Cincinnati Reds place Pedro Strop on 10-day IL, recall Josh VanMeter

The hits just keep on coming for the Cincinnati Reds bullpen. The beleaguered unit has already been pounded early in this 2020 season, and now the most recent free agent addition, Pedro Strop, will officially be sidelined until the middle of next week, too.

The Reds announced the move earlier Tuesday, one that was expected given the initial fears over the severity of Strop’s groin injury over the weekend.

Obviously, with the struggles of Michael Lorenzen and Robert Stephenson already on the 10-day Injured List, the bullpen manager David Bell had expected is now a far cry from the one he’s going to be tasked with managing. Perhaps that unit will begin to see Tyler Mahle worked in now, however, as Wade Miley is penciled-in to return from the IL and reclaim his spot in the starting rotation this week.

As for the other end of this transaction, we hope that the hits do roll around for Josh VanMeter, who slumped mightily to begin the season before being optioned to the Prasco practice facility. VanMeter showed enough with the bat for the Reds last year to suggest his 0-fer start to 2020 is nothing more than an anomaly, and with Mike Moustakas still sidelined with an injury of his own, perhaps VanMeter will get an opportunity to make up for some lost time in the 2B mix for the next week.

After Monday’s off-day, the Reds welcome the Kansas City Royals to town for a quick two-game series beginning Tuesday evening.