Reds activate Michael Lorenzen, place Alfredo Simon on DL

The Cincinnati Reds made a predictable move on Wednesday, activating RHP Michael Lorenzen while placing Alfredo Simon on the 15-day DL with a hyperextended ERA.

Lorenzen off 60-day DL, Simon to 15-day DL (right trapezius), Pacheco refused outright and elected free agency.

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 22, 2016

Lorenzen was already with the Reds in Texas after having kept a tidy 0.00 ERA in 4 appearances in a relief role while on rehab with the Louisville Bats, and he and his near 100 MPH fastball will quickly find a regular spot in the Cincinnati bullpen.  All signals point to him, if successful, getting a shot at earning the closer's role at some point in the near future, assuming his elbow holds up and no more sneaky bouts of mono pop up in his future.

As for Simon, well, there simply isn't much else to say.  He and his "injured" right trapezius will be sidelined for at least eight more days, as the move to place him on the 15-day DL was backdated to when he saw the Atlanta Braves score at will against him in a 13 inning thriller.  To date, the "innings eater" has logged a 9.45 ERA and 2.06 WHIP in 53.1 IP for the Reds, numbers that look so much like a typo that I'll link to his BBRef page just so you can see them for yourselves.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Lorenzen, who was returning from the 60-day DL, Jordan Pacheco packed his bags and set sail.  As Zach Buchanan of The Enquirer relayed to us, Pacheco refused the outright (which is his right given his veteranny veteranitude, I believe), and then opted for free agency.  Pacheco hit just .157/.157/.235 in his 51 PA with the Reds, never once taking a walk in one of the more emblematic statistics of these current day Reds.

Simon had "compiled" a whopping -2.1 bWAR already this season, and if you pair that with Pacheco's -0.6 bWAR mark, the Reds just made getting the #1 overall draft pick in 2017 a significantly more difficult task to complete.