Uncustomed Heroes of 2024: Reds

 

The theme of this season for the Cincinnati Reds was trailing off. This team had two major awards candidates in Elly de la Cruz and Hunter Greene, both of whom had immense cases that dulled as the season went on. Greene, as he tends to, got hurt for a month or so despite having his best season to date, while de la Cruz simply cooled off despite leading the league in stolen bases. And as such, the Reds, despite some spikes in productivity and some cool stretches, once again couldn't bring this team to compete. The main issue, once again, was injuries, as the rotation was held together with scotch tape and some of the biggest pieces going into this year, like Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion Strand, Brandon Williamson and T.J. Friedl, spent too much time on the IL. 

That means that flawed seasons by the regulars who did stay healthy were more exposed. Will Benson has become an everyday guy for this team, despite being fairly one-dimensional as a hitter. This year, in 128 games, Benson hit .187 with 14 hits and 43 RBIs. The man had only 64 hits, and 154 strikeouts. And he wasn't great defensively either.

2025 Prediction: I think keeping him as a bench bat/DH is the better option, and hopefully his aim improves a bit.

Jake Fraley remained a starting outfielder this year and, by and large, did a fair job. In 116 games, Fraley hit .277 with 5 homers and 26 RBIs, plus some average outfield play. Fraley didn't have the exclamation point he'd carried in previous seasons, especially at the plate. I think you can attribute that to the sleepy feel of the lineup as a whole. I don't think he's done really overperforming offensively.

2025 Prediction: A bounce-back year, with 20+ homers.

Graham Ashcraft, since his rookie season, has struggled with both his control and his health. Last year Ashcraft had a good season even if his ERA was drifting towards 5, but he missed a month or so with injuries. This year he was even more injury-limited, and mustered a 5.24 ERA and a 5-5 record in 15 starts. The man has just been unlucky as a major league rotation option, because he's always gonna be valued by this club but the window is never fully open enough for consistent success.

2025 Prediction: Ashcraft is gonna have a month or so where he's one of the best things about the Reds next year. But I don't know if it'll be a full year thing.

Alexis Diaz has thankfully remained a pretty steady closing option for the Reds. Like his brother Edwin, Alexis is not immaculate, and he'll have the occasional blown save, but he can still walk away year after year with a pretty strong body of work to show for. This year, despite a 4 ERA, Diaz still had 28 saves and 55 Ks in 60 appearances. Not the 37 he had in 2023, but I don't think the Reds are in any rush to find a new closer at the moment either.

2025 Prediction: 30+ saves. I think he might outdo his brother.

Around when it became clear that the Reds would be without Matt McLain AND Spencer Steer to start the season, and Noelvi Marte as well, the Reds traded for Santiago Espinal from Toronto. Espinal ironically would have finally gotten some starting time had he stayed with the Jays, but he was thrust right in with the Reds, and...was a suitable enough replacement infield choice. In 118 games he hit .246 with 9 homers [MORE THAN FRALEY] and 45 RBIs. Fine enough, though obviously not to the caliber the Reds thought they'd be getting at 3rd this year.

2025 Prediction: Sort of returns to the level of playing time he was at in Toronto before.

One of the surprise heroes of this Reds team was Brent Suter, the former Brewers swingman who, unsurprisingly, found a lot of similar long relief and starting opportunities with this Reds team, much like fellow swingman Nick Martinez. Suter had a nice year, with a 3.15 ERA and 50 Ks in 47 innings. Suter's a very handy guy to have around, because he both can start and close out games, and was great in both situations this year.

2025 Prediction: Will be the Reds' most utilized reliever next year. 

Ty France, in the midst of a subpar year with the Mariners, was swapped to Cincinnati to attempt to fill the hole at 1st. Compared to Dominic Smith, he did the better job, hitting .251 with 5 homers and 20 RBIs, despite some...suspect defensive moments. Kinda sucks how far France seems from his 2021-2022 peak, even 2 years later.

2025 Prediction: DHing somewhere, he has something of a comeback year.

And in the case of a late season reinforcement that went really well, in the deal that brought Frankie Montas to Milwaukee, the Brewers sent swingman Jakob Junis, who's become a really handy guy since his Giants days. Junis was a big star of the second half for the Reds, with a 2.85 ERA in 14 games, including 5 stars. Junis finished the year with a 0.780 WHIP and a 1.2 WAR, both very nice figures for a late trade piece.

2025 Prediction: Honestly I think he goes back to Milwaukee and does decently there.

Coming Tomorrow- Like usual I'm taking the holiday off, but come back boxing day for some extra Rockies. 

