The Cincinnati Reds are struggling this season. The blame is being placed on everybody at this point. The front office is being blamed for not putting the team in the right position to succeed. The coaching staff is being blamed because they aren’t winning with the pieces they’ve been provided. The players are being hit with a lot of the blame because a majority of the team is underperforming this season.
The front office seems to get hit the hardest by the fanbase and the media because they’re the lowest-hanging fruit. The front office has made more than a handful of mistakes over the last few seasons, but one of the biggest blunders was the trade that brought Gavin Lux to Cincinnati in exchange for a Competitive Balance Round A pick and prospect Mike Sirota.
At the time of the trade, the Reds needed to add some offense to their roster, but trading Sirota didn’t seem like the smartest move.
Since the trade, Sirota has proved the Reds to be fools in their decision to trade him away. With the Dodgers organization, he’s crushed the ball and seen himself fly up prospect rankings. This season, he’s slashing .322/.481/.563 with an OPS over 1.000 and 21 doubles for the Dodgers. As a result, he’s flown up prospect rankings, finding himself ranked as the No. 12 prospect in all of baseball, per Baseball America. MLB Pipeline has him ranked as the No. 11 prospect in the game.
The Reds shouldn’t have traded Sirota for Lux when the young outfielder was one of the better prospects in the Reds’ system. But the fact that he’s becoming one of the best prospects in the game is a horrible look for Cincinnati’s front office.
To make matters even worse, Lux was horrible in his time in Cincinnati. He wasn’t a huge boost for the Reds’ lineup, and he was below average in the field. The Reds traded him for Brock Burke, which has been a decent deal for Cincinnati’s bullpen, but it doesn’t make up for losing Sirota.
The Reds don’t often make moves to win now. But this trade for Lux was one of those rare moves. Somehow, it’s blown up in their face more than anybody expected.
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