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    Reds claim Jose Lopez, DFA Brandon Finnegan

    Doug Gray 22

    The Cincinnati Reds have claimed right-handed pitcher Jose Lopez from the San Francisco Giants and optioned him to Triple-A Louisville. To create room for him on the 40-man roster the team designated left-handed pitcher Brandon Finnegan for assignment.

    Jose Lopez, if you recall, was a Cincinnati Reds draft pick and prospect. He was claimed by the Giants from the Reds at the start of spring training when he was put on waivers by the Reds who needed a roster spot opened up. Lopez was the Reds 6th round draft pick out of Seton Hall in 2014, but he didn’t pitch until mid-season in 2015 because he was recovering from Tommy John surgery that he had early in 2014 while in college. He worked his way up from Billings that season, stopped at each level along the way before reaching Triple-A in 2018. The 25-year-old appeared in just three games for the Giants this spring.

    For Brandon Finnegan the move is rather interesting. The Reds could have placed Scooter Gennett on the 60-day disabled list to keep him around. Gennett is expected to miss 2-3 months, with the first day eligible to come off of the disabled list being May 25th. Instead the team chose to simply designate Finnegan for assignment. He’s struggled to stay on the field, and perform, since the end of the 2016 season. An early season injury in 2017 limited him to just four starts in Cincinnati. In 2018 he made five starts for the Reds with more walks than strikeouts and an ERA of 7.40. After heading to Triple-A his ERA remained over 7.00 in 67.2 innings for the Louisville Bats.

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    22 Responses

    2. In looking through some minor league transactions, I see that Stu Turner, Seth Varner, Mason Williams, Daniel Sweet, Tim Adelman, John Sansone, and Anthony Bass were some players that were recently released.

    3. My guess is that they’re saving putting Gennett on the 60 day DL until when need to open up a spot on the 40 man for Senzel.

    4. On a related note, this closes a chapter on one of the all-time worst trades in MLB history. Only the Reds could trade a Top 5 MLB pitcher in Cueto and not get one Major Leaguer out of it.

      1. It’s certainly not worked well for the Reds, but my guess it this trade would not even be on the list of worst 20 trades of all time. Ask the Red Sox (if you count selling a player as a trade). In fact, just off the top of my head, what did Boston get for Bronson?

        Let’s not forget, all three pitchers the Reds received did participate on the Reds team at one time or another.

        1. All trades like these take a bit of cunning and luck. I thought if Finnegan became a top flight BP arm and Reed a mid-rotation starter, the Reds did very well for themselves. Sadly they ruined Finnegan with their own ignorance and Reed’s circle change stopped developing.

      2. It’s not even close to an all time worse red trade let alone mlb. It’s a candle compared to sun when u compare it to Chapman trade.

        Wasn’t a big fan of trade but finnegan went from draft straight to majors and broke out til injury ruined his career. Reed was one of hottest minor leaguers at the time on a breakout season and the 3rd guy was a decent wild card. That being said if reds were planning on paying a pitcher it was cueto over homer. That was a no brainer and the dumbest part of whole situation.

        Also most trades don’t work out for team acquiring minor league talent.

        1. In spite of the two no-hitters, I agree with you. Even at the time, I felt the no-no’s were obvious glimpses of talent, but he never seemed to harness it.

          Cueto seemed the more consistent of the two, although he had been plagued by a few injuries at that time, though they were of the ‘put some ice on it’ type of injuries.

          I always thought Cueto was the better pitcher.

      3. I think the Tigers would like to have the Suarez trade back

        The Brewers probably were sad that they waived Scooter

        I see that Miami just waived Strailey

        Plenty to go around

    5. Going back a bit in time, the Frank Robinson trade was the Reds’ worst. Another bad one was Haddix, Burgess, and Hoak for Frank Thomas.

      1. Paul O’Neil for Robert Kelly was pretty bad.

        They did get Alex Johnson, Woody Woodward, Tony Cloninger, and Clay Carroll as remnants of the Robinson trade.

    6. Finnegan blew out his bicep muscle in the spring of 2017. Nothing more or less. When its gone its gone. When Homer blew out his bicep after coming back to fast from UCL replacement and his stuff has never been the same.

      Bicep injuries are nothing to sneeze at. Mat Latos’s bicep degenerated quickly and he was done as a top flight ML pitcher by age 27.

      A guy like Finnegan who’s delivery was high effort, should have never been starting.

    7. Looking for those who said over and over Castillo should be in AAA. Yea. Def looks like a weak link in the rotation. Psh

    8. Very happy to see Finnegan gone. Was hoping it would have been a lot sooner bc of his attitude. He was never getting “it” back and this is one move I don’t worry about someone else picking him up and him turning into a successful reclamation project. Good riddance to Finnegan and Bailey. Can’t think of anyone else I’ve not really liked. Who else am I forgetting who had bad attitudes?

      2. Yeah not gone, and I would be surprised if someone took him. He hasn’t performed in a long time, and has injury trouble on top of that. Smart move by FO in my opinion. Gets them another arm for the AAA depth, and sends a message to the organization that sooner or later you have to perform.

    9. Finnegan was clearly a passionate competitor.The talent was tantalizing. It’s too bad for him and the Reds that after the injuries he couldn’t put it back together. How absolutely frustrated he had to be. Hopefully a change of scenery will do him good. Wishing him the best of luck.

    11. The starting pitching staff at Louisville could be pretty crowded.

      It is too bad Finnegan came to majors so fast. If he had spent more time in development I’m sure they would have tried to change his mechanics to something less violent. I always thought the same thing about Scott Williamson, who was in parade today.

      1. If Finny keeps his head on straight he could return as a bullpen piece at some point this year. He needs to stay/get in shape and have a rebound year at AAA. I’m guessing he passes through waivers here, but with a resurgent year in AAA out of the bullpen he might get a chance at some point. It’s a really long year, and he has experience in the bigs and he is a lefty. You can never have too many of those.

        1. But, if you notices there are lots of lefties being released by the Reds…Boshers being another just released..

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