CINCINNATI — In a trade late Wednesday night, the Reds added a starting pitcher and that simultaneously allowed them to bolster their bullpen from within.
TRADE DETAILS
Reds receive: RHP Zack Littell
Rays receive: LHP prospect Adam Serwinowski, RHP Brian Van Belle
By getting Littell, the Reds will move Nick Martinez to the bullpen. Martinez just pitched six innings with two runs allowed against the Dodgers.
“[Littell] is going to start and Martinez is going to be that swingman like he was last year where he’s going to be able to start. He’s going to be kind of a Swiss Army knife,” Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said.
Littell, 29, is 8-8 with a 3.58 ERA in 22 starts and 133 1/3 innings this season and has a 3.83 ERA in 224 career appearances (69 starts). He leads the Majors with 26 home runs allowed but his walk rate (1.42 BB/9) is second-best in MLB.
Ironically, Littell’s penultimate start for Tampa Bay came against the Reds on Friday. In a 7-2 Rays loss, he allowed five earned runs and 10 hits, including two home runs. However, he followed that up with a strong outing Wednesday night, hurling five scoreless innings against the Yankees.
Making $5.72 million in 2025, Littell is a free agent after the season. That makes him a short-term rental for the Reds.
“He’s consistent, a strike-thrower. Keeps you in the game,” Krall said. “He pitched really well tonight. We decided to make the move. We looked at the relief market where we could have added to the bullpen. And this is the best of both worlds where we got to add starting depth and also got to add to the bullpen with putting Martinez there.”
The Reds informed Martinez of their thoughts before Wednesday’s game and let him know the deal for Littell was in the works shortly after he finished pitching vs. Los Angeles.
“He’s one of the best teammates you could ever be around,” Krall said. “For him to offer it up like, ‘Hey, I’ll do whatever,’ he just wants to do whatever is best for the team.”
The Reds initially headed towards Thursday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline seeking a big bat for the lineup and bullpen help. But the market for acquiring relievers has shown to be prohibitive and the type of power hitter the club needs has yet to materialize in a deal.
Down the stretch in 2023 and ’24, the Reds’ rotation was ransacked by injuries. Attrition has recently sapped Cincinnati’s starting depth this year, as well. Hunter Greene hasn’t pitched in the big leagues for nearly two months because of a right groin strain and is on a rehab assignment. Carson Spiers learned last week that he will need season-ending elbow surgery.
“It showed we needed some starting depth, so it was just best to use the starting depth where we got it at the big league level and have Martinez as that guy as opposed to having it at Triple-A,” Krall said.
Rookie and top prospect (per MLB Pipeline) Chase Burns will likely be on an innings limit down the stretch and will be a bullpen candidate once Greene returns.
“We’re going to work through his innings and see where they all stack up and how we’re going to map that out to the end of the season,” Krall said. “The goal is for him to end the season playing, not get shut down.”
By adding Hayes, Cincinnati upgraded defensively at third-base defense, where it ranked poorly with Noelvi Marte. The club moved Marte to right field, where he started on Wednesday.
It’s possible there could be more moves before the Deadline expires, but there is limited financial flexibility.
“There’s a little bit there but not a lot,” Krall said. “I feel good about addressing the bullpen. I feel good about our defense getting better. You’d like to always add more if you can. But if this is our group, we’ve got a good group and we’re excited about it.”
