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[Cincinnati Reds]

On Noelvi Marte and the Reds search for outfield help

Photo by Ishika Samant/Getty Images

T-minus 9 days until the trade deadline.

After over 300 games as a professional (and over 2600 career innings spent in the field), Noelvi Marte started a game as an outfielder on Sunday.

He did just fine, albeit in incredibly limited action out there in New York. He fielded the one grounder hit his way that made it through the infield, and he even got to show off his big arm on a throw back to the dirt. That’s surely what the Cincinnati Reds have in mind for him for the time being - to hide him out there a bit, let him get his feet wet, and put him in a position to slowly show them whether corner outfield is something that’s in his repertoire.

It’s a story that’s similar to that of another Cincinnati Reds infielder-outfielder.

Before starting 48 games in corner outfield spots back in 2023, Spencer Steer had logged a grand total of one (1) game as a RF across his minor league career. That didn’t stop the Reds from chucking him out in LF just as often as they started him at 3B that season, leaning hard into his versatility to help unlock a lot of what else they had coming up through the minors to their lineup, too.

That ‘what else’ included Marte, by the way. Now, it seems the Reds may well be giving him the Steer treatment to see just how many spots they’ll have available for other faces as they make their way to the Reds. What, you aren’t buying that they’re merely trying to get Santiago Espinal’s bat into the lineup against LHP?

To me, it seems very much like the first part of a three-part plan, and that being the basic ask of can he actually play RF?

If he can - and I tend to think he can, passably - then the Reds suddenly have the ability to look for another bat who can fill in positions that mirror Marte. If all Marte could do, after all, was play 3B, you can’t really go shopping for another 3B without creating a problem. It’d be much the same if all he could do was play RF, as that would prevent the Reds from shopping for an additional bat who only plays RF as they hunt a playoff spot in 2025.

That’s the second part of this plan, by the way - figuring out how Marte’s ability to play some RF helps them get better in 2025. Ideally, that means Marte still has a spot to play when the Reds go reacquire Eugenio Suarez and install him as their 3B. Or, it simply adds depth all over, and when the Reds go acquire Randal Grichuk to play RF when the team’s up against a LHP, Marte slides back to 3B as a significant upgrade offensively over Espinal.

Marte’s flexibility opens up the Reds search to a much wider audience, for one. It also helps the team’s bargaining power when trade talks begin - no longer to all teams have the ability to leverage the Reds lack of a RHH corner OF when at the table.

Part three of this plan is the long-game. Much like with Steer each year, Marte may well walk into spring camp in 2024 knowing he can play all over the place - and therefore not knowing where he’ll play most any given day. That’s if this all ends up working out, of course, as the flexibility sure would be nice. It would be especially nice when Sal Stewart shows up in camp, too, as a guy who’s much more likely to be a 3B option only than Marte.

The Reds seem to be doing this to not only get themselves a better bat in the lineup now, but to also open up the ability to be a better overall lineup in two weeks and in two years. Let’s just hope it’s the first move that unlocks a series of moves that let’s it all happen.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/2025/7/22/24472361/noelvi-marte-cincinnati-reds-rumors-grichuk-laureano

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

A series loss to the Washington Nationals is a vintage 2025 Reds thing

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

One step forward, one step back.

The Cincinnati Reds lost again to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, the hosting club having dropped 10 of 12 games overall to fall 20 games under .500 prior to the start of the series. Since they lost on Monday, too, the Reds officially dropped the series and now must win in the getaway-day matinee on Wednesday to salvage a winning road trip that once looked so, so promising.

It’s emblematic of this club, really, who has both not yet been swept all season yet never managed to eek more than 5 games above the .500 mark - something they did a blink ago before immediately dropping 3 straight.

Momentum, the single toughest thing to find in the game of baseball this side of Joey Votto, has continued to elude this Reds club. On Tuesday, it eluded them in one of the most frustrating ways possible.

Chase Burns, their electric rookie, had been absolutely befuddling Nats hitters for most of the night, entering the Bottom of the 6th on roughly 80 pitches and having yielded a trio of runs. He’d been lights-out with his slider - he struck out 10 against just 2 walks after eventually exiting. For a rookie whose overall innings cap has been much discussed, the idea of leaving him out there for the 6th at all was up for discussion, let alone after he allowed a pair of walks around a double to load the bases.

Burns didn’t get out of the inning. He yielded a 2-out single that scored a pair after an errant throw home from Jake Fraley bounced off catcher Tyler Stephenson, and the end result was the rook heading to the showers with 6 runs allowed (5 earned) on a night when he was much, much better than than. That’s now twice in his handful of starts where something similar has occurred, the end result being a frustrating end to something that, for a long time, had been so brilliant.

