Cincinnati Reds set Opening Day bullpen after round of roster cuts
Barring a last-minute trade or signing, the Cincinnati Reds appeared to set their bullpen after their final round of roster cuts Monday.
The Reds announced lefthanded reliever Bennett Sousa and outfielder Henry Ramos were sent to minor league camp. That leaves the Reds with 13 healthy pitchers, including eight relievers. The Reds have 12 healthy position players after cutting Ramos from Major League camp, so they’ll need to add one position player before Opening Day on Thursday.
The bullpen includes righthanded relievers Alexis Díaz, Buck Farmer, Ian Gibaut, Fernando Cruz, Derek Law and Joel Kuhnel, and lefties Reiver Sanmartin and Alex Young. Law and Young were nonroster invitees to camp who must be added to the 40-man roster.
The Reds are short a position player after Joey Votto announced he would begin the season on the 10-day injured list. That likely cemented a spot on the roster for 29-year-old Jason Vosler, a lefthanded corner infielder who came to camp as a nonroster invitee. Vosler is the only lefthanded-hitting infielder or catcher on the roster.
Young and Vosler, two new additions to the organization, both played for the San Francisco Giants last year.
The Reds have only four healthy outfielders in camp: Wil Myers, Jake Fraley, TJ Friedl and Will Benson. If they don’t make a last-second outside addition, righthanded-hitting outfielder Stuart Fairchild is already on the 40-man roster, though he was cut from Major League camp on March 20 and wasn’t with the team during their intrasquad scrimmage Monday.
Sousa, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Chicago White Sox in February. He pitched well in spring training games, permitting nine hits and two earned runs in 7 1/3 innings while striking out eight, but struggled in Monday’s scrimmage. He gave up four hits Monday, including a two-run homer to Vosler.
Ramos was out of camp for a couple of weeks when he was a part of Puerto Rico’s roster for the World Baseball Classic, but all he did was hit. The switch-hitter had 13 hits in 29 at-bats (.448 batting average) during spring training with three doubles, two homers and eight RBI.
The Reds must finalize their 26-man Opening Day roster by Thursday morning. They’ve scheduled another intrasquad scrimmage Wednesday at Great American Ball Park.
Hunter Strickland sticks around
The Reds released veteran reliever Hunter Strickland last Saturday when he didn’t make their Opening Day roster and he had an opt-out clause in his minor league contract.
Strickland decided to remain in the organization. He pitched a scoreless inning during Monday’s scrimmage, giving up one hit, and will begin the season at Triple-A Louisville. He joins Chase Anderson as veterans who chose to stay in the team’s farm system after they were cut in camp.
“It came down to the very last minute we could give it to him,” Reds Manager David Bell said Saturday of cutting Strickland from camp. “There just wasn’t a spot. It’s going to work out with Hunter one way or another. It may even work out here if there’s no a major league opportunity. We’d have interest in bringing him back. The hardest part was he was such a team player. The highest level of defining what that means. He was extremely respected in the clubhouse and the bullpen.”
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