I promised another little update on what the market was for some players the Reds were asking about to try to make their outfield better. One of the players that they asked about happens to play for the Cleveland Guardians now, and boy do they think he’s worth an arm and a leg! Subscribe to our newsletter using the popup!
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Lane Thomas’ 2024
If you follow baseball, you know Lane Thomas wasn’t near worthy of any top 100 prospects, especially due to his contract situation. He was extremely mid in ’24 posting a small 0.3 bWAR in whole, and only tallying 112 hits in 472 ABs. Defensively, yikes…-9 Outs Above Average, landing him near the bottom of the spectrum for CFs, and he was even worse in RF for the Nationals before being traded. This is what brings us to the laughable conclusion of what the Guards were asking for. Cmon, man!
Not only was Thomas relatively mid, he’s owed $7,825,000 after settling in arbitration, and is a UFA in ’26. So the Guardians not only wanted a TOP prospect back, they also didn’t want to cover a dollar on the total amount of $ owed to Thomas. Easy to see, now, why the Reds laughed and hung the phone up.
Who did they ask for?
Per the source being cited in this, the Guardians wanted one of three from this pool of players: Cam Collier, Sal Stewart, OR Chase Petty. All three of these guys are top 100 prospects or frail top 100ers. The source did mention that the Guardians only wanted one, but still, laughable, given Lane Thomas’s production in 2024.
One could infer that the Cincinnati Reds Pres of Ops Nick Krall simply stayed professional, but hung the phone up. It was unclear if this was discussed at winter meetings or over the phone post Dallas trip, but it was very real. The Guardians wanted a top 100 prosect for Lane Thomas’ mid profile and .709 OPS. They did trade 3 players for him, so perhaps they’re trying to supplement some value back into their system by trying to take advantage of a desperate Cincinnati team. Not so fast, Christopher…
Collier, Stewart, Petty…Available?
I’m told that these 3 have been THE most popular asks from every team that has decided to talk and do business with the Reds. The Reds have simply told everyone NO. They would only move one of these three if it were intensely beneficial to the Reds monetarily. To put things into perspective, the Reds are reluctant to include Petty in a deal for Luis Robert Jr due to his monetary dues. They would only move him if a lot of $ came with him. Safe to say none of these 3 will be moved anytime soon, unless a team is ready to work further.
If you read this article, you’d see that they were also reluctant to trade Petty for another ‘available’ asset from Los Angeles. That can tell you the Reds are real serious about Chase Petty… or maybe that they’re broke. Maybe both.
