Cincinnati Reds mistakenly name Cody Reed fifth starter to begin season

After it appeared that Amir Garrett had won the fifth spot in the Cincinnati Reds rotation, the team names Cody Reed the last starter.

With the rain delay of Opening Day by 24 hours, the Cincinnati Reds needed a fifth starter a full week before they originally anticipated.  After allowing reliever Zack Weiss to break camp with the team, the Reds optioned him back to Louisville to make room for Cody Reed.  Despite the fact that the team had named Amir Garrett the fifth starter, Reed is about to make his start.

When camp opened, Reed was fighting for a middle relief role.  Instead, manager Bryan Price decided to re-open the starting possibility.  Because Garrett could have seen action against the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs, Price wants Reed to start.

That’s right, instead of letting Reed assume his usual relief role Garrett might be asked to pitch in relief.  Only Sal Romano had a better ERA this spring at 3.00 than Garrett’s 3.18 among starters.  Plus Garrett showed flashes of brilliance last season before a hip injury derailed his season.

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The Reds should be happy to have the choice.  With all of the injuries to start the season it is nice to have two starters to chose from.  The rain out also allowed them to re-order the starting pitchers already in place.

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Cody Reed has not yet earned another chance to start for the Cincinnati Reds.

Last year as a starter Reed had an ERA of 31.50.  He gave up seven earned runs in two innings pitched.  He also allowed two home runs and walked five.

By contrast, as a reliever he had an ERA of 1.72 over 11 appearances.  He only allowed a single home run and 14 walks in 15 2/3 innings.  His WHIP was still a bit high at 1.34, but manageable.

In 2016 Reed made ten starts for the Reds going 0-7.  He had an ERA of 7.36 with a WHIP of 1.80.  Those were not sustainable numbers as a starter.

Reed looks good in the majors as a multi-inning reliever.  He is good against lefties and OK against righties.  All that is missing from him being an elite reliever is a little bit of control.

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The Reds need to let Garrett be a starting pitcher as he shown that he can go deep into games. There is no reason to force a pitcher like Reed that looks like a reliever into a starting role.  This is especially true now that some of the other prospects have reached the majors.