernando Cruz.
Sam Moll has a 2.63 ERA through 32 appearances this season. (Wendell Cruz / USA Today)
Last year the Reds acquired Moll at the trade deadline, winning a bidding war by sending right-handed starter Joe Boyle to Oakland. Moll, who was nicknamed “Sammy Spin Rate” in Oakland, has done nothing to diminish his value in the eyes of contenders. Moll has appeared in 32 games this season and allowed just seven earned runs. Of the six hits lefties have gotten off of Moll in 40 plate appearances this year, all have been singles. He’s walked just two lefties and struck out 14. Right-handers are hitting .229/.302/.375 against him in 53 plate appearances. Even with the three-batter minimum erasing the one-batter relievers, there are few pitchers in the game you’d rather have on the mound for a tough at-bat against a lefty hitter. Moll, 32, is arbitration-eligible for the first time next year, so he would come with three years of team control.
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Even though Cruz suffered the loss in Sunday’s game, the pitch that led to the tying run was an example of why teams would want him. With a full count and bases loaded, Cruz threw his split-finger fastball bounced at the front of the plate nearly in the left-handed batter’s box, but the right-handed Amed Rosario swung anyway. Unfortunately for Cruz and the Reds, it got away from Wynns, allowing the run to score.
Cruz, 34, has four years of team control remaining.
Those are just the relievers. Starter Frankie Montas, a free-agent at the end of the season, has value on the market and second baseman Jonathan India is having his best year since winning National League Rookie of the Year in 2021. The American League Rookie of the Year in that season? Well, that would be Arozarena. There has even been talk of interest in the game around Jeimer Candelario, the switch-hitting infielder who has two years and $30 million remaining on the contract he signed this past offseason.
The Rays were coming off a 99-win season and had higher hopes than selling off at the deadline coming into the season, but the understanding of where they are is precisely why the team made the playoffs each of the last five years.
Road draw
As Elly De La Cruz came to the plate at Tropicana Field on Sunday, there were cheers from many of the 19,873 fans in attendance for the game that started at 11:35 a.m. When he singled up the middle for the first hit of the game, those cheers were even louder.
For as many times as Great American Ball Park has sounded like an outpost of Wrigley Field or Busch Stadium, the Trop was like GABP South this weekend.
Over the three-game series, the Rays drew 63,778 total fans, the best-attended series of the year for the Rays even after the team traded its most popular player and best pitcher. The attendance bump seemed to have more to do with the Reds than the Rays.
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Saturday’s crowd of 23,464 was the second-highest attended game of the season at Tropicana Field, second only to the 25,025 that attended Opening Day against the Toronto Blue Jays. Friday’s crowd of 20,441 was the 10th-highest attended game of the season at the ballpark.
The Reds hadn’t been to St. Petersburg since 2017 and will now be coming every other year. There are enough transplants in the area that there are two Skyline Chili franchises in the Tampa Bay area and another near Orlando. The Reds also have a history in the area, using Tampa as their spring training home from 1931 to 1987 with a three-year exception during World War II. The Reds trained in Florida until 2010 when the team moved to Arizona.
55 for 44
De La Cruz stole four bases Sunday, pushing his season total to 55. He’s the first Reds player to steal 55 bases in a season since Billy Hamilton stole 59 in 2017. Hamilton stole at least 55 bases from 2014 to 2017, stealing 56 in his first full season and increasing his total each year by one until 2017.
Elly De La Cruz has his second career 4-steal game 🏃♂️ pic.twitter.com/zKYKLlySjg
— MLB (@MLB) July 28, 2024
A Reds player has stolen at least 60 bases in a season just eight times since the turn of the century, with three of those seasons belonging to Joe Morgan, who stole 67 bases in 1973 and 1975 and finished with 60 in 1976, and another three belonging to Bob Bescher, who stole 70 in 1910, 81 in 1911 and 67 in 1912. Dave Collins stole 79 in 1980 and Eric Davis stole 80 in 1986.
The week that was
The Reds had a winning week, but it felt like a losing one, winning both games played in Atlanta, but having one postponed twice and then dropping two of three against the Rays.
