Cincinnati Reds GM Nick Krall says team has 'flexibility' to add payroll at trade deadline

Whether Nick Krall eventually is willing to pay the price it takes to land the starting pitcher(s) his team desperately needs, the Cincinnati Reds general manager said Tuesday he has the “flexibility” to add payroll at the trade deadline.

That has never looked more important in these last few relevant weeks than it does now, with young rotation ace Hunter Greene headed this week for a second medical opinion for the soreness in his hip and lower back issue that has plagued him most of the month and landed him on the injured list Monday.

The club isn’t speculating on a timeline for Greene, but even if it’s not a worst-case scenario the process and rehab could sideline him through the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

“It’s not a major concern, but at the same time it’s the second setback he’s had,” manager David Bell said. “So we want to make sure we use this time to get him back, have him finish the rest of the season.”

Pitching is key for the Cincinnati Reds

Meanwhile, a rotation that already ranked among the bottom three in the majors and already needed a lot of help suddenly needs as much help from the front office as it does from the next pitcher they send out to start a game.

To that end, Krall reiterated Tuesday he’s in buyer’s mode, ahead of his team's 10th consecutive victory the day after overtaking the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League Central lead.

“We’re in first place. We’re looking to win. That’s our goal,” Krall said. “And we want to do whatever we can for this team. We just need to continue to play well and see what’s out there.

“There obviously hasn’t been a good match to this point,” he said. “I don’t see anything on the horizon, but you never know. We’re just going to keep working at it.”

Reds' decisions 'not about the money'

When it comes to the financial flexibility, the decision by Krall’s front office to eat Wil Myers’ $7.5 million contract and designate the veteran for assignment Tuesday might have been an action that spoke louder than Krall’s words on the subject.

Krall suggested at the time of the Myers signing in December that the move represented the extent of the payroll flexibility the team had heading to spring training.

With the wild and unexpected success of so many rookies added to the mix this season, that calculus clearly has changed – and the upward trend in recent home attendance can’t hurt.

“It wasn’t about the money,” Krall said of the decision to DFA Myers when he returned from the IL Tuesday. “It was about, ‘Hey, we have guys on this team that have taken steps forward.’

“With where we’ve gone over the last few weeks, we’ve brought some players up, and they’ve earned the right to play,” he said. “We thought we’d have a better team just sticking with the guys we had on this club instead of Wil.”

Now comes the tough part:

Navigating what looks like a seller’s market early in the trade season to act as decisively and quickly as possible to land at least middle-of-the-rotation-quality starter who can provide five or six innings of competitive starts every fifth day.

Or two.

“We’re just going to look at any avenue to improve our club,” said Krall, who also suggested bullpen help is on the radar. “Pitching help and pitching depth is always at a premium.”

Krall wouldn’t commit to making additions from outside the organization or even to the idea that it’s important to show the players doing their part on the field that the front office is doing as much off the field by adding a pitcher in a trade – suggesting he needs to be “smart” about the long-term as he makes moves for this year.

“Teams are just trying to decide where they are and where they fit,” Krall said. “We’re all in that same group. Where do you fit? How do the next seven weeks play out before you get to the trade deadline.”

Not that he should wait that long to bolster the pitching.

Reds have options ahead of MLB trade deadline

What’s clear is that there’s enough player capital both still in the farm system and in some of the duplication on the big-league roster to suggest a position of strength among buyers trying to put together competitive packages for trades this summer (without going anywhere near a guy like Christian Encarnacion-Strand).

And if the financial resources are there, too, then Krall should be in position to be aggressive enough to do what this team needs now without taking anything away from the talent or expectations that will follow into next year regardless.

That the front office is ready to declare the Reds are buyers already is music to Bell’s ears after the way the talent started coming together quickly this season, barely a year after the long-term plan was put into place.

“So if we’re putting ourselves in a position where that can be happening now, that’s exactly what we set out to do,” Bell said. “We have a lot of work to do here; our group continues to work every day to get better, and that’ll continue to be our focus.

“But that is a reminder that just maybe we’re getting close to the point where it can happen. We’ll see.”