Cincinnati Reds: Package back for Tony Cingrani

The Rebuilding Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds have been at a rebuilding stage for a couple years. They have made good by turning most of their veteran assets for younger players. Also, the franchise has 3 top 100 prospects according to MLB.com. Furthermore, this franchise has made recent efforts to acquire as much prospects as possible.

In recent trades like the Chapman and Frazier deals, there wasn’t much wow as fans would like. Albeit that, the Reds were able to nab fast second baseman Jose Peraza in the Todd Frazier deal. The Chapman package was of lesser value because of the off field issues that the hard throwing closer had.

But, Cincinnati still has trade pieces such as Zack Cozart or Raisel Iglesias. It is just a matter of if they could pull a deal off in time. That came to fruition today in their one trade. Other than that, this team was inactive this deadline.  Only left-handed reliever Tony Cingrani was on the move for a pair of players in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor league system.

Although this time the Reds were able to take advantage of the market in order to get depth and youth. They have shown that they are willing to deal and have taken the time to do so. Unfortunately, Zack Cozart is still in Cincy. But we’ll look into this trade just the same.

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The Cincinnati Reds have power on the bench

The first player in the trade was veteran platoon bat Scott Van Slyke. This season, he is batting an underwhelming .122 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. But he has been much better than those numbers in previous years. He has only been at the dish 48 times, which is definitely not enough.But in a crowded Dodgers’ outfield, that is the result.

His best year was in 2014, in which he hit .297 with 11 homers and 29 RBIs. That season, he accumulated a 2.8 WAR on the bench. Slyke is also a good veteran presence on a young team. He is a reliable platoon against left handed pitching, as he is batting .243. Not bad for a team going through a teardown, as they could use a veteran player and reliable pop.

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Catcher that can hit at the dish

The other player in the trade was minor leaguer Henrik Clementina. He is a 20 year old catcher who has mashed in rookie ball. His BAPIP was at .405 also. He wasn’t in the Dodgers’ top 30 prospects, but still looks like an intriguing player.

Here is what Baseball America has to say for the young backstop: ” Clementina is a hitter first and foremost. He’s a slow-twitch catcher with some stiffness to his body. He’s raw behind the plate with plenty of work to do as a receiver.

But he has good hands and hand-eye coordination that give him a chance to hit. He needs a lot of work to clean up his catching and he’ll have to stay on top of his conditioning and flexibility to stay behind the plate.”

Next: This was nice, but remember the Mike Leake deal?

Overall, he looks like the hit tool is there but it will interesting if he sticks at the dish. But the Reds were able to cash in on the relief market and add a veteran as well as a intriguing prospect.  Cingrani wasn’t even on the list of likely trade pieces last week.