The Cincinnati Reds made two trades on Wednesday. The first one saw the team pick up third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Pittsburgh Pirates. About nine hours after that the Reds traded for right-handed starting pitcher Zack Littell in a 3-team trade with both the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
The move to bring in Littell and with the potential that Hunter Greene, who is currently on rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville, returning to the rotation within the next two weeks will leave the Reds with more starting pitchers than they will have spots in the rotation. The Reds have already decided what the solution will be for now with regards to one of those spots – Nick Martinez, who allowed just two runs in six innings last night to the Dodgers, is moving to the bullpen. President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall confirmed that last night after the trade was finalized.
Martinez has spent plenty of time in the bullpen in his career, so it’s nothing new to him. He can be a guy who can cover multiple innings for Cincinnati and is likely to improve the bullpen both in terms of the fact that he should find success there but also by lengthening the innings a reliever gives the team and allowing others in the bullpen to pitch less and get a bit more rest between outings, which should allow them to perform better, too.
Last night may not be the last time we see Nick Martinez in the rotation, though. Pitchers aren’t exactly the bastion of good health. But even if everyone can remain relatively healthy, at some point this year the Reds will have to make a decision with Chase Burns. Whether that decision is to start to really limit his innings as a starter so he can pitch the full year, or to just completely shut him down, or even move him to the bullpen to help limit his innings but keep him on the mound all year – something will have to give and the team may need someone else to come in and provide innings. Perhaps that’s Martinez.
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