Cincinnati Reds interested in free agents led them to add the veterans in the roster
It’s been a while since the Cincinnati Reds last made a move. And spring training is less than a week away. But Robert Murray of Fansided is reporting that the Reds are showing interest in free agent utility man Tony Kemp.
Kemp has played in the big leagues in parts of the last eight seasons for the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, and most recently the Oakland Athletics. During the last four seasons he’s been with Oakland and has hit .240/.330/.345, but the bulk of that production came in 2020 and 2021. Over the last two seasons he’s hit a very Billy Hamilton-like .224/.306/.321.
If Cincinnati is looking to sign Tony Kemp to a big league deal it’s a tough one to understand. At this point in his career he’s only playing second base and left field. The Reds have a lot of depth at those spots already. Add to it that Kemp hasn’t hit much at all lately, and that he’s a left-handed hitter, and it makes it tough to find much of any scenario where there aren’t multiple injuries that would necessitate a spot for him in the lineup or on the field.
On a minor league deal this kind of situation would make more sense. Kemp could spend time in Triple-A and provide depth in case there are injuries. Or perhaps he could get back to the magic that he had in the 2021 season when he hit .279/.382/.418 with Oakland. That season he showed more power than he has before in a year where he had more than 300 plate appearances, walked more than he struck out, and had a BABIP over .300 for the only time in his big league career (it was .304 that season). Last season also saw Kemp walk more than he struck out, and he had one of the best contact rates in baseball (only Luis Arraez made more contact among hitters with 400 plate appearances). But he also showed no power at all, and his BABIP was just .221.
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If he’s in the minor leagues you can perhaps see if things are going well at the plate and if a spot opens up for him you can make that call. But on the big league roster from the jump it’s tough to see where he’s a fit – even as the last guy on the bench where he would garner almost no favorable match up as opposed to whoever else is on the bench that day.
