Reiver Sanmartin should replace this struggling reliever in the Reds bullpen

Reiver Sanmartin is back in the big leagues. Well, not exactly. He's on the Cincinnati Reds taxi squad as the team heads to Arizona for a three-game set with the Diamondbacks.

Sanmartin was part of the Reds starting rotation earlier this season. However, 16.1 innings pitched yielded a 13.78 ERA, nine free passes, and four round trippers.

The Reds optioned Sanmartin back to Triple-A and, of late, have transitioned the left-hander from a starter to a reliever. The Cincinnati bullpen has been a problem this season.

While Sanmartin isn't exactly going to fix the issues the Reds relief corps has seen this season, there's one pitcher who needs to be removed from the Cincinnati bullpen.

Reiver Sanmartin should replace Hunter Strickland in the Reds bullpen.

Reiver Sanmartin should replace veteran reliever Hunter Strickland in the Cincinnati Reds bullpen. Strickland was signed to a major league deal this offseason, but the right-hander has yet to produce anything close to what the team had hoped to see from the 33-year-old.

The Reds hopes of competing for a spot in the postseason, even in the relatively-weak division that is the NL Central, were completely dashed after a 3-22 start to the season. With that in mind, it would behoove the Redlegs to focus on developing some of their younger pitchers rather than hanging onto another retread like Strickland.

The former San Francisco Giants' closer owns a 6.00 ERA through 23 games this season. Strickland has just 20 punch outs through 23 innings of work and 17 walks. Strickland has already hit a career-high four batters and opponents are touching him up to the tune of .282.

There's no way that can continue. Strickland was signed to a key piece at the backend of the Cincinnati Reds bullpen, but instead he leads the relief corps in walks and hits allowed, and only Art Warren has allowed more earned runs.

Reiver Sanmartin, in his lone relief appearance this season, was quite impressive. Coming on in relief of Luis Cessa against the vaunted Los Angeles Dodgers lineup, Sanmartin went five innings while allowing just two hits and not a single run crossed the plate.

Sanmartin is not answer to the Cincinnati Reds' bullpen woes, but neither is Hunter Strickland. Cincinnati successfully transformed Jeff Hoffman and Tony Santillan from starting pitchers, perhaps the same can be said for Reiver Sanmartin by the end of the 2022 season.