Reds bungle easy opportunity to add offense with latest roster decision

Sorry, Reds fans. Apparently Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall has not heard your pleas. According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Reds plan to release Mike Ford rather than adding him to the roster. The spring training star will now become a free agent.

Ford was arguably the Reds best hitter during Cactus League play earlier this spring. The former Seattle Mariners slugger, who signed a non-roster deal with the Reds during the offseason, mashed three home runs over the course of 10 spring games and posted a 1.213 OPS.

Ford was left off the Reds Opening Day roster, but re-signed a new deal just before the start of the season. The contract allowed Ford to opt out of the deal, which he did, but Cincinnati was given the opportunity to keep him in the organization. However, it would have required the Reds to make some roster adjustments, and it appears as though Ford's bat will not be coming to Cincinnati.

Reds bungle easy opportunity to add offense with latest roster decision

This is a mistake is almost every sense of the word. It's not as if the Reds roster is flush with talent, and anyone who's watched this team over the past week-plus can tell that adding an instant-offense bat like Ford's would certainly be an upgrade.

The Reds have been scuffling of late. And while some of those struggles can be attributed to the absence of Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Tyler Stephenson, and Jake Fraley, the Reds as a whole have struggled against left-handed pitching this season. Surprisingly, that's an area that Ford had tremendous success with during his brief stint with the Louisville Bats.

While adding Ford would have required Cincinnati to designate one of their players for assignment, someone like Peyton Burdick or Nick Martini could have easily been sent packing in order to create a spot on the 40-man roster. This is a miss on the part of Krall and Reds front office.

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