The word trade gets used in a weird way in sports and today’s a perfect example of that. The Cincinnati Reds “traded” utility man Ryan Vilade to the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations. In other words they “traded” him for cash, much like you trade cash to the grocery store for a loaf of bread.
Cincinnati picked up the 26-year-old Vilade on waivers in the middle of June from the St. Louis Cardinals. He made his big league debut with the Colorado Rockies in 2021 when he played in three games. He didn’t return to the big leagues until 2024 when he played in 17 games with the Detroit Tigers. This season he played in seven games with the Cardinals and then one game with the Reds. For his career he’s played in 28 games and gone 9-for-64 with 18 strikeouts, hitting .141/.200/.188.
When he joined the Reds organization he was sent to Triple-A Louisville where he played most of the rest of his season. With the Bats he played well. Over his 65 games with Louisville he hit .296/.381/.536 with 18 doubles, a triple, 12 home runs, 26 walks, and 51 strikeouts in 269 plate appearances. Before arriving to the organization he hit five home runs with Triple-A Memphis, giving him a career best 17 home runs in 2025 at the minor league level. His previous career high was 13 back in 2024 with Toledo.
Ryan Vilade played a little bit of everywhere on the field. In the 2025 season he played every position multiple times with the exceptions of shortstop, catcher, and pitcher. He never had much of a defensive home and moved around often. On one hand that is useful, but on the other hand it also likely tells you have both St. Louis and Cincinnati felt about him – that he probably isn’t a good defender overall and that they didn’t view him as more than a potential bench player. If either saw him as something more than that then he likely would have played one position a majority of the time. You can see his career stats here.
There’s nothing wrong with being a utility player. Every team has at least one of them. But when you lose them it’s usually not that big of a deal. For Cincinnati, moving Ryan Vilade to Tampa Bay clears a spot on the 40-man roster. It currently stands at 39 players, including those on the 60-day injured list. That injured list will cease to exist in the next few days and those players will count towards the overall number. Cincinnati will likely need a few spots to protect guys from the Rule 5 draft, so this likely isn’t the last move they’ll made – whether it’s letting someone go via a DFA, a non-tender, or a trade.
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