Homer Bailey taken out of Cincinnati Reds rotation

The Cincinnati Reds finally moved Homer Bailey out of the rotation, but it’s too little too late.

Homer Bailey is having a historic season for the Cincinnati Reds. Since 1900, no pitcher has ever seen his team go 1-19 in his first 20 starts of the season, until now. The main reason behind this is because once a team finds out that a pitcher is bad, they stop sending him out.

Bailey’s record is going to end there, as the team announced Monday that he will no longer be in the rotation. Rather, rookie Tyler Mahle will start in his place on Tuesday.

This demotion is a long time coming. Homer Bailey is dead last in nearly every major pitching category and isn’t showing any signs of getting better. He’s tossed a handful of quality starts, but his streakiness is concerning for a team trying to find consistent pitching.

Unfortunately, one of the categories he is last in is run support. His record is 1-14, but it probably shouldn’t be. Bailey’s not great, but even when he pitches well, the Reds fail to score runs and help him earn the win.

Hopefully, this time he stays back. In June, Jim Riggleman announced that Homer Bailey would move to the bullpen. That lasted about 3 days. He never made a bullpen appearance and started a week later in Louisville.

This needed to happen months ago

Sending out a 32-year-old that hasn’t been the same since three elbow surgeries does nothing to improve the team. Tyler Mahle got the call and is finally getting to start again after he was sent down to Triple-A Louisville in August. This seems like a good thing, but why did it happen in the first place?

Mahle should’ve been starting this entire time, rather than Bailey eating starts that could’ve gone to him or Sal Romano or any other young pitcher in the organization.

The delay also shows a lot about the “winning culture” of the Reds. The team cited “positive momentum” as a reason to not make big trades at the deadline. A team that truly believes they are going in the right direction never would have let Bailey pitch after May.

Hopefully, Homer Bailey has made his last start for the Cincinnati Reds. He got 20 chances this season and just wasn’t able to make it work. Bailey proved that he can’t perform when he needs to and it’s time to give someone else a chance. There is nothing more he can add to this team.