Reds make a couple marginal roster moves

by — November 25, 2019 in Hot Stove

Nick Martini, OF

Nick Martini is a 29-year-old left fielder with one option left and 1+ years of service time. Martini has spent 5 years in AAA with 1446 plate appearances at that level, where he’s hit .305/.401/.435. That’s a good hit skill, excellent on-base skill with a high walk rate and power in the Jose Peraza/Tucker Barnhart range. He’s played 500 innings at the major league level. The Oakland A’s DFA’d him at the end of August 2019 and the Padres picked him up. They DFA’d him a week ago. Martini did make the A’s playoff roster in 2018.

Unclear why the Reds see Martini as better than Brian O’Grady, who is a couple years younger, has three option years left and is a better hitter. Probably hoping to hold on to both.

Justin Shafer, RHP

Shafer is 27, has two options left and 1+ year of service time. He’s been a reliever in the Blue Jays system since 2017. Shafer split time between AAA and Toronto in 2019, pitching 39.2 innings for the Blue Jays. Look past his 3.86 ERA over that stretch to an ugly 5.67 xFIP which is more indicative of how Shafer actually pitched. His walk rate (13.7%) was Amir Garrett bad. The Blue Jays DFA’d him a few days ago. Meh.

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Steve Mancuso

Steve Mancuso is a lifelong Reds fan who grew up during the Big Red Machine era. He’s been writing about the Reds for more than ten years. Steve’s fondest memories about the Reds include attending a couple 1975 World Series games, being at Homer Bailey’s second no-hitter and going nuts for Jay Bruce at Clinchmas. Steve was also at all three games of the 2012 NLDS, but it’s too soon to talk about that.

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