Left-hander Caleb Ferguson was signed by the Cincinnati Reds this offseason to a 1-year contract that will pay him $4.5 million, the first move of several to help backfill a bullpen that had seen quite the exodus.
Taylor Rogers was jettisoned at the trade deadline last year due to poor performance, while each of Brent Suter, Reiver Sanmartin, and Joe La Sorsa headed elsewhere after the season. Southpaw relief for the bullpen was a primary need for Nick Krall and Co. heading into the winter, and signing Ferguson – the owner of a career 3.66 ERA and 10.0 K/9 across 7 seasons – was the first big domino to fall.
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The problem now, though, is that it looks like Ferguson won’t be around on Opening Day to help the Reds at all. As MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed today, Ferguson is dealing with an oblique injury, one that will sideline him for at least a couple of weeks and effectively rule him out for the first active Reds roster of the year.
That leaves Sam Moll and Brock Burke as lefty relievers who are almost assured to make the Opening Day roster. Just how creative the Reds get beyond those two is where it gets a little interesting.
With Hunter Greene now out for months following elbow surgery, there will be two starting rotation spots up for grabs over the coming weeks, too. Each of Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder appear to have the inside track for those, but Brandon Williamson – a fellow lefty – is very much still in the mix. Whether or not the Reds would choose to carry all three of those talented arms in order to a) make sure there’s another lefty on-staff and b) to potentially piggy-back those guys to save innings for later in the year remains to be seen, but it would certainly be one way of making sure the most talented arms in the organization are all at the highest level.
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More likely, of course, is that the Reds will simply use that open bullpen spot on one of their arms who is already set as a reliever and keep one of that trio of starters stretched out at AAA Louisville. That means the likes of Zach Maxwell, Luis Mey, and the inconsistent Connor Phillips each got a boost to their Opening Day roster chances with this news. It would also, I would assume, put the recently acquired Kyle Nicolas in-line to be on the roster for Game 1, too.
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