That’s the storyline of the Reds right now, who sit just 2 games over .500, are once again back in 4th place in their own division, and are now 3.5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot (behind each of the Padres, Giants, and Cardinals). They’ve been so brilliant - at times - and keep ending up frustratingly right back where they began.

There’s a part of me that thinks this was Terry Francona giving Burns a chance to learn, to learn to fail, and to learn to eventually get back up after failing. That’s the kind of long-game move that very much will matter to the future star’s development. It’s just hard to be forced to once again endure that kind of marginal difference when this team - all ‘2 games over .500’ of them - is as close to being an actually ‘good’ team as we get once a decade around these parts.

It’s simply hard to stomach these kinds of losses when we’ve waded through so goddamn many that didn’t matter for so long.

This loss shouldn’t alter the Reds direction in the week leading up to the trade deadline. They’re still good, they still have Hunter Greene (and maybe Rhett Lowder and Wade Miley) on the mend, and they still owe it to us all to actually give a damn and try to get better in the next week. They’re close enough to justify it, and they owe us a freaking fortune in goodwill.

It would just be a whole lot easier to demand it if they’d finally find a way to string some positive momentum together, for once.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/2025/7/...washington-nationals-recap-chase-burns-rumors

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Cincinnati Reds interested in an Eugenio Suarez reunion, per report

Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images

Who wouldn’t be? It shouldn’t have to be a reunion in the first place!

The Cincinnati Reds need power, power from the corner infield, and someone who can mash left-handed pitching as the July 31st trade deadline nears. Anyone who’s lived anywhere but under a rock the last four years knows that there’s a guy out there on the trade block who’s still playing on an incredibly team-friendly contract with the Reds name on it who’d be an absolutely perfect fit, both in the lineup and in the dugout.

Eugenio Suarez has absolutely obliterated baseballs for the Arizona Diamondbacks lately, his 36 total dingers this year pacing the National League. And ever since the Reds originally dealt him to the Seattle Mariners back in 2022, they’ve been searching for someone, anyone to replace his production.

You can do the math on how much money they sunk into their options if you’d like. Mike Moustakas and Jeimer Candelario sure made a whole lot more money than Geno over the last handful of years just for the Reds to have dumped Suarez in the first place.

Mercifully, as the Diamondbacks enter a trade season where it looks more and more like they’re going to sell, Suarez - who’ll finally be a free agent at season’s end - has become one of the most sought-after trade chips at the deadline. According to C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic, you can add the Reds to the list of teams who have formally inquired about Geno’s services.

It’s the kind of move for the kind of player where you’d deal first and answer questions later regarding lineup construction and who plays where. We’ve already seen resident 3B Noelvi Marte get some time out in RF, something that would make sliding Geno into the 3B spot a lot more seamless should it materialize.

Obviously, the Reds would have to outbid the entirety of the rest of baseball to land Geno once again. Teams such as the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, etc. have all been linked to the slugger, and names like Chase Petty have been floated by C. Trent already when it comes to the type of headliner this deal would take to even get Cincinnati in the conversation.

Am I optimistic this front office will get that aggressive this deadline? I’m not, though it’s at least encouraging to see that they’re clearly aware that there’s a need (and an urgency) that is firmly in place with this 53-50 club and manager Terry Francona.

Stay tuned!

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/2025/7/...rs-eugenio-suarez-diamondbacks-trade-deadline

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

A new look coming for Red Reporter in August

Our coverage remains the same but with a new look

In just a couple of weeks, Red Reporter is switching to a new platform as part of SB Nation’s network-wide move to a new publishing platform. This will change the look of the site and also make it faster and more reliable on any device you use. This is an upgrade.

When you land on the site, it will look cleaner – less clunky, with more white space, a better ad experience with faster load times – but will still have all the usual articles, analysis, and news by all the folks you know.

Community discussion and content created by you will be more prominent in the new design. The best comment threads will be easy to find, and staff and commenters alike will be able to start conversations whenever they like with a brand new tool.

We’re planning on an early August reveal, so we wanted to give you a heads up. You’ll hear more from us when it’s almost here. The site will look a little different, feel a little faster, and, most importantly, have a bigger role for you, the community.

So, stick around and check it out!

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/2025/7/24/24472146/a-new-look-coming-for-red-reporter-in-august

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Farmers Only Mid-Season Update: How the Top 10 is Faring in 2025

Photo by Maddalena LoRae/Minor League Baseball

A look at how the future of the Reds are doing in 2025.

We’re just past the halfway point in the season and, while the focus has been on the Reds’ and their push to make the postseason, it’s time we check on the minor leagues and see how things have been going for the future of the Reds.

