Releasing Dominic Smith provides troubling omen for this Reds late-season addition

On Monday, the Cincinnati Reds designated infielder Dominic Smith for assignment and recalled outfielder Blake Dunn from Triple-A Louisville. A number of Reds fans could have told you that this was a decision Cincinnati's front office should have made before it even happened. Adding Smith to the roster last month was little more than some foolish attempt to catch lightning in a bottle.

Smith, who was slated to be a free agents after this season anyway, was signed to a contract after being dismissed by the Boston Red Sox after the All-Star break. The Reds placed Jake Fraley on the 10-day IL and decided that Smith was the left-handed bat they needed to keep the team's faint playoff hopes alive. Unsurprisingly, that wasn't the case.

During his tenure with the Reds, Smith was just 5-for-26 in nine games. With Smith now looking for another team to pick him up over the final few weeks of the 2024 season, and the Reds handing the reins over to one of their young prospects, perhaps the front office is finally waving the white flag on their pointless pursuits to contend this season and turning their attention to 2025. With that in mind, Amed Rosario may well be following Smith right out of town.

After the Reds DFA'd Dominic Smith, Amed Rosario could be next

Rosario's stats weren't much better than Smith's. Heading into Monday's game against the Houston Astros, is just 5-for-24 with nine strikeouts since joining the Reds. The Reds obviously don't think much of Rosario's offensive performance thus far, as evidenced by batting him ninth in the lineup.

The former Tampa Bay Rays utility player, who had a cup of coffee with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the trade deadline, is a free agent after the season is up. There's virtually no point of keeping Rosario on the roster while players like Joey Wiemer and Jacob Hurtubise could be brought up to get some big league at-bats over the final month of the season.

If any player is not seen as part of the Reds future, then it makes little sense to keep him on the roster at this point. It's time to let the kids play, and DFA Rosario.

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