Cincinnati Reds leave Winter Meetings with all of the same veterans that they wanted to move
The Cincinnati Reds were unable to close the deal on any of their Winter Meetings priorities.
The Cincinnati Reds made exactly one trade at the Winter Meetings. They traded the player that they drafted with the second pick of the Rule 5 Draft to the San Diego Padres. The only other moves they made were directly related to the Rule 5 Draft.
The Reds did not find starting pitching help. Rich Hill was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers for a nice amount of money, but the Reds didn’t find anyone. Most of the same options are still available.
The Reds did not get a veteran back-stop to help Tucker Barnhart and Devin Mesoraco. No veteran catchers were signed by any team during the Winter Meetings. The Reds took a minor leaguer in the second round of the Rule 5 Draft, but they still need a more veteran option.
The Reds did not find a new home for Brandon Phillips. Phillips was at the Winter Meetings working for Under Armour. He said that he planned on staying with the Reds. Apparently, the Reds focused on moving players besides him too.
The Reds did not move either of their strikeout artist pitchers in Raisel Iglesias or Blake Wood. After watching the excessive deals handed out to Brett Cecil and Aroldis Chapman, teams want to acquire the pair of relievers. Both will be making about $2,5-million and have multiple years of team control left.
The Cincinnati Reds were close to trading center fielder Billy Hamilton before the ground shifted.
The Reds had no interest in trading Hamilton until the Texas Rangers offered set-up man Jeremy Jeffress for the outfielder. The deal appeared to be progressing until the Chicago White Sox trade Adam Eaton to the Washington Nationals. With one less suitor for Hamilton’s services, the negotiations suddenly ground to a halt.
The Rangers also came to the Reds asking about Anthony DeSclafani. The Rangers are entering the free agent market looking at low risk, high reward left-handed starters, but yearn for DeSclafani’s affordability and consistency. Unlike the Hamilton discussion, it isn’t clear that the Rangers have a good fit for getting DeSclafani from the Reds.
The Rangers also asked about Dan Straily, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. The Rangers have been focusing on first base in free agency, but appeared worried about their rotation beyond Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish. Straily is interesting because he allowed the most home runs in the National League.
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What the Reds did at the Winter Meetings and what they need to accomplish this off-season are miles apart. They flirted with trading Billy Hamilton when the needed to move Brandon Phillips. They need to work hard before the first of the year in order to be ready for spring training.
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