In the heat of the off season, the Reds finally made a trade last night. But it might not be the one we were all hoping for. Last night the Reds announced that they traded RHP Fernando Cruz and C Alex Jackson to the New York Yankees in exchange for C Jose Trevino. This trade gives the Reds the backup catcher that they have been needing to replace of Luke Maile. However, the Reds lost in this trade what could have been a vital bullpen arm for the 2025 season. So the question remains – how does this affect the team going forward?
What Jose Trevino Adds To the Reds
Jose Trevino is a 32 year old catcher who has been a Yankee for the past 3 years. His best season came in 2022 when he was named an American League All Star. In his most recent season, Trevino did not perform as well at the dish hitting in 73 games .215/.288/.354. While these numbers are not that great offensively, he makes up for it by being a great defensive player who excels at blocking behind the plate and framing pitches.
If he can get it together, he might still be a decent hitter for us. Trevino has been known as a backup catcher for pretty much his entire career and with the Reds having Stephenson he will most likely play in that same role left by Maile. Trevino could provide a nice defensive glove and arm to the Reds while also helping Stephenson get better defensively.
The Loss of Fernando Cruz
Fernando Cruz had an interesting 2024 season with the Reds. Cruz, who had an excellent first half of the season, was a guy you could count on to help you get out of an end of game jam. Unfortunately, after the All Star Break everything just went wrong for Cruz. He posted similar ERAs in the first and second halves of the season (4.65 vs 5.19), but this was with 40 IP vs 26 IP. It seemed as though his arm was completely worn out.
He struggled to get out of jams, ultimately blowing a few games for the Reds. Cruz finished the season with an ERA of 4.86 in 66.2 IP. Despite that, Cruz was third in the league with strikeouts by a reliever and was truly unhittable when he was on. His splitter is a nasty pitch that has almost any hitter looking silly at the plate. While Cruz can be unhittable at times, he can also have trouble controlling his pitches and his fastball can sometimes show up flat. Both of those things can be fixed, which is something the Yankees are banking on. Another potential downside to Cruz is his age.
While Cruz is 35, the Reds had him under team control for the next four years, so the team is potentially losing a quality bullpen arm for the next four seasons.
The Loss of Alex Jackson
Alex Jackson is someone most of us have not heard of, having spent his career in the minors, so he most likely will not be viewed as a big loss. Jackson is a 28 year old catcher who was in the Minor League system for the Reds with the Dayton Dragons. Jackson played in 58 games last season with the Tampa Bay Rays before he was cut from the roster. In those 58 games, Jackson performed very poorly hitting .122/.201/.237. These numbers are obviously very poor and not something the Reds would miss. However, there were signs he could improve into being a quality ballplayer for the club down the road, which could potentially be helpful to the Yankees as they just lost their own catcher.
Was this a Good or Bad Trade?
This trade is a bit tough: Most people will say this was a good trade while some will say this was a bad trade. As for myself, I lean more towards the side of it being a bad trade. I feel the Reds could have picked up a player similar to Trevino on the free agency market without having to trade away a pitcher like Cruz, who has been a good pitcher for the team, despite last season struggles.
Not to mention Trevino is basically a 1 year rental. With the loss of Cruz this also means one or two things: Nick Martinez will strictly be a reliever in the 2025 season (barring any drastic injuries to the starting rotation), or we could potentially see Graham Ashcraft moved to the bullpen for the 2025 season, which I think could work out very nicely for the Reds.
This trade really didn’t move the needle forward or backward for the Reds and they still need to go out and make a few more moves if they truly want to compete in the 2025 season. What do you think? Did the Reds make a good move here or not? Let me know your thoughts!