The week ahead
Most of the focus will be on Tuesday’s 6 p.m. trade deadline. The Reds welcome the only team behind them in the National League Central, the Chicago Cubs, for three games. After a day off, the Reds welcome the San Francisco Giants, who are one of the ahead of the Reds in the wild-card standings.
Injury updates
• RHP Carson Spiers (right shoulder impingement) is scheduled to come off the injured list to face the Cubs on Monday.
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• SS Matt McLain (left shoulder surgery) joined the team in Atlanta and St. Petersburg as he continues his progression from surgery. He is scheduled to return to Arizona this week and could start a rehab assignment on Aug. 12.
•LHP Brent Suter (partial tear of left teres major muscle) is feeling good and expected to have another MRI this week to see if he could return sooner than expected from the injury.
•C Luke Maile (herniated disc) could begin a rehab assignment as early as this week.
• RHP Emilio Pagán (right lat strain) threw a bullpen session Friday at Tropicana Field. He’s scheduled to throw live batting practice Tuesday and could advance to a rehab assignment from there.
• RHP Ian Gibaut (right forearm strain) threw a bullpen session Friday and is scheduled to throw live batting practice Tuesday.
Minor-league roundup
• Triple-A Louisville (49-51) — OF Ivan Johnson was promoted to Triple A this week after hitting .235/.352/.417 with seven homers in 75 games at Double A. He made his Triple-A debut Friday, entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and scoring after being walked. Saturday he started in left field and finished 1-for-2 with a double and two walks. Then Sunday as the team’s DH, he went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
• Double-A Chattanooga (30-65) — In his start Friday, RHP Rhett Lowder only allowed one baserunner in six innings, giving up a line-drive single with one out in the second inning before retiring the next 14. When Rocket City’s Sam Brown singled in the second, it was fielded by center fielder Bubba Thompson, the only time an outfielder would touch a ball in play during his start. Lowder finished with six strikeouts, 10 groundouts and two infield popups. While Lowder’s overall numbers in Double A don’t look great, in four starts this month, he’s 1-0 with a 2.66 ERA. Of the six runs he’s allowed this month, four were in his first start of the month and he hasn’t allowed any in either of the last two.
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•High-A Dayton (52-44) — RHP Connor Overton made his first rehab start at Dayton on Saturday, giving up a second-inning homer, one of two total hits in his two innings. He struck out four, throwing 34 pitches, 25 for strikes.
Overton made three starts for the Reds’ rookie league team in May before being shut down and then made three appearances for them this month, allowing just one hit — a homer — and one run over four innings.
• Low-A Daytona (46-47) — OF Ariel Almonte’s two-run home run in Saturday’s game was his 17th of the season, the third-most in Tortugas history behind Ibandel Isabel (35 in 2018) and Aristides Aquino (23 in 2016). It was Almonte’s second home run in a month after hitting 15 in his first 64 games, although he still led the Florida State League in homers by three.
Ariel Almonte ties this game up with a 110-mph rocket to right!
His 17th homer of the season moves him into 3rd place in single-season homers in Tortugas history! pic.twitter.com/rxjBrVXhHT
— Daytona Tortugas (@daytonatortugas) July 27, 2024
While he hasn’t been hitting home runs, Almonte, 20, has put up better numbers. In the first 64 games, he hit .185/.299/.427 in 274 plate appearances. In the last 21 games, he’s hit .256/.352/.436 over 91 plate appearances, including three hits Sunday.
• Rookie Arizona (31-29) — The Arizona Complex League finished up its regular season Thursday. Sheng-En Lin finished as the team’s top offensive player, hitting .308/.418/.419 with a homer, four doubles, six triples and 12 steals in 49 games. RHP Luis Morellis finished 2-1 with a 3.35 ERA in 12 appearances and four starts. Over 37 2/3 innings, he struck out 58 and walked 18.
(Top photo of Buck Farmer: Sam Greene / The Enquirer / USA Today)
C. Trent Rosecrans is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Cincinnati Reds and Major League Baseball. He previously covered the Reds for the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Cincinnati Post and has also covered Major League Baseball for CBSSports.com. Follow C. Trent on Twitter @ctrent