[Prospect Rankings via MLB Pipeline]

1. Chase Burns, RHP, Cincinnati Reds - The Reds’ 2024 first round pick is still technically a prospect, though he won’t be for long as he’s been with the big club for the better part of a month now. After sitting out the rest of 2024 after the draft, he came into 2025 and absolutely dominated the minor leagues. He made 13 starts across 3 levels and put up a 1.77 ERA, striking out 89 batters in only 66 innings of work before earning his call up. He’s had a few hiccups at the major league level, but he’s only going to get better and better with more experience.
2. Sal Stewart, 2B/3B, Louisville Bats - The Reds drafted Sal Stewart with their compensation pick in 2022 and he’s done nothing but hit the ball ever since. He’s had his best season of his career so far in 2025, as he hit .306/.377/.473 to help lead the Chattanooga Lookouts to a first half division title. He’s a player who can do it all at the plate, shown by his 10 home runs and 19 doubles in the first half to go along with 13 stolen bases. That was enough to earn him a call-up to Louisville after the All-Star Break. He’s currently only hitting .208/.208/.333 in Louisville at the moment, but he’s another who will only get better as he adjusts to AAA pitching.
3. Rhett Lowder, RHP, Cincinnati Reds - Still technically a prospect who wouldn’t be if injuries hadn’t derailed his 2025 season so far.
4. Cam Collier, 1B/3B, Chattanooga Lookouts - After starting the season on the injured list with a thumb injury, Cam Collier is having the best season of his career. After terrorizing the poor pitchers in the ACL for 10 games, he came up to Dayton and hit .293/.370/.415 over 11 games. He’s spent the rest of the season in Double-A Chattanooga, where he’s hit .270/.407/.340 across 29 games. His plate discipline has improved quite a bit this year, as he has 20 walks against 34 strikeouts in Chattanooga. One thing that hasn’t returned in 2025 is his power. He’s only hit 2 home runs on the year compared to the 20 he hit last season.
5. Alfredo Duno, C, Daytona Tortugas - After injuries derailed his 2023 and 2024 seasons, Alfredo Duno has finally been able to show what he can do when he’s healthy. Spending his second season in Low-A Daytona, Duno has hit .263/.409/.438 with 8 home runs and 20 doubles. Though he is striking out quite a bit (he already has 74 on the season) he is showing some good patience at the plate for a 19 year old, as he’s walked 64 times so far in 2025.
6. Chase Petty, RHP, Louisville Bats - Chase Petty hasn’t had things come quite as easy as we’d hoped over the last two years. In his first full season with Triple-A Louisville, we’re getting a little more of what we saw in 2024 when he was in Double-A. He’s thrown 67.1 innings across 15 starts this year and put up a 4.14 ERA. Though he’s still striking out batters at a high rate (9.1 K/9 in 2025), the walks are getting him again as he’s walked 31 batters so far this year (4.1 BB/9). He has shown flashes of what we saw in his great 2023 season, as he earned International League pitcher of the week honors back in May with a 6-inning no-hit performance. That was enough to earn him a brief call-up for the Reds, though we won’t talk about those outings.
7. Tyson Lewis, SS, ACL Reds - The Reds’ 2024 2nd round pick is showing why the Reds took him early and convinced him to come play for them instead of going to the University of Arkansas out of high school. In his first minor league season, he’s hitting .340/.396/.532 with 8 doubles, 5 triples, 6 home runs, and 19 stolen bases. His strikeouts numbers are high, as he’s been rung up 51 times against only 15 walks in his 64 games this year but otherwise he looks great for his first professional season.
8. Edwin Arroyo, SS, Chattanooga Lookouts - After shoulder surgery put him out in 2024, Edwin Arroyo is still looking for his power in his recovery from that surgery. In his second stint with Double-A Chattanooga, he’s hitting .275/.335/.361 with 17 doubles and only 2 home runs in 2025. The good news is that he’s still hitting for average, so hopefully his strength at the plate keeps coming back and we start seeing more of those extra-base hits that he had before his injury.
9. Sammy Stafura, SS, Daytona Tortugas - The Reds 2nd round pick in 2023 is in his second stint in Low-A Daytona, He’s hitting .263/.393/.416 this season with 17 doubles, 9 triples, and 4 home runs. His plate discipline is improving this year, as he’s walked almost as many times in 2025 (59) as he did in 2024 (64) in 8 fewer games.
10. Hector Rodriguez, OF, Louisville Bats - He hit .298/.357/.481 with 15 doubles, 3 triples, and 12 home runs in the first half for Double-A Chattanooga. That earned him a call-up to Louisville after the All-Star Break, where he’s 8 for 20 with 2 doubles, 6 walks, and 3 stolen bases in 6 games for the Bats.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/2025/7/...eason-update-how-the-top-10-is-faring-in-2025