The Reds Just Put Eugenio Suárez and TJ Friedl on the Curb for Free
Ken Rosenthal reported the waiver placements on Twitter.
The just put Eugenio Suárez and TJ Friedl on waivers, which is the baseball equivalent of leaving a perfectly good couch on the curb with a cardboard "Free" sign.
Ken Rosenthal broke the news that the veteran slugger and the outfielder are suddenly available to anyone willing to pick up the tab.
Suárez just signed a one-year, $15 million deal this past February to be the veteran anchor for a young Reds lineup. He missed some time early in the year with an oblique strain, but dumping a guy you just paid that kind of money to before September is a massive front-office white flag.
Friedl being on the block is just as wild. He is currently healthy after dealing with a hamstring issue late last year, and he is exactly the kind of depth piece contending teams usually overpay for at the trade deadline. Instead, Cincinnati is just letting the market have at them for nothing but salary relief.
The Reds have been bleeding out in the standings lately, dropping recent games to the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants. If you are holding a Cincinnati futures ticket, this waiver dump is the organization officially telling you to tear it up.
The Reds head to Wrigley Field next to face the Chicago Cubs, and they will likely be fielding a lineup that looks a lot cheaper. We will find out in the next 48 hours which playoff contender decides to scoop up a free veteran bat for the stretch run.