When Cincinnati Redspresident Nick Krall and his job-secured front office team embark on an offseason fraught with labor war and a laundry list of roster problems to fix, the highest priority at least is clear.
Bats.
Wait. Make that gloves.
Wait.
Can they afford to focus on both?
That might be the biggest dilemma of the offseason (again?) as the Reds desperately try to shore up a subpar-hitting lineup and a worse-fielding lineup, especially across the outfield, to construct a roster with realistic playoff hopes in 2027.
Could the player they’re looking for be right in front
of their faces this weekend?
Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ, a pending free agent who just turned 32, might be as close to a prototype as there is in this market for the kind of player the Reds need most.
Not that he has free agency – much less the Reds in particular – on his mind as he tries to help the Cubs clinch a fifth playoff berth since he’s been there and make a deep run in October.
“I don’t want to talk about anything after the season or what that looks like,” said Happ, who nonetheless has the kind of ties to the city and success at the ballpark that would make a call from the Reds worth taking.
“I’ve really enjoyed Cincinnati. Going to school there, I have fond memories of the city and the place. There’s people in that town that I really like. It’s a special place to me for a lot of reasons.”
Happ’s fit from a Reds perspective is about as ideal as it gets, depending on the price tag (and assuming the Cubs don’t sign him to another extension before he reaches free agency). He’s making $61 million over three years on his current contract.
The 2022 All-Star has been a consistently above-average hitter throughout his career, a switch-hitter with strike-zone discipline, who has a .341 career on-base percentage, 196 career home runs and who has won the last four NL Gold Gloves in left field.
His ties to the local baseball community include Reds coaches Willie Harris and Mike Napoli, who were on recent Cubs staffs. And current Reds general manager Brad Meador coached at UC just long enough to be involved in scouting him in high school in Pittsburgh before Meador joined the Reds organization.
And that doesn’t even count UC friends and contacts he maintains relationships with.
“How that impacts anything in the future, I don’t know,” he said. “But it is a special place. And I think that they have a good group over there on both sides of the baseball, some really good young players.
“Plus they have Willie Harris and Tito (manager Terry Francona), and that coaching staff is great.”
Sounds like the Reds might have half their pitch already made for them.
Not that the front office is any closer to a firm plan of action for the offseason than Happ is.
Krall doesn’t figure to have a payroll budget until sometime in November. And with a lockout looming for the Dec. 1 expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement, only a handful of the traditional big-spending teams figure to sign players between the World Series and the lockout.
That doesn’t mean they don’t know what they want and need.
Just this week, Francona said the subject of chasing offense in the lineup in relation to sacrificing defense came up in a staff meeting.
It’s sure to be a major part of conversations about offseason targets after a season in which three of the Reds’ more proficient fielders have been among their worst producers at the plate: third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes (.144/.200 OBP), outfielder TJ Friedl (.172/.255) and second baseman Matt McLain (.185/.277).
“You can chase offense, but that’s a hard way to play (if it sacrifices defense),” said Francona, who did not single out any examples.
“Unless you’re an elite offensive player,” he said, “you better be able to catch the ball.”
Francona had an exceptional defensive team for much of his 11 seasons in Cleveland, and famously won a 2004 World Series in Boston after the front office traded Nomar Garciaparra at the deadline amid a series of moves to improve the fielding.
Asked a few weeks ago whether bats or gloves were the highest priority among potential non-pitching additions, Francona said both and joked about signing a bunch of defensive guys who can’t hit.
“We’d probably have a lot of quick games,” he said. “But we might not win very many of them.”
It’s an especially challenging needle to thread for a team that has so much ground to make up and that plans to win next year.
“If you’re looking at free agents, just being truthful, if they’re not in your price range, sometimes the next-best hitter isn’t the right guy,” Francona said. “Because if you can’t catch the ball are you really helping yourself get better?”
Which brings it back to Happ and whether he’s the price range.
Because of this:
He’s hit more home runs (18) with a higher slugging percentage (.608) and higher OPS (1.002) at Great American Ball Park in his career than any other opponents’ park (along with a .394 on-base percentage).
Comfortable there a little bit?
“Historically, I have done well at Great American,” Happ said with a smirk. “It’s a great place to play. Yeah, I’ve always enjoyed going back there.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Cubs' Ian Happ is the Cincinnati Reds' prototype free agent target
