Like any team, while they can carry 26 players on their active playing roster and 40 overall, the Cincinnati Reds want to have even more options available to them beyond that. Particularly when it comes to pitching.
Down at their Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats, the Reds have therefore attempted to flank highly-touted starting pitching prospects Rhett Lowder and Chase Petty with some veterans arms with MLB experience. Pitching line-ups are forever volatile, and the Reds want to have multiple options to turn to, if – or realistically, when – any of their first five starters and eight frontline bullpen arms go down.
Two veteran pitchers stashed in this way have been left-handed reliever Joe La Sorsa, who has pitched in the big leagues with both the Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals, and right-hander Wade Miley, a veteran of 13 Major League seasons. To get them to accept a trip to Louisville, though, the Reds have to give both players the ability to terminate their contracts by a certain date, if they had not been called up to the Reds’ playing roster by then.
And that date is today.
A Mixture Of Youth And Experience
Both La Sorsa and Miley have the right to terminate their minor league deals with the Reds on 1st June. Reports indicate that both intend to do so.
Miley, 38, re-joined the Reds on a minor league deal this winter as he recovers from the Tommy John surgery that limited him to just two appearances with the Milwaukee Brewers last season. With the Bats, the rust has been evident – in four starts, Miley has pitched to a 5.92 ERA in 13.2 innings, striking out only seven hitters. Miley pitched for the Reds previously between 2020 and 2021, and was an All-Star back in 2012 as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but needs a second wind to stay in the show, one that the Reds were hoping he would provide them with.
La Sorsa, 27, has had no such serious injuries, and is just looking for an opportunity. He broke through with the Rays during their own roster shuffling in 2023, and was claimed off waivers by the Nationals, pitching to a 4.47 ERA with a 4.61 FIP across 50.1 innings of work over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. With the Bats, he had thrown to a 3.92 ERA and a .181 batting average against in 21 outings, although an exact 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio suggested he was not blazing his mid-90s fastball by hitters.
Neither showed enough to convince the Reds that they could improve the big league ball club tomorrow. However, the organisation would have been hoping to keep both around, as the season still has a long way to go.
Reds Need More Depth, Not Less
Truth be told, though, the Reds’ concerns mostly lie with the hitting line-up.
With Matt McClain in a terrible slump as he works his way back from missing the 2024 season, and Jeimer Candelario looking like a sunk cost, the Reds are relying on what is likely unsustainably hot hitting from recent arrivals Austin Hays, Jose Trevino and Gavin Lux to stay afloat. And until Noelvi Marte returns, the call-up options in the line-up are not plentiful.
The Reds, however, also need innings-eaters. This is particularly true in light of the fact that young starters Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo have both already missed significant time in their careers with serious injuries, while Brandon Williamson, Carson Spiers and Julian Aguiar are all on the 60-day disabled list. Someone will get hurt, because someone always does.
With a bullpen ERA of 4.15 and having had to give up on once-feared closer Alexis Diaz, the Reds would like to keep around their plausible options for whenever roster spots open up. La Sorsa and Miley, however, do not have to wait for that, and seemingly they will not. Alan Busenitz, then, moves back up the list.
2 Reds Pitchers Can Opt to Leave the Team Today