The Cincinnati Reds aren't a team built around money. In fact, most of Cincinnati's core is built around players in the pre-arbitration stage of their contracts, including the likes of Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain and Noelvi Marte. Eventually, the team will need to pay these players — or lose them.
Hunter Greene signed an extension a few years ago, but it's looking like a massive underpay for the Reds considering how well he's pitching this season. Greene has a real argument as the National League's most dominant pitcher so far, even against stiff competition like Paul Skenes and Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Cincinnati has a bit of a history with shelling out big money, though. And it never seems to work out: Mike Moustakas and Homer Bailey come to mind as guys who got paid by the Reds and ended up being horrendous when it mattered. And the Reds have a similar player on the roster right now, one who's killing them on the field while hamstringing their payroll off of it.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.
Jeimer Candelario would be cut if Reds fans had a say about it
Infielder Jeimer Candelario came to the Reds on a three-year, $45 million deal last offseason, and the fan base expected him to make a huge impact. He was a decent player last season, but he's taken such a huge step back this year, and fans might burn the city down if he continues to play once he returns from injury.
Candelario is slashing .113/.198/.213 with three runs scored, two home runs and 29 strikeouts in 22 games. He's been worth -0.9 WAR already, too, all while making $15 million this season.
His Baseball Savant page looks about as horrible as you can imagine. He's in the bottom 10 percent in the league in batting run value, xwOBA, xBA, xSLG, hard-hit percentage, launch angle, sweet spot percentage, squared up percentage, whiff percentage and strikeout percentage. If you're not exactly sure what that means, it means he's not hitting the ball hard, far or often. It's truly been a disaster.
Reds fans typically have short fuses when it comes to players like this, likely because the front office doesn't often dish out big contracts. At this point, it might be time for the Reds to put their ego aside, admit they made a mistake, eat his contract and designate him for assignment.