Reds acquire Archie Bradley, Brian Goodwin

by — August 31, 2020 in Transactions

After a largely quiet day, the Reds came in hot with two trades announced after the 4 p.m. trade deadline.

From the Diamondbacks, the Reds acquired right-handed reliever Archie Bradley in exchange for Josh VanMeter and outfield prospect Stuart Fairchild (team’s No. 11 prospect, per MLB Pipeline).

Cincinnati is also receiving money in exchange for Bradley.

Bradley was a former top-100 prospect as a starting pitcher but converted to relieving full time in 2017. He’s been rock solid in the bullpen, posting a 2.87 ERA, 3.17 FIP, and 3.59 xFIP in 225.2 innings. The 28-year-old has a 4.22 ERA, 2.08 FIP, and 3.48 xFIP in 10.2 innings this season. He’s under team control through the 2021 season. Bradley will immediately become one of David Bell’s go-to relievers in high-leverage situations.

The Reds also acquired a bench bat, trading pitching prospect Packy Naughton (team’s No. 14 prospect) and a player to be named later to the Angels for outfielder Brian Goodwin.

Goodwin can play all three outfield positions but has primarily manned left field for the Angels. A left-handed batter, he’s hit .254/.321/.461 with a 105 wRC+ in 1,069 career plate appearances. The 29-year-old is an above-average hitter against both lefties and righties, but he has reverse platoon splits, performing better against southpaws (121 wRC+) than right-handers (101 wRC+) in his career. This season, he’s hitting .242/.330/.463 in 109 plate appearances. He should be an immediate upgrade over Mark Payton on the Reds’ bench.

The Reds also called up outfielder Aristides Aquino and optioned reliever Joel Kuhnel, perhaps signaling that Nick Senzel’s return from the injured list may not be soon.

[UPDATE: General manager Nick Krall said the Goodwin acquisition does not indicate how long the team expects Senzel to be out.]

We’ll have more thoughts and analysis on the trades in the coming hours and days.

[Photo Credit: Hayden Schiff]

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Matt Wilkes

Matt Wilkes got hooked on Reds baseball after attending his first game in Cinergy Field at 6 years old, and he hasn’t looked back. As a kid, he was often found imitating his favorite players — Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Sean Casey, and Austin Kearns — in the backyard. When he finally went inside, he was leading the Reds to 162-0 seasons in MVP Baseball 2005 or keeping stats for whatever game was on TV. He started writing about baseball in 2014 and has become fascinated by analytics and all the new data in the game. Matt is also a graduate of The Ohio State University and currently lives in Chicago. Follow him on Twitter at @_MattWilkes.

3 Responses

  1. pinson343 says:
    August 31, 2020 at 4:59 PM

    Sounds like the Reds are giving up some legit prospects, but they’ve upgraded the bullpen and the bench. The lack of another LHed OF bat was a major need – Jankowitz and then Payton getting regular playing time has hurt the team.

    In the big picture, they’ve given up a lot of prospect talent and money for 2020, in some cases (Bauer and Castellans) possibly only for 2020. If giving up a little more is needed, you have to do it. They’re fortunate to have played for the most part poorly and still have a good shot, even for 2nd place.

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