Adam Duvall trade rumors - Cincinnati Reds ‘open to offers’ on outfielder

Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings officially begin today outside of Orlando, Florida, which means the already simmering Hot Stove should get plenty of fuel in the coming days. Of course, that’s if anyone can actually get to Orlando, since a winter storm has dumped snow across the Atlanta, Georgia area for days and seemingly half of baseball was attempting to make a connection through there.

The Cincinnati Reds aren’t actively shopping anyone, weren’t a finalist for signing Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, and never were in the mix to land Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, but that apparently doesn’t mean they’re unwilling to do some business while at Disney. In a wide-ranging piece for the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo laid out a Red Sox centric piece as somewhat of a reaction to the New York Yankees adding Stanton’s power, noting that Boston needed to add ample power to its own lineup as well. Of note in that column is that Reds OF Adam Duvall might well be available, and that the Reds are ‘open to offers’ on the 2016 NL All-Star. That sentiment was echoed by Cafardo in his Sunday notes column detailing each team’s priorities heading into the Winter Meetings, though no source was directly cited for either claim.

That’s not really a groundbreaking development on Cincinnati’s end, as GM Dick Williams has hinted for almost a year now that they’ll be active listeners while not necessarily shopping any of their current crop of players. Given the presence of Duvall, Scott Schebler, and Jesse Winker for only two corner outfield spots, it’s not at all surprising to hear that the Reds wouldn’t mind another club sending them offers for a bit of their outfield depth. The interesting part here, though, is that a Red Sox scribe thinks Duvall might be a fit in Boston.

Duvall’s player profile is pretty well established at this point, and at 29 years old, it’s not expected that it’ll change much at this point. Big power, an OBP just under .300, piles of strikeouts, solid corner OF defense, and a pattern of second half collapses pretty well describes Duvall, but with four years of team control and a 2018 salary expectation of just about league minimum, that’s got enough value to be a decently marketable piece in a baseball landscape that seems to be emphasizing dingers again in a big, big way. For a club that either missed out on Stanton or has nowhere near the financial wherewithal of the Yankees, adding Duvall could serve as a distant consolation prize - albeit one that would be conceivably cheap enough to allow for other additions aside him.

Need some cheap pop? Give ol’ Dick Williams a call.