The Cincinnati Reds are willing to listen to trade offers for any player on their roster, including OF Jay Bruce, LHP Aroldis Chapman and 3B Todd Frazier according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Sources told Rosenthal that while the team was against a fire sale at the trade deadline, owner Bob Castellini is now on board with the idea.
“I don’t know if we’re in a position to say there’s any untouchables,” said president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty. “There’s certainly guys who would be much more difficult to move, but we have to be open minded to whatever we can do to improve the club for the long term.”
Chapman, 27, is the one that really jumps out at you. One of the top closers in the game, he will certainly not come cheap and the Reds were reportedly looking for a huge haul in top prospects at the trade deadline. Chapman was a force to be reckoned with this season racking up 33 saves for a bad Reds team and boasting a 1.63 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while striking out an incredible 116 batters in 66 1/3 innings. That’s a 15.8 strikeout rate. He’ll earn roughly $12 million in his final year of arbitration and then free agency beckons after the season. At this point he’s nothing but a pipe dream for the Mets.
Bruce, 28, was nearly a New York Met before things unraveled and the Mets ended up dealing for Yoenis Cespedes from the Detroit Tigers instead. His .226 average and .294 OBP in 2015 was pretty unsightly for someone who’s set to earn $12.5 million, even with his 26 home runs and 87 RBI. After an MVP caliber campaign in 2013 that produced a 5.6 WAR, Bruce has followed that up with a -1.1 WAR in 2014 and 0.8 in 2015. Two words… Michael Conforto.
Frazier, 29, is the one player I figured the Reds would hold onto. He’s the most popular player on the team with the fans, but more important than that he has established himself as one of the top third basemen in the league. Frazier is an excellent defender at the hot corner, and has average 28 home runs a season since 2012. He has seen his slugging percentage and OPS rise over the last three seasons: .407/.721 to .459/.795 to .498/.806. Frazier will earn $7.5 million in 2016 and then has one more season of arbitration remaining, so he has two years of team control at a very team friendly price.
