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Reds announce deal with right-hander Luke Weaver for a one year contract.infielder Matt Reynolds Assigned to quota with a corresponding 40-person roster transfer. Boras Corporation clients receive a base salary of $2 million. Tweet Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.
Weaver joins the fifth organization of his professional career. His first-round pick for the Cardinals in 2014, he made it to the majors two years later in St. Louis. As a rookie he struggled nine games before becoming a former top prospect in 2017. He posted a 3.88 ERA in 60 1/3 innings. The following season, he achieved a 4.95 ERA in his career-best 136 1/3 frames.
Next offseason, St. Louis packaged Weaver together carson kelly When Andrew Young to the Diamondbacks Paul GoldschmidtThe move and subsequent five-year extension paid off nicely for St. Louis, but didn’t pay off for the Snakes. That’s mostly because Weaver has never solidified himself in the Arizona rotation.
Weaver posted a 2.94 ERA in 12 starts in 2019, so things are off to a promising enough start. Unfortunately, arm injuries will be a recurring theme for the Florida State player, who has lost a good chunk in his three of the last four seasons. The only completely healthy campaign in recent times came in his 2020 with a shortened schedule. He took a full slate of 12 turns in his rotation that year, but bombed with a 6.58 ERA in 52 innings. He was limited to 13 starts in 2021 due to a strain on his shoulder and lost several months to inflammation in his throwing elbow early last season.
In three-plus seasons in the desert, Weaver posted a 4.72 ERA in just under 200 innings.At last summer’s trade deadline, the Snakes turned him over to the Royals as an infielder. Emmanuel RiveraKansas City’s low-price buying attempt didn’t quite live up to expectations. Weaver, who was working only in relief, allowed 15 runs in 19 2/3 innings. The Royals dropped him off their roster after the season. He briefly landed with the Mariners via waivers, but Seattle did not bid him within weeks. That sent him to free agency for the first time to try and fix his ship in Cincinnati.
In some of his seven MLB seasons, Weaver posted a 4.79 ERA in 450 2/3 innings. He’s striking out a solid 23.5% of opposing hitters against his 7.5% walk rate, which is manageable. That his strikeout/walk profile has led to ERA estimates like FIP (3.96) and his SIERA (4.08) giving him a more favorable view than his final ERA suggests. 328 batting has plagued Weaver, but it’s too simplistic to attribute it entirely to bad luck.The 6’2″ Hurler has made many hard contacts throughout his career. I gave up. The opponent has hit more than 40% of his batted balls hard (at exit speeds of 95 MPH or higher) in each of the last four seasons.
Primarily a fastball changeup pitcher, Weaver has tinkered with a variety of breaking balls over the years. He’s used a mix of sliders, cutters, and curveballs during his MLB tenure, but he’s never seemed entirely happy with any of these offerings. Practicing mostly outside the bullpen last season, he turned about 90 percent of the time on a fastball or changeup while occasionally deploying the slider as his third pitch against right-handed hitters.
Weaver started just one of 26 outings last season. However, by last year he had started in his 80th of his 89 big league appearances.in Cincinnati Nick Rodro, hunter green When Graham Ashcraft — each of whom showed varying degrees of upside as rookies last season — penciled into three rotation spots. The last two he Luis Sessa, Justin Dunn When connor overton Rotation jobs also compete. Weaver believes he has an inside track in one of the available spots. Sessa has been primarily a relief pitcher throughout his career, with Dunn and Overton still remaining minor league choices for him.
Weaver, 29, has over five years of service experience in the major leagues. He’s the de facto lock to open the season on his MLB roster, as no option can be selected without his consent.He’s set to return to the free-agent market again at the end of the year, and it’s clear he’ll be a mid-season trade candidate if things go well early in his tenure in Cincinnati. is less likely to target , so they are more likely to offer short-term veterans like Weaver and free-agent signings. Will Myers If those players perform well enough to attract interest from competitors.
Taking into account Weaver’s modest salary, Cincinnati’s projected salary is around $81 million, according to Roster Resource calculations. That’s well below last year’s opening day figure of about $114 million. General Manager Nick Krall has spoken many times about the salary constraints facing front offices. Cincinnati could roll the dice with another low-cost upside play in spring training a month away, but it’s unlikely to make a particularly noteworthy free-agent addition. Bullpen and center field stand out as areas where Cincinnati can continue to look for smaller upgrades.
Reynolds, who was ousted by the addition of Weaver, landed in Cincinnati on a waiver from the Mets last April. He hit 3 homers with a .246/.320/.332 batting average and had a career-high 272 at-bats. Reynolds walked nearly 10% of his at bats, but he took strikes about 29% of the time. He made a fair amount of hard contact, but a high ground ball percentage of 50.9% limited the impact on his overall power.
The Reds now have a week to trade the 32-year-old infielder or put him on waivers. Reynolds has completed two full waves in his career so far. This gives him the right to refuse outright assignments and test minor league free agency should he be unclaimed again.
Image credit: USA Today Sports.
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