Cincinnati Reds activate Nick Lodolo, claim Ian Gibaut in series of roster moves

The Cincinnati Reds are 25 games under .500, but that’s not stopping them from hitting the refresh button on their browser. I’d advocate them hitting the fast-forward button at this juncture, but I am not the button-pusher in the organization. Instead, they’re making waves of roster moves this Tuesday, which I’ll try to detail below.

Anyway, despite him having been promoted, DFA’d, claimed, and DFA’d again in the last week, the Reds are taking a flyer on right-handed pitcher Ian Gibaut, most recently a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Juan Toribio of MLB.com had the news.

They were the most recent DFA on that list, having acquired him and punted him from the Cleveland Guardians while not actually using him in a game in that time. Gibaut did get into one game with Cleveland, firing 1.1 IP of scoreless ball. He’s a 28 year old who was originally drafted out of Tulane by the Tampa Bay Rays, though he’s bounced through the Texas Rangers organization already in his career, too.

Considering Art Warren was recently bounced to the IL with the kind of arm injury that will keep him sidelined for a time, I suppose this is the Reds way of addressing that portion of their bullpen woes. Got it?

In slightly more important news, I guess, Nick Lodolo has been activated after his back muscles let him get back to business effectively enough on rehab with AAA Louisville. Charlie Goldsmith of The Enquirer relayed that as part of a laundry list of other roster moves, ones that include the activation of Lodolo for tonight’s start and the move of Tony Santillan to the 60-day IL.

In hindsight, there’s nothing about the Tyler Naquin activation news in that particular tweet, though tonight’s Reds lineup at the ballpark already features Naquin in it in RF and batting 4th, so it looks as if we’ll get more roster madness later today. In the meantime, say adios to Max Schrock and Chris Okey for the time being, at least, and welcome back one of the Reds biggest bats (and biggest trade chips) for the next few weeks in the run-up to the August 2nd trade deadline.

To summarize, the last few days have seen Naquin get healthy and back, which will perhaps send Albert Almora, Jr. back into a 4th OF role for the time being. Aramis Garcia is banged up, Mark Koloszvary is up from AAA while Tyler Stephenson rehabs, Mike Papierski has been added to further extend the catching depth, meaning Chris Okey got knocked off the roster altogether. Art Warren is hurt, Gibaut is in, Lodolo returns to strengthen the rotation, and Max Schrock got squeezed in the active roster numbers game.

Remember all of this when it’s immediately unwound in a couple of weeks when Naquin, Tommy Pham, Brandon Drury, Luis Castillo, Mike Minor, and Tyler Mahle all find themselves either on the trade block or moved on altogether.