Cincinnati Reds trade Raisel Iglesias to Los Angeles Angels for Noe Ramirez, PTBNL

In a move that really should surprise nobody, the Cincinnati Reds have traded closer Raisel Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels today.

Why? Well, Iglesias was making a good bit of money in his last year under team control, and in this day and age, that gets you on the trade block. The Reds broke the news on Twitter earlier Monday.

Iglesias was fresh off a 2020 season that was one of his best to date, with a 2.74 ERA, 176 ERA+, and career-best 1.84 FIP, and was set to make some $9.125 for his services in 2021. That wasn’t a ton of money in previous iterations of big league baseball, but given the pandemic-induced austerity we’re beginning to see across the game at the moment, that firmly made him a candidate to get moved by these Reds this winter.

This is the same club that has already lost Trevor Bauer and Anthony DeSclafani to free agency and non-tendered Archie Bradley last week, mind you. The pitching staff that was the keystone of the 2020 club was expensive, of course, and is getting throughouly overhauled.

In Ramirez, the Reds get a serviceable righty under team control through the 2023 season, one who has pitched to a 4.13 ERA and 4.20 FIP in 173 IP since the start of the 2018 season. A college teammate of Michael Lorenzen at Cal-State Fullerton, Ramirez was originally a Red Sox draftee, but his low velocity and spin rates hardly find him in the mold the Reds have been targeting of late with their pitching acquisitions.

Safe to say, let’s hope the Player To Be Named Later in the deal ends up being someone with a bit more upside. Otherwise, this is what it looks like at first glance - a move to save money.