Reds add Jake Wong, Eduardo Salazar to pitching ranks, designate Randy Wynne for assignment

Randy Wynne made his big league debut at age 30 over the weekend for the Cincinnati Reds as they played host to the Atlanta Braves in one of the more exciting series in recent Great American Ball Park history. Now that I type that out, it was one of the more exciting series in all of Great American Ball Park history, but that’s another story for another time.

Wynne’s promotion was as much a sign of the times as it was for his performance with AAA Louisville. He had pitched to a 5.12 ERA and 1.39 WHIP for the Bats, barely striking out over 5 per 9 IP in an era where twice that is barely noticed, but the threadbare Cincinnati starting rotation has placed outsized need for relief on a day to day basis, and the Reds have been burning through relievers like Cheech through Zig-Zags.

The ramifications were felt immediately on Monday, as the Reds were forced (again) to churn through their pitching ranks. Wynne was designated for assignment while Levi Stoudt, yesterday’s spot-starter, was optioned back to AAA Louisville. Jake Wong had his contract purchased and Eduardo Salazar was promoted back to the Reds, giving the Reds a pair of mostly-rested arms for their trip to Baltimore.

The Reds announced the moves on Twitter.

In Wong, the Reds are getting a former San Francisco Giants 3rd round draftee, one who - like Wynne - has struggled in the minors this year, too. He owns a 7.60 ERA in 34.1 IP split between AA Chattanooga and AAA Louisville, though he’s shown an ability to at least soak up multiple IP as a reliever since that total has come in just 17 total appearances. Given what the Reds have right now, anyone who can run up 50 pitches or so is desperately needed, and Wong should provide that - though he’s only started once this year, 52 of his 76 career professional appearances have been as a starter.

Salazar you know, as he was with the Reds from May 24th to June 8th. Hopefully this stint goes better than the previous one, and I’m cautiously optimistic that will be the case given that he’s got a pretty filthy set of pitches.

The Reds desperately need more pitching. This is more pitching, but you know what I mean. It’s almost as if they had the pitching, didn’t have any hitting, traded the pitching for the hitting, now have the hitting, and don’t have the pitching. Maybe, just maybe, that’s where the spending money portion of the business needs to be.