Cincinnati Reds can afford to bring Cody Reed along slowly after disastrous 2016

The Cincinnati Reds had high hopes when Cody Reed arrived, but there is no reason to rush him back to the majors after his bullpen stint is over.

When the Cincinnati Reds traded Johnny Cueto in 2015, they thought that the best player they were getting back was Cody Reed.  Brandon Finnegan projected as a reliever and John Lamb as a swing man.  Since then, Finnegan has established himself as an MLB starter and Lamb has been sold to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Last year when Reed made his MLB debut, it did not go well.  Cody Reed only became a professional baseball player in 2013.  The only season in which he has looked elite is 2015.

In 2015 Reed played for three different minor league teams going a combined 13-9 over 23 starts.  He also had 3 relief appearances in High-A ball when he was still part of the Kansas City Royals organization.  Each of his ERAs from these three teams was under 3.25.

In the two years before 2015 Reed has ERAs of 5.46 and 6.07.  He made a combined 25 starts and pitched in an additional 9 games.  He went 3-10 and pitched a combined 113 2/3 innings over those two seasons.

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Last year Reed went 6-4 over 13 starts with Triple-A Louisville.  He had a 3.08 ERA with 65 strikeouts over 73 innings.  Once he made his debut with the Reds he had a 7.36 ERA losing seven games in ten starts.

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The Cincinnati Reds shutdown Cody Reed early due to an injury and need to ease him back into the fold.

The Reds have a bad history of rushing pitchers back from injuries.  Just last year, Homer Bailey, Anthony DeSclafani, Raisel Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen all experienced setbacks when coming back from injuries.  Granted the injury only pushed Iglesias back a week, but Bailey and DeSclafani each missed about half of the season after being declared healthy during spring training.

Aside from that the Reds have plenty of young pitchers that can cover spring training innings and have earned a big league chance.  As it stands now, Amir Garrett and Rookie Davis began the season in the  Reds’ rotation.  That leaves Tim Adleman, who started five spring training games, and Reed as the depth at Triple-A once Reed is doing working out of the Reds’ pen.

Now, the Reds once again see him as the primary chip that they got for Cueto, but they don’t need to rush him.  The difference between his Louisville and Cincinnati ERA last year combined with the injury makes it appear that an injury impacted Reed earlier than they realized.  That may also have caused his form to become disrupted.

Next: The Reds need to decide on a single closer

The Reds have numerous young arms on the team and in the lower minors.  They finally have enough depth to let some of the pitchers develop in the minors.  Reed is one of those pitchers that needs a little more seasoning.