DENVER – Not even Hunter Greene can escape the reality of the Cincinnati Reds demise this season and what it might mean for his baseball future.
The first member of this young Reds core to sign a long-term contract extension with visions of championships to be won could be among the first to get traded if the Reds get strong enough offers from the contenders seeking frontline, controllable starting pitching before the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline.
For those scoring at home, such pitchers are quickly becoming the unicorns of a trade market with few real sellers – the Reds among those few teams who might be able to leverage that seller’s market into a productive enough acquisition period to retool quickly from this lost season.
How likely does he think it is that he could be traded, given the competitive crossroads the front office faces?
“I’m not thinking about it at all,” he said after a quality start at hitter-haven Coors Field to beat the Rockies 9-6 in the finale of the Reds’ series over the weekend. “It’s so out of my control.”
If at first blush the 2024 All-Star with the 100-mph arsenal looks like the wrong guy for the Reds to think about trading, consider the moment for this team and this pitcher:
Scouts from the Yankees, Rays, Padres, Phillies and Mariners were in attendance all weekend for a Reds-Rockies showcase that one press box wag described as a “shopper’s paradise.”
Greene, who likely would have two scheduled starts before the trade deadline, has two guaranteed years left after this season on his contract, worth a total of $33 million (plus a $21 million 2029 club option).
“I’m so out of that mindset,” he said. “I’m just trying to control what I can control.”
In those last two starts, against the Cubs and Rockies, Greene allowed seven hits and three runs across 13 innings, with 19 strikeouts and one walk. That included a Rockies game in which he allowed all three runs on two of Rockies All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman’s three home runs in the game. Greene retired 14 of 16 batters between the homers.
“I take pride in days like today where you don’t have your best stuff but you’re still able to be effective, still get the job done and do well,” said Greene, who leaned hard on a split-finger fastball with the Colorado conditions making the slider less effective.
Greene also never threw a pitch with less than a five-run lead in the game, thanks largely to home runs by Nathaniel Lowe, Tyler Stephenson (who hit two) and Sal Stewart.
A year after the Reds added three pieces at the trade deadline to help them reach the playoffs, manager Terry Francona described an uncomfortable limbo this time around.
“Like you want it to be over, like, now,” he said. “And that’s not the way it is. Because you’re with these guys every day, and it means something.
“I’m realistic enough to know that things happen. That’s the way the game is,” he said. “And when you’ve played to our record, there’s going to be conversations. That’s just the way it is.”
The Reds’ Sunday trade-chip report for other players who might be moved at the deadline:
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hunter Greene raises trade value in Cincinnati Reds’ win over Rockies
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
