They’ve got a series victory over the New York Mets already to show for it.
Cincinnati Reds superstar Elly De La Cruz has started the season’s second half by logging just a lone hit in 9 trips to the plate – a single – while striking out 3 times. And in the most twisted baseball-mind way, manager Terry Francona is probably kind of giddy about it.
Tito has long preached the effectiveness of a long lineup working deep counts and keeping the train around the bases moving as his offensive M.O., loving single after walk after double after single sometimes even more than his team just stumbling occasionally into a 2-run homer. While Elly has come out of the gate a little bit slow through two games, the rest of Tito’s ever-growing lineup has been bashing the ball all over the ballpark.
There have been dingers, of course. Notably, Matt McLain has come out of the gate roaring in a way we detailed was a must-have for this Reds offense, and he homered in Friday’s series opening victory against the New York Mets. Yesterday, though, the Reds went homer-free as Jake Fraley and Spencer Steer kept the line moving with hit after hit as the Reds once again shrugged off an early defecit to roar right back past a Mets club that’s clearly eyeing a postseason run in 2025.
These Mets sit in a Wild Card spot with 55 wins to their name so far. These Reds sit 1.5 games out of a Wild Card spot with 52 wins on their ledger. Even in a vacuum, thta puts the Reds into the realm of ‘contenders’ with 60+ games to go, but in a Reds world where we’re only gifted even these fringe opportunities once every blue moon, this Reds team has played its way into being proactive – even to a fault – at this July’s trade deadline.
That means now! That means this week! That means as early as they can possibly find a way to augment this team!
Photo by Emilee Chinn/Cincinnati Reds
The question is, though, whether there’s even a clear void in the lineup the way there once was. Noelvi Marte has returned to help anchor 3B, mercifully reducing the roles of Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Santiago Espinal. Jake Fraley jumped right back into the RF mix, Austin Hays is as healthy as he’s been all year, and even Hunter Greene is poised to make a return to the starting rotation at some point in early August.
Espinal, it’s worth noting, started in RF on Friday with a LHP on the mound. Finding a RHH outfield option (a la Randal Grichuk of Arizona or Ramon Laureano of Baltimore) would be ideal, especially with Connor Joe the only other legitimate option for that on the roster. On the pitching side, a reliever to further push the likes of Taylor Rogers and Scott Barlow down the pecking order would be a dream.
Regardless, this is a Cincinnati Reds club that deserves to be given more of a chance. Hell, that might even include getting Sal Stewart into the mix – he singled and swiped a bag in his AAA debut with Louisville on Friday, by the way.
No more just waiting around to see if they’re still close enough by a set date. We are close enough to the set date of the trade deadline, and the Reds are close enough to a playoff position already. They’re in a playoffs to make the playoffs, and that has earned them enough of a leash to force the front office to go out and get better wherever they possibly can.
Lest we sit and watch this end up like the 2023 debacle.