The Cincinnati Reds have had a busy offseason in regard to signing pitchers.
The Reds have brought in Nick Martinez, Frankie Montas and Emilio Pagan among others on short-term deals that address the team’s needs. Notably, Cincinnati is addressing its veteran pitching staff amid a bulk of young arms.
Pitching coach Derek Johnson said he’s happy with how the Reds have addressed their depth.
“I think the first step — there is strength in numbers, and so adding the pieces that we’ve added certainly helped our depth, which I think is always an issue,” Johnson said. “It’s an issue with every club so I think that’s the first part of it. I think then the second part you’re looking at the youngsters and them taking strides forward. Maybe it can alleviate a little bit here and there if we need to retool or just kind of settle them in a little bit. I think these three guys kind of provide some of that to where we’ve got options.”
Montas signed with Cincinnati and the club officially announced the move Jan. 2. He’ll enter his age-31 season come Opening Day, and Montas agreed to a one-year pact worth a reported $16 million according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.
Montas pitched in one game last season, coming Sept. 30, 2023, in Kansas City. His relief appearance last 1 1/3 innings where he gave up two hits, a walk and earned a strikeout.
He suffered an injury that resulted in surgery on his throwing shoulder last season. In his most recent full year in 2022, Montas pitched for both Oakland and the Yankees, making 27 starts and posting a 4.05 earned run average in 144 1/3 innings.
Before that, Montas finished sixth in the American League Cy Young voting after going 13-9 with a 3.37 ERA and 207 strikeouts in 187 innings in 2021.
“He’s had really good years in the past,” Johnson said. “I mean, this guy was, I think, sixth in the Cy Young voting a few years ago, what was it two or three years ago. Was very successful with the A’s, and I mean, just have kind of an unfortunate situation with the Yankees and got derailed. But to me, he’s a guy that — it looks to me like there’s some swing and miss in there. He does throw the ball across the plate a good bit. And so really, like, if you’re looking at that combination in our ballpark, a guy who throws a lot of strikes and a guy who can make guys miss a ball or two, that’s something we would definitely want to have on board.”
Many may’ve expected the Reds to pursue an ace-level pitcher to anchor the rotation.
But without any additional moves, which President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall has reportedly hinted at, Cincinnati will likely be turning the baseball over to its youth once again. Pitchers such as Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft come to mind.
Lodolo and Ashcraft dealt with injury toward the last of last season. Greene pitched to a 4.82 ERA in 22 starts in 2023, but opposing hitters averaged .253 against him.
Johnson thinks Greene can shoulder the expectations of a frontline starter heading into his third full season in 2024.
“Hunter has obviously everything that he needs in order to be elite and to be a top of the line starter in the major leagues,” Johnson said. “I think for him, his kind of No. 1 thing is experience. We have to remember he’s still only 24 years old. We still have to remember that he spent very, very little time in the minor leagues and didn’t pitch a ton in high school either so we are talking about a guy who doesn’t have a ton of innings under his belt in his entire life, let alone in the big leagues. But for me, it’s about Hunter learning how to work on his craft. It’s about how to push himself, and by no means do I think he’s a bad worker. I’m not implying that whatsoever. What I am saying is that young guys have to figure themselves out and that’s exactly where Hunter’s at.”
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