Cincinnati Reds Overreactions: Buy or Sell?

Here are three overreactions following the Reds' 4-2 start to the season.

Author:
Jeff Carr
Apr 04, 2024

In this story:

Reds

Cincinnati

Cincinnati Reds

Elly De La Cruz

Will Benson

The start of the Cincinnati Reds season looks a lot like it did for most of last summer. There's lots of excitement and lots of fun performances, but they’re not perfect. Because of that, the Reds may be the easiest team to overreact to. We’ll look at three overreactions in this article.

Should we buy or sell these overreactions following their 4-2 start? Here are three thoughts on the narratives that have arisen just a week into the season:

Elly De La Cruz Should Be Sent to Triple-A Louisville - SELL

This is an absolute sell, for multiple reasons. After his three-error game (one of which I dispute), many were calling for De La Cruz to take a trip to Louisville. Why? Is he going to learn focus in Louisville? Why can’t he learn that here? Who is playing shortstop while De La Cruz is exiled? That move would make no sense. Some people just need to cool down with their reactions to him struggling.

De La Cruz is 22 years old and has yet to reach the mark where he has played a full seasons worth of games. He is going to make mistakes. He is going to be imperfect. Tuesday night in Philadelphia was a horrible night for De La Cruz. There are going to be far more good nights, than nights like that. The end result of this notion he should be sent down is what, exactly? He's young and needs to play. Taking his lumps in the big leagues is far better than him being sent to Louisville.

The Reds Bullpen is Going to Struggle This Season - SELL

After the first series, some fans were worried about the bullpen. Alexis Diaz had a bad spring and a worse start to the season. Emilio Pagan was roughed up in his first appearance. Lucas Sims and Fernando Cruz were not sharp. What will the Reds do?

Then the Reds go to Philadelphia. A Bryce Harper homer outburst aside, the bullpen shut the door. Relief pitching is a fickle thing. There will be some bad days. With the talent the Reds have out in the bullpen, though, there will be more good days than bad.

Will Benson is an everyday ballplayer - BUY

Ok, maybe not a ton of people were talking about this overreaction, but I am there. The Reds need him to be an everyday ballplayer, at least while TJ Friedl is hurt. I think he has shown signs that he can remain in the lineup every day, period.

He has really been improved, defensively, in this tiny sample size of a start. The catch in Philadelphia open Tuesday night was evidence. Last year, Benson had very inconsistent routes to fly balls. This one was right on the money. He was shaded over to left-center field, because of the alignment, and had to sprint over to almost right-center field to dive and catch the fly ball off Harper’s bat. It was remarkable and a key piece of evidence to his ability to play everyday.

He has also shown some power against lefties with a double. This is probably something I will need to see more of before I get excited, but Benson’s plate discipline and ability to recognize pitches, means he isn’t going to be cheated out of an at-bat.