Uncustomed Heroes of 2023: Rockies

 

It was a year where three teams were expected to compete, and the one that wasn't was at least expected to chase them a bit. Which left the Rockies in last, where they stayed for a lot of the season. 

Not that anyone was really expecting anything from the Rockies this year, but with Kris Bryant and Jurickson Profar secured, the hope was that they wouldn't lose 100 games, and they did, because Bryant was hurt again and Profar underwhelmed. It also didn't help that the rotation was even more hurt than usual, with both Senzatela and Marquez down for the count, meaning that aside from Freeland and Gomber, the team needed to rely on replacement options. Hence the 100 losses. 

Profar coming in was a big deal, as he'd been a big part of recent A's and Padres successes. It is wild to me that, after breaking into the league in 2012 with the Rangers, 2023 was Profar's age-30 season. A lot of people coming up, their age-30 season is, like, their third year. Perhaps we're getting away from that now that we're bringing people up at 19 again, but Profar is a weird little unicorn, in that he was in the league at 19 and didn't start playing truly well until 25. That said, after his strong stretch of his late 20s, Profar's Rockies numbers were among the worst of his career. In 111 games, he hit .236 with 39 RBIs and 8 homers, and regressed defensively. Despite being one of the Rockies' highest-profile additions heading into the year, the team cut him with a month or so left in the season. At which point he returned to San Diego and figured out how to hit again, with a .295 average in 14 games.

2024 Prediction: Look, let's be clear, wherever he's going, he's sure as hell staying away from Denver. Honestly, maybe he stays in San Diego, he seems to do well there.

After C.J. Cron was dropped, 1st base went to usual infield also-ran Elehuris Montero. This was Montero's fullest season in Denver, and in 85 games, he hit .243 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs. These were solid offensive numbers and when paired with passable defense, he made for a nice piece the Rox can hang the future on.

2024 Prediction: Of all of the guys the Rockies have decided on going forward, Montero has the most to prove, so I'd say he has a breakout year that brings him to the heart of the lineup.

In a season where the Rockies bullpen was one of the biggest surprises in baseball, one of their most crucial pieces was former Brewers role-player Brent Suter, who, despite the array of rotation openings, remained a bullpen piece this year. In 57 games, Suter had a 3.38 ERA with 55 Ks, his best season to date as a pure relief piece.

2024 Prediction: Gets some reps next year, but isn't as reliable as he was.

A rookie that came up late as a utility piece as Hunter Goodman, who added some power boosts with 17 RBIs in 23 games; for comparison's sake, it took Mike Moustakas 47 games to get to that amount. Goodman didn't exactly hit for average, and isn't a great defensive piece, but the Rockies could use him as a bench bat or DH going forward.

2024 Prediction: Similar use, but I think he'll have way more to do as Blackmon is phased out.

And then Brendan Rodgers also played this year. Took him a bit, as he was out til the last weeks of the year, but the perennial Rockies standout did manage to show his head late in the season, after all the hoopla had died down. In 46 games, Rodgers hit .258 with 4 homers and 20 RBIs, a total that indicates a season that was just getting going as the season wrapped up.

2024 Prediction: If he's fully healed, there'll be no problems, and he'll lead this team to something a lot better. If not...they might need to figure out what to do with him.

Coming Tomorrow- The Royals are going to look a lot different next year, and here's some of the energy they'll be leaving behind. 

Uncustomed Heroes of 2017: Brewers

Wouldn't have guessed this one, eh?

Not just that the Brewers were able to make a serious run act the playoffs, set up an impressive youth movement and cement a team that could go even further next season...but that Ryan Braun doesn't even seem to be a factor in them anymore.

I mean, yeah, still hits, but after the steroids thing, they haven't been using him as much, which is a relief- he's definitely on the downswing, and he's definitely not the face of the franchise anymore.

The pitching is what made this team great- from a late season return from ace Junior Guerra...

...to the rise of fifth-starter Brent Suter, mastering his innings into September.

Hell, the bench was pretty impressive too, with Jesus Aguilar covering for Eric Thames, and arguably doing a better job than he did at the plate.

Eric Sogard was a huge surprise, coming in mid-season and absolutely owning every one of his plate appearances, even after disappointing in Oakland. He came back late to keep the momentum going. Speaking of DFA'd from Oakland...

This guy was definitely a nice pickup, even with Manny Pina behind the plate. He picked up some momentum, got back to hitting, and was a huge bench presence for the Brewers as they made their postseason run. Thankfully, Vogt gets to play for Milwaukee for another year.

Coming Tomorrow: [exasperated groan]