Nick Krall: Reds Were Trying To "Thread The Needle" At The Deadline

Nick Krall addressed the Reds’ approach to the MLB trade deadline during Tuesday night’s TV broadcast, saying the club worked through “a lot of conversations, a lot of tireless conversations,” before ultimately making just two deals.

“We had a lot of conversations, a lot of tireless conversations, but at the end we ended up trading Nate Lowe for a pitcher in A-ball and we traded Caleb Ferguson,” Krall said. “One thing about trading Lowe was we were able to create a spot for Hector Rodriguez to come into the big leagues.”

Krall confirmed there was interest in both Brady Singer and Tyler Stephenson but explained why the Reds held onto both veterans.

“Brady’s a guy who has been a really good veteran leader for this club,” Krall said. “What he does for this club and how he helps the young pitchers and continues to help them develop and then lead by example… he just goes out there and gives you six innings every night and gives you a quality start and he battles through things.”

“He had a 2.70 ERA since the beginning of June and he battled through a blister early in the season. We wanted to continue to keep him on this club and see if we can give this club a shot.”

On Tyler Stephenson, Krall added: “If we take Tyler off, there was no other catcher for us to go back and get that we felt we could get. With what he does with the pitching staff… both guys have been quality contributors here