2 Reds trade deadline successes & 1 failure

Reds trade deadline failure: No siginificant upgrade to the starting rotation.

The Cincinnati Reds were not alone when it came to their search for starting pitching at the deadline. Nearly every contender was in the hunt for pitchers like Eduardo Rodriguez, Dylan Cease, and Michael Lorenzen. In the end, the Reds were left with nothing to show for their efforts.

While some fans will argue that this was the best case scenario for a team that is still rebuilding and just happens to be ahead of schedule, that sentiment is not shared by those fans who've grown weary of sitting at home during the month of October.

There's no denying that starting pitching has ben the Achilles heel of the Reds all season. Cincinnati is currently 14th in the league in ERA. Only the Colorado Rockies rotation has been worse this season.

Instead, the Cincinnati Reds seem to be relying on the returns of both Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo. That's a rather bold strategy considering that it's been nearly two months since Greene has seen a major league mound. It's been even longer for Lodolo.

But that's the horse that Krall is backing coming down the stretch. The Cincinnati Reds' top executive is banking on return to form from both Greene and Lodolo as well as the presence of Tejay Antone and Vladimir Gutierrez in the bullpen.

Cincinnati wasn't the only first-place team that failed to make much of an upgrade at the trade deadline. The Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, and Minnesota Twins were all very quiet at the trade deadline. Even the Los Angeles Dodgers failed to make any sigificant improvements.