Reds Acquired Jose Trevino

[CJD]

Through the first 3 months of the season, Fernando Cruz had 60 strikeouts and only 18 walks in 39 appearances over 35.1 innings. His split finger pitch was virtually unhittable. He had a few bad outings in May that raised his ERA to 3.72 at the end of June.

In the following 3 months, he had 49 strikeouts and 17 walks in 30 appearances over 31.1 innings.

I expected to look at his numbers and see that his fell off the face of the earth in the second half of the season but, really, it was mostly just a horrific July where he only had 8 strikeouts to 6 walks and a 9.00 ERA.

His August wasn't great, with a 5.65 ERA, but he recovered with 22 strikeouts to 6 walks. He closed out the year with a 4.00 ERA September with 19 strikeouts and 5 walks.

This feels like we sold low on Cruz. I think he could go to New York and be a clutch set up man, whereas we got a back up, defense first catcher with a bad bat for 1 season.

I am not tearing my hair out at this trade, but it does feel like we got the short end of the stick.

Maybe the Reds coaches know something we don't and Cruz really did break down at the end of the year, but this feels more like a perception thing than a reality thing.