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| Cincinnati Enquirer
Nick Krall explains why the Cincinnati Reds released Archie Bradley, Curt Casali
The Reds did not present a contract to Archie Bradley, Curt Casali, Brian Goodwin and RJ Alaniz on Wednesday. They are all free agents.
The Cincinnati Reds released four players on the Major League Baseball submission deadline Wednesday, sending right-hander Archie Bradley, wide receiver Curt Casali, outfielder Brian Goodwin and right-hander RJ Alaniz to free agency.
It was a sign of how little payroll flexibility the Reds carried through the offseason.
Bradley and Goodwin were traded for two players each on last year’s trade deadline and they spent a month in the organization. Alaniz was not eligible for arbitration, but the expected salary savings for the other three players, according to the MLB Trade Rumors website, were around $ 9-12 million.
“I think we will have some leeway to do some things,” Reds general manager Nick Krall said. “We are just working for the moment to improve and be more efficient.
“At the end of the day, we felt that the guys who weren’t bidding and making some space with where we were was the right decision for us. “Just because we non-tendered guys don’t mean we’re not eliminating these guys coming back.”
The Reds’ choice not to bid Bradley was the biggest sign of how much the club were looking to free up his salary. He was a reliable late-inning reliever with closer experience and the Reds don’t have an obvious replacement for him like their other unlisted players.
Their off-season checklist includes finding a starting shortstop, improving their starting pitching depth and, following Wednesday’s moves, strengthening the bullpen. MLB Trade Rumors were projecting a salary of $ 2 million for Casali, $ 3 million for Goodwin and $ 4-6 million for Bradley from their arbitrage modeling systems.
“I think for the situation we’re in and where we were with him,” Krall said of Bradley, “it was the right decision at the time.”
The Reds explored the Bradley and Casali trading market ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, but nothing came of it.
Bradley, who was eligible to be a free agent after the 2021 season, had one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings with the Reds. He received the loss in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series after giving up two hits in the 13th inning against the Atlanta Braves, but was otherwise a big boost to the bullpen of the l ‘team. The Reds sent Josh VanMeter and field prospect Stuart Fairchild to the Arizona Diamondbacks to acquire Bradley.
The other non-bidding decisions were a mix of cost cutting and playing time. Goodwin would likely have entered spring training as the team’s fifth outfielder behind Nick Castellanos, Jesse Winker, Nick Senzel and Shogo Akiyama.
Casali, who recently underwent off-season wrist surgery, was a non-tender candidate due to emerging prospect Tyler Stephenson. Casali was a popular player in the clubhouse and had a good rapport with the pitching staff, but the Reds are set to give Stephenson more playing time in 2021.
“I think we had to do both moves when we did it just to make a playoff series last year,” Krall said of the deadline deals for Bradley and Goodwin. “We had Senzel who got sick. We also had a few hits in our enclosure. I think we had to do those moves and make the playoffs. They helped us get there.
Stephenson, the team’s first-round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, will be splitting his time on receiver with Tucker Barnhart. They match offensively with Stephenson as a right-handed batsman and Barnhart as a left-hander.
“Tyler really took off last year,” Krall said. “Did a good job offensively in the limited playing time, but he also did a good job working with the staff, learning and growing in this role. One of the perks we’ve had this year that I don’t think is not that many saw guys were able to take him out on the road and let him sit in the match planning sessions.
The Reds did not offer a contract with utility player Kyle Farmer, but he agreed to the terms of a one-year deal in the Big League shortly after Wednesday’s 8 p.m. deadline.
There hasn’t been a huge increase in the number of non-bidding players, as many in the industry expected, but there were some notable names that suddenly entered the free agent market, including the former Reds outfielder Adam Duvall (Atlanta Braves), Eddie Rosario. (Minnesota Twins), Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora Jr. (Chicago Cubs).
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