Reds acquire 2 relievers in trade with Yankees to boost bullpen

It’s not Craig Kimbrel, but it’s a start. Reds fans have been clamoring for the front office to improve the team’s bullpen, and Nick Krall finally pulled the trigger on trade late last night. The Cincinnati Reds landed relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson from the New York Yankees in exchange for a player to named later.

A corresponding move, of course, had to be made, and Cincinnati chose to designate both Ashton Goudeau and Edgar Garcia for assignment. Garcia surrendered two big flies during the ninth inning of last night’s game and saw his ERA soar to 16.62.

Cessa was a nice pickup for the Reds. The right-hander owns a 2.82 ERA over 29 appearances this season and has 31 punch outs. Cessa’s 38.1 innings pitched suggests the native of Mexico can give his new team more than one inning of relief per outing.

Wilson, a journeyman left-hander, has spend 10 seasons in the big leagues and played for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Detroit Tigers along the way. This season, Wilson’s ERA is sitting at 7.50, allowing 15 earned runs in 18 innings.

Adding Justin Wilson and Luis Cessa is a boost for the Reds bullpen.

Let’s hope that  Nick Krall isn’t done wheeling and dealing, but for now, adding Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson gives Reds Country hope that their bullpen isn’t just a mixture of forgotten veterans and career minor leaguers.

Neither Cessa nor Wilson have any minor league options remaining, and with the team currently carrying 13 pitchers and 12 position players, one more move becomes necessary. It’s a good bet that the Reds will either option Josh Osich or Ryan Hendrix back to Triple-A, though they could also opt to designate Jeff Hoffman for assignment. At the moment, that seems unlikely.

Luis Cessa has two years of arbitration remaining. Thee 29-year-old is earning $1.05M this season and will be due a raise this winter. Cessa relies heavily on his slider, going to his breaking pitch 60.3% of the time. The right-hander also uses a mix of fastball and changeup.

Justin Wilson’s career can be called, perhaps, solid but unremarkable. You have to assume that Cessa was the real target in this deal, and Cincinnati eliminated the need to surrender a top talent in their farm system by taking on Wilson’s $2.3M player-option next season.

Again, this trade doesn’t fix the Cincinnati Reds’ bullpen, but it certainly improves it. With Michael Feliz and Lucas Sims beginning a rehab assignment, and Tejay Antone slated to return very soon, the Redlegs’ relief corps could look very different in a couple weeks. Let’s hope Krall is working on one more trade in the coming days.