Purely Precautionary

 

That was the term that the Reds used when they put Hunter Greene, who's having the best season of his career and is an under-the-radar Cy Young favorite this year, on the 10-day IL. It was a 'purely precautionary decision', just making sure he doesn't get overtaxed now and blow the playoff race by getting hurt before it gets started. So the idea is to have him skip a start, conserve arm energy, and be back sometime after that.

It's...an interesting tactic, considering that the Reds jumped to 2nd place this week, and now have to stay in the race despite one of their biggest pieces being shut down. And since it happened, the Reds have gotten completely steamrolled in a series with the Royals. If the Cardinals had beaten the Dodgers and moved ahead in 2nd, I'd be more worried, but the Reds are gonna need a lot of inertia to keep from sinking without Greene.

The Reds are four games under .500, yet so much about this team is finally starting to click. Spencer Steer's finally playing like he should have all season, as is T.J. Friedl, who's been hot and healthy this month with 12 RBIs in August already. Ty France is actually an admirable power bat at 1st, and he's a great replacement for CES. So many fringe details of this team, like Nick Martinez as a swingman, Stuart Fairchild as a defensive substitution, the majority of the bullpen, and the stolen base game, are working right now, even with holes in the lineup. 

The central story of this Reds team, postseason or no, will be Elly de la Cruz's quest for a 30/60 season, and it's a cool enough story for a guy who the Reds hoped would finally be an MLB force this year. It just feels disappointing that there doesn't seem to be much else buttressing Elly at the moment. Abbott and Lodolo are getting killed on the mound. Candelario and Benson have gone cold. There's the possibility that the Reds might need to pull something out of their ass to replace Greene in the rotation, and it'll need to be something that at least stops the bleeding, if possible. 

At this rate, I'm worried that by the time Greene comes back there won't be a playoff case to come back to. The Reds need to bounce back from this Royals series if they want a chance at squeezing into a wild card spot, and with the Jays and Pirates up next, they need to act like it.

Coming Tonight: He throws 100 miles an hour and his value just went up in Anaheim.