NEW YORK – Five years ago so many big-league teams were tanking that the Atlanta Braves were able to pick off six major-league players in six separate trades in July, including the guy who would be their World Series MVP (Jorge Soler).
As the Braves land in Cincinnati for their weekend series against the Reds, so few teams are tanking this season that some executives around the game say trade chatter already began this month and demand could be especially high by deadline time in two months.
Which means the Reds are on the clock, right?
“That’s a ways away,” Reds general manager Brad Meador said. “We’ve got to get there.”
Smack in the middle of the toughest division in baseball so far, the Reds have the look of buyers as they escaped New York this week with another series win against the Mets, despite a 4-2 loss in the series finale.
Never mind that they missed a sweep against the NL East’s last-place team after stranding a whopping 17 men on base in that loss.
A winning record, the return of Eugenio Suárez to the middle of the lineup, and high expectations for October baseball that haven’t changed since spring training figure to put the Reds in the middle of any trade talks their tight, thin wallets will allow.
And the sooner the better – as quickly as bullpen pieces and lineup upgrades make themselves available in a market that might involve other contenders focusing more on starting pitching.
Meador isn’t so sure about how early the trade markets might take shape compared to any other year.
“I will say this,” he said. “We are always checking in with every team. We’ve talked to every team within the last 10 days or so. But that’s constant. It’s constant conversation with teams: ‘What are you starting to think about?’ ‘What are you looking at?’ ‘Where do you guys see yourselves?’
“But that doesn’t mean there’s something getting ready to happen.”
The Reds already have shown they won’t hesitate to make a move they can afford to fill a need, having made one of the few trades of the season so far when they acquired struggling starter Chris Paddack after he’d been designated for assignment by the Marlins.
Paddack has made two competitive starts for the Reds since then.
And now the health seems to be returning to the rotation with the news Rhett Lowder (shoulder) is about to start what might be a one-game minor-league rehab assignment next week and Nick Lodolo appears to be regaining form four starts into his season after opening on the injured list with a blister.
“For us there might not be anything more important than to be healthy,” Meador said. “Hunter (Greene) threw a bullpen (Tuesday). He’s coming to Cincinnati this week and he’ll throw another one.
“Lowder threw three innings (Wednesday). We’ll get him out on a rehab and hopefully get him back in a week or so,” Meador added. “The healthier we get, the better we should be.”
When it comes to the trade deadline, that might time up with the season debut for Greene, who underwent elbow surgery in March to remove bone chips.
This week’s first bullpen session appears to keep that end-of-July timeline intact.
Add that to a rotation that includes the two guys who beat the Mets this week – Lodolo and All-Star candidate Chase Burns – along with Wednesday’s starter Andrew Abbott, and it starts to look like a playoff-caliber rotation again.
(We’ll leave the bullpen discussion for another day.)
Abbott earned his fourth quality start this season with six innings of hard-contact, limit-the-damage pitching in which he allowed three runs – two of which were earned, on solo home runs by Juan Soto in the first inning and Eric Wagaman in the second.
Even after getting tagged with the loss, Abbott completed a rebound May that included a 3-1 record and 1.29 ERA.
In beating the Reds, the Mets snapped a five-game losing streak and scored more than two runs for the first time in seven games.
The Reds have won five of their last seven, even with the loss Wednesday, as they open a three-game series against the best-in-baseball Braves.
And even with a losing May that cost them the division lead they earned in April, Meador joined a chorus of Reds players in considering the team positioned well as it heads toward June.
“Look, we went through a tough stretch,” he said. “Our guys fought through it. They’re playing better now. And you just try to show up every day and focus on today.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds lose series finale to Mets as possible early trade season looms
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
