Cincinnati Reds Midseason Report Card

Bench

Mar 8, 2014; Goodyear, AZ, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Kris Negron (70) swings at a pitch against the Chicago Cubs at Goodyear Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The Reds are paying their projected starters a ton, at least by Cincinnati standards, and that means the bench has been shoestrung together.  That lack of depth is really starting to show now that Votto and Phillips are out, but it was evident before if you took a look at the reserves’ stats.  Entering the All-Star break, the OPS numbers for the Reds bench look like:  .654, .668, .602, .664, .489, .465, .238, ..528,. and 1.400.    That last outlier is Kristopher Negron, who has all of five plate appearance.

The point is, the Reds’ have received almost no production from their bench in the first half, and it will be hard to contend in the dog days if that trend continues.   General manager Walk Jocketty and manager Bryan Price need to find a way to bolster the depth.

Grade : D-