Jake Fraley DFA just exposed Reds' trade deadline failure

On Sunday, the Cincinnati Reds surprising ended Jake Fraley's four-year run in the Queen City after designating him for assignment. Based on Terry Francona's comments before Sunday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers, there seemed to be some growing resentment due to Fraley's lack of playing time.

The July 31 trade deadline passed almost three weeks ago, but Fraley's recent DFA feels like a failure on the part of Nick Krall and the Reds front office. While it obviously takes two sides to work out a trade, and Fraley had been dealing with a shoulder injury, one would assume that at least a couple of teams would've taken a flier on Fraley at the deadline, right?

With the trade deadline now in the rearview mirror, the Reds will receive no compensation if Fraley finds a new team in the coming few days. Cincinnati's only hope to recoup anything at all rests on the notion that another team submits a waiver claim and therefore absorbs the remainder of Fraley's 2025 salary ($3.1 million).

Jake Fraley DFA just exposed Reds' trade deadline failure

Fraley represented a redundancy on the Reds roster. With Will Benson and even Gavin Lux, Cincinnati had three left-handed hitting outfielders competing for one spot. Once Noelvi Marte made the move from third base to right field — one that's yielded mixed results thus far — Fraley's role on the team became severely diminished.

The veteran outfielder rarely saw time in right field, and it became a heated competition in left field between Fraley, Lux, and the right-handed hitting Austin Hays. On Sunday, Cincy's trade deadline acquisition Miguel Anduajr received his second start in the Reds' outfield.

Fraley is a platoon outfielder in every sense of the word. Never one to find success against left-handed pitching, the 30-year-old could fill a niche for a playoff contender looking for an above-average defender who has a successful track record against right-handed pitching.

Teams like the Cleveland Guardians, Seattle Mariners, or Detroit Tigers, all of whom have an OPS below .740 against southpaws, could all provide a landing spot for Fraley in the coming days. Obviously Reds fans wish him nothing but the best going forward.

Fraley has one more year of team control beyond the 2025 season, and was likely to be a non-tender candidate this coming winter. The Reds decided to get a head start on their offseason roster construction, and now have an opening on the 40-man that could be filled before the month is up.

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