3 players the Cincinnati Reds should trade prior to the 2022 season but won't

2. The Reds should trade Amir Garrett, but they won't.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. A year ago, Amir Garret was telling anyone and everyone who would listen that he was going to be the Cincinnati Reds closer in 2021. The brash, young southpaw got a taste of humble pie last season and turned in the worst season of his career.

Garrett went from Mr. Reliable, to Mr. Sixth Inning. As the season went along, Reds manager David Bell had lost all confidence in AG's ability to close out games. Heck, the Reds had 10 different pitchers record a save in 2021.

I'd expect a similar approach from Bell this season as well. Upon taking the job before the 2019 season, Bell voiced his desire for then-closer Raisel Iglesias to be the team's "bullpen ace". Bell wanted the ability to deploy Iggy when the game hung the balance, whether that was in the ninth inning or not.

That thought process didn't jive too well with Iglesias who was critical of his manager's handling of the bullpen. Iggy was eventually shipped to the Los Angeles Angels and the self-proclaimed closer, Amir Garrett, was ready to take the reins.

The problem was, AG put up a career-worst 6.04 ERA over 47.2 innings of work. While his strikeout-rate remained an impressive 28.4%, it was a sharp decline from the 37.7% we saw in 2020, and was even lower than AG's 31.7% strikeout-rate in 2019. Garrett also posted a walk-rate of 13.5%.

Left-handed relievers are always in demand, and Amir Garrett is under team control through next season. The Cincinnati Reds should cut ties with AG prior to the 2022 season while he still has value, but more than likely, the Redlegs will keep Garrett in the Queen City for another year.