Cincinnati Reds links – Reds sign LHP Tyler Gilbert to minor league deal

On August 14, 2021, Tyler Gilbert took the mound in a major league game for the first time in his career. The Arizona Diamondbacks were playing the San Diego Padres. After 102 pitches, he had thrown a no-hitter and finished the season with 40.0 innings pitched at 3.15 ERA (135 ERA+) for the Snakes.

Less than a year prior, as he was getting ready for his 27th season, he had been selected in the Rule 5 Draft out of the Philadelphia Phillies organization. That’s not exactly a guarantee for most players, though. Gilbert’s failure to repeat his early-career brilliance in his big league career may not have come as a huge surprise, as he has a 5.23 ERA (80 ERA+) in 51.2 IP split between starting and relieving in the two seasons since his no-no. In fact, he was completely removed from Arizona’s roster at the end of the 2023 season in an effort to make room for other players on the 40-man roster.

Even though his finest velocity season saw him peak out at 92.6 mph with his heater, there’s still enough intrigue in that left arm of his to keep his batters off balance. He relies on a five-pitch combination of a cutter, sinker, change, and curve to keep them off balance. The Cincinnati Reds are officially betting on the possibility that, at thirty, he still has it in him to reinvent himself even further.

The organization announced on Wednesday that Gilbert had been signed to a minor league contract and invited to spring training. Furthermore, there aren’t many depth signings with less warning flags.

In other news, this week saw the release of updated Top 100 prospect lists by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus (Top 101), both of which chose to place a great deal of emphasis on Edwin Arroyo. Even though the switch-hitting future star was completely absent from their lists, the Reds were well-represented by players like Connor Phillips, Rhett Lowder, and Noelvi Marte who all received high marks.

Mark Sheldon of MLB.com created a quick analysis of the Reds’ infield logjam situation by analyzing it using a few different criteria for 2023. The big issue is that, assuming everyone stays healthy, they will ultimately opt to return one or two of Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Elly De La Cruz, or Noelvi Marte to AAA at the beginning of the season. On Opening Day, Jonathan India will bat first and play second base, and you’re going to like it.

Pitcher Daniel Duarte was finally acquired by the Reds yesterday in exchange for some cold, hard cash from the Texas Rangers. If you want to look at it this way, you can put whatever vague cash amount the Reds received for Duarte up on the other side of the ledger from Suter’s contract to make their financials that much more flexible going forward. Duarte was removed from the 40-man roster when the team officially signed Brent Suter.