Reds should make one important Chase Petty decision before it's too late

The Cincinnati Reds are falling further and further behind in the standings, and the injuries are beginning to pile up again, with Eugenio Suarez and Elly De La Cruz as the latest victims. Terry Francona's update on De La Cruz's ankle "tweak" wasn't particularly illuminating, but the slugger played Tuesday night and belted a homer. He was also in the lineup on Wednesday. Still, there remains some concern.

Regardless of what happens, starting to look to the future needs to be a priority. Nick Krall has been great at finding young talent that the Reds have capitalized on developing, such as De La Cruz and Chase Burns, but the money he's spent to support the young core has yielded woefully inefficient results. With that in mind, regardless of where Cincinnati is in the standings come Aug. 3, moving on from veteran pieces without a future to clear space for other youngsters will be key.

One such piece with a ton of future potential is Chase Petty. The 23-year-old has made an impact in the majors in his short time in the bullpen. Petty owned a 1.04 ERA over his first 8 2/3 innings as a reliever (before Monday night's meltdown), and recorded his first career save on June 27 against the rival Pittsburgh Pirates.

That's a promising development, for sure, but the vision for Petty should be grander, and the Reds would do well to set him up for a potential return to the starting rotation.

Sending Chase Petty down now to work as a starter is the best thing the Reds can do

Petty made two spot starts earlier this season, and, like last season, things did not go well with a 5.91 ERA in those outings. However, similar to Burns last season, the move to the bullpen seems to have been a confidence booster for the young flamethrower.

That's important, especially given the way he struggled last year and scuffled again this year while starting down in Louisville. The kid has talent, and he desperately needed a win. The move to the 'pen gave him one.

But long-term, he has much more value to the Reds as a starter. Regardless of what happens at the trade deadline, Brady Singer won't be part of the 2027 roster. If Cincinnati is feeling bold, Nick Lodolo could be shipped out sooner or later as well.

Starting pitchers are always more valuable than relievers, so while a high-leverage bullpen role might be the ultimate ending point in Petty's journey to a permanent MLB role, exhausting every opportunity to make it work with him as a starter needs to happen first.

By sending him down now, the Reds can take advantage of Hunter Greene's impending return as a way to cover the starting rotation even if they trade Singer and/or others at the deadline. That will give Petty the runway to get stretched back out and then return in September to make some starts down the stretch, hopefully showing an improvement thanks to the confidence boost this time as an MLB reliever has provided him.

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