The Cincinnati Reds have emerged as surprise contenders in the National League Central this season. While the underwhelming nature of the division is certainly playing a role, the Reds haven been surging of late. Going into Tuesday night's slate, the 38-35 Reds have won nine games in a row and now have a half-game lead over the Brewers for first place. They're also a quite respectable 26-19 since the start of May, and fan enthusiasm surrounding the team has recently been helped along by the call-up of Elly De La Cruz and the return of Joey Votto from injury.
This is a fairly surprising reversal of fortunes for a team that lost 100 games a season ago and has reduced payroll in recent years. That said, the Reds' front office appears to be poised to respond appropriately to their 2023 successes thus far and add -- rather than subtract -- big-league talent leading up to the Aug. 1 trade deadline. When asked about the possibility of being "buyers" in advance of the deadline, GM Nick Krall said this (via MLB.com's Mark Sheldon):
"Yeah. We're in first place. We're looking to win. That's our goal. I think we want to do whatever we can for this team. We just need to continue to play well and see what's out there. There obviously hasn't been a good match to this point. I don't see anything on the horizon, but you never know. We're just going to keep working at it."
Krall went on to add that he has "flexibility" when it comes to adding payroll for the stretch drive.
One obvious place to use said flexibility would be in the rotation, where the Reds have been hit hard by injuries. On the other hand, a number of contenders will probably be looking for rotation help, then expansion of the playoff field from 10 to 12 teams theoretically means fewer teams looking to sell.
If nothing else, though, it's a refreshing hypothetical for the Reds, who came into this season not expecting to be anywhere close to such a position.
