The Reds could beef up their bullpen with this low-cost reliever

The Cincinnati Reds bullpen received a boost at the trade deadline with the additions of Mychal Givens, Luis Cessa, and Justin Wilson. Cessa and Wilson will be back in 2022, but Givens is an unrestricted free agent and likely to sign elsewhere after the MLB lockout is over.

The Reds also lost longtime reliever Michael Lorenzen who signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels. Lorenzen was arguably the anchor of the Cincinnati bullpen for most of his career. In 473 career innings he is 23-23 with an ERA of 4.07 and 406 strikeouts.

Should the Reds target RHP Chad Kuhl?

With the struggles of the Reds bullpen last season, the loss of Lorenzen, the likely loss of Givens, and Tejay Antone shelved due to injury, Cincinnati needs to take a flier on former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Chad Kuhl.

Kuhl is a former ninth-round draft pick of the Pirates who selected the the University of Delaware product in 2013. Over his five-year career, Kuhl has a 25-30 record, 4.44 ERA, and 395 strikeouts.

Kuhl holds a solid 8.4 K/9 as well as a 41.3 % ground ball percentage. Kuhl handled his business against right-handed batters to the tune of a .719 OPS-against.

Kuhl's 3.1 HR% is two points below the league average and the right-hander has a 22.8% fly ball rate. In the last two seasons with the Pirates he has kept his hard hit percentage below 40% and had a career best 37.2 last season. The veteran righty has a career groundout to fly out percentage of 0.73.

Having a veteran presence like Chad Kuhl could bring some much needed experience to the Reds bullpen. Cincinnati's other relief options are Dauri Moreta, Tony Santillan, Riley O'Brien, and Ryan Hendrix, all of whom only first tasted the big leagues in 2021.

If the Cincinnati Reds are looking to bring a low-cost veteran into the mix, perhaps adding Chad Kuhl to the bullpen would be of nice value to David Bell's relief corps heading into the 2022 season.