Back in early July, when the Reds were 41-45 and just a few games out of the NL Wild Card race, club GM Brad Meador suggested the club wasn't ready to commit to a strategy at this year's trade deadline. Fast forward to today, and they fell to a 47-53 record after being swept by the Nationals coming out of the All-Star break. It appears that recent performance may have been enough for the team to establish themselves officially, as Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the team has begun informing rival clubs that they are willing to part ways with expiring players.
Not surprisingly, Cincinnati would restrict any sale of rental units. After all, the club has an exciting core of young talent led by a star shortstop Elly De La Cruz and the right hand Hunter Greene that is calculated to keep the Reds in the playoff conversation for years to come, and this season has been hampered by injuries to key pieces such as Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, TJ Friedl, Brandon Williamsonagain Graham Ashcraft. By keeping that core of players and old pieces under long-term management like Jonathan India again Jeimer Candelariothe Reds could remain in good shape to revive the 2025 campaign this winter and make another attempt to return to contention.
The Reds' pending free agent list is short, but still has some interesting names. The right hand Frankie Montas, his $20MM 2025 rating option almost certain to be declined, is perhaps the biggest name player the team could consider leaving. That's right Nick Martinez has a $12MM player option for 2025 and may be made available, while the outfielder Austin Slater (the Reds acquired him from San Francisco two weeks ago), lefty Justin Wilsonand the right hand Baker farmer again Lucas Sims each will see their contracts expire at the end of the season.
According to Morosi, the Orioles are among the clubs that would like to lease pitchers from Cincinnati, which include Montas and Martinez. The matchup between Baltimore and one of those two teams is obvious, as the Orioles have lost their starters. Kyle Bradish, John Kushoagain Tyler Wells season-ending surgery this year. That left them to put together a rotation of patches filled by Dean Kremer again Albert Suarez behind the front end duo Corbin Burns again Grayson Rodriguez. At least one playoff-caliber starter would make a lot of sense for the Orioles, and they could benefit from adding more depth beyond that.
Whether Montas, 31, is a playoff-caliber starter at this point in his career is up for debate. The righty struggled badly with the Reds in 89 innings (18 starts) this year, posting a 4.85 ERA and 5.04 FIP both 15% worse than the league average. While Montas has allowed three runs or fewer in 12 of his 18 starts this year, explosive starts have been common for the righty, including 12 runs allowed in 11 2/3 innings over his last two innings against the Nationals and the Rockies.
As sad as his recent performance has been, Montas isn't too far from mid-rotation success with the A's from 2018 to 2022 where he posted a 3.70 ERA and 3.61 FIP in 99 appearances. That being said, it cannot be overlooked that Montas underwent shoulder surgery in February of last year. Since coming back from going under the knife, his peripherals are of a completely different caliber. He struck out just 18.7% of the batters he faced after entering 2023 with a 24.3% strikeout rate, and after allowing free passes to just 7.8% of opponents at the end of the 2022 season he's watched his walks balloon to 10% since surgery. . Even with those flaws, however, Montas' track record as a middle-of-the-pack rotation arm may be able to attract hungry suitors.
Martinez, however, could prove to be a better fit for the Orioles' needs. The right-hander found a niche as one of the game's best pitchers over the past three seasons with San Diego and Cincinnati, and this season the 33-year-old boasts a solid 3.88 ERA with an even stronger 3.15 FIP. While his 18.9% walk rate is nothing to write home about, he is limited to walks at a clip of just 3% this year while giving up just six runs in 72 innings of work. Martinez has been used primarily in relief this year, though he made five starts for the Reds early in the season and showed the ability to move between the rotation and bullpen with ease during his time in San Diego. The veteran righty will give the Orioles depth for both the bullpen and the rotation down the stretch, likely working out of the rotation for the remainder of the regular season before moving to the bullpen during the playoffs.
Of course, Baltimore is far from the only club that would be interested in the Reds' available rental. The Dodgers, Astros, Red Sox, and Padres are among the other teams known to be in the market for a starting pitcher, while nearly every other contender is often looking for bullpen help this time of year and could be interested in Martinez in a relief role or bullpen arm. such as Wilson, Farmer, or Sims.
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