What Should the Cincinnati Reds do at MLB Trade Deadline?

This season has been a roller coaster. We’ve had incredible highs, with incredible winning streaks, strong offensive production and no-hitters. We’ve also had incredible lows, including being swept, the bullpen and injuries to key players. This Reds team has impressive talent, but it also has several flaws. Many of these flaws were on display in San Diego, which saw the Reds get swept by the Padres.

The Padres are not a bad team. In fact, coming into the season, there was serious discussion about if they were the best team in all MLB. While they’ve experienced some woes this season, too, they are clearly more of a playoff team than the Redlegs, who now sit at an even .500 going into a two game series with the Minnesota Twins.

In spite of this season’s struggles, the Reds are currently tied for third place in the NL Central and are sitting only four games out of first place. With the talent that this roster has, it’s not hard to conceive of the Reds going on a winning streak and claiming first place before the trade deadline.

What Should Reds Do?

This brings us to something that is on the mind of every Reds fan: What are the Reds going to do at the trade deadline? Most seasons, if a team feels like their window of contention is closing, they choose to trade off high-impact players to jumpstart a rebuild. If a team feels like they can make a run at the playoffs, they often trade for high impact players that can help carry them over the finish line.

What’s interesting is that the Reds find themselves in both of these camps at the same time. On one hand, there’s a strong argument that their window of contention will be closing soon. Mike Moustakas is struggling to stay on the field. Eugenio Suarez is struggling to produce. The time remaining on Sonny Gray’s team friendly contract is ticking away. MVP candidate, Nick Castellanos, might opt out of his contract.

And I haven’t even written about how bad the bullpen has been this year.

In spite of all of that, there’s still a lot of upside to this team. Our starting pitching, in spite of losing Trevor Bauer, has been solid throughout the year. Our offense is very strong, and there are exciting prospects waiting to play on the Major League level.

The Reds are also in a weaker division, and should they choose to address their flaws, they could run away with the division.

So what are the Redlegs going to do when the trade deadline comes?

My prediction: Absolutely nothing.

Rather than choosing to win now or build from the future, the Cincinnati Reds are going to do nothing and hope for the best. I can hear their reasoning now. They’ll say stuff about how Kyle Farmer’s been able to defensively handle shortstop, and how they believe they can fill bullpen holes with some of our emerging prospects.

Reds fans, hear me out. This is not a strategy to win.

It is an effort to save face from an organization that wants to look like it’s competing while saving a few bucks in the process. It’s woefully short sighted, and what’s worse is that the Reds have the pieces needed to trigger a successful rebuild or make a run at the pennant.

I hope that I’m proven wrong at the deadline. I’d be thrilled to see the Reds make strategic trades to acquire more reliable bullpen arms and an everyday starting shortstop.

I’d be less thrilled to see another rebuild, but at least we can already see the makings of the next great Reds teams, in players like Jonathan India and Hunter Greene. Even a rebuild can have exciting moments, however, when a fanbase can see a clear path towards a World Series victory.

Just look at the Atlanta Braves, who started their rebuild at the same time as the Reds. As the trade deadline is beginning to come on us, I’m keeping my fingers cross that the Reds identify a clear course of action and stick to the plan. What’s clear is that the Reds do not have a team that can win a championship. As the trade deadline comes closer, they can do something about that. Until then, this roller coaster of a season will continue.