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Reds cut Dilson Herrera, Luis Castillo, others from big league camp

The ranks were thinned in Goodyear.

By Wick Terrell
Cincinnati Enquirer-USA TODAY Sports

The Cincinnati Reds were content to wade through last weekend's split-squad action with all invited members still in camp, but with that in the rear-view mirror, the first cuts of Spring Training were destined to fall this week. On Wednesday, the Reds indeed began to clear out the glut in camp, sending 16 of their players to minor league camp - including infielder Dilson Herrera, according to The Enquirer's Zach Buchanan.

Herrera is the headliner here, but that he is no longer in big league camp shouldn't come as too much of a surprise given that it's March 15th already and the shoulder issue that he's fought all spring still hasn't allowed him to begin throwing in games. It's not viewed as a serious injury - he did hit .308/.438/.461 in 26 Cactus League at bats, after all - but it appears to have set him far enough back to keep the idea of him breaking camp in a utility role with the Reds only a pipe dream. Limited to just DH duties thusfar, those PAs will now need to be soaked up by the pitchers in camp, since they've begun hitting in games as of this week.

Of the others cut, Luis Castillo, Jimmy Herget, and Lisalverto Bonilla probably stand out the most. Castillo, who came to Cincinnati in the winter trade that sent Dan Straily to the Miami Marlins, dazzled with his 100 mph fastball in 5 Cactus League innings, but with only 14 innings pitched above advanced A-ball in his career, he really stood little chance to make the club out of camp. The same can be said for Herget, too, since he's not even touched AA to date, while Bonilla seems to have been squeezed out by better showings in camp so far.

The Enquirer's C. Trent Rosecrans relayed that none of the 16 players will be released and all will report to minor league camp, which means these moves didn't thin the franchise's depth, they merely opened more playing time for the final few weeks of camp for the players locked in active roster position battles.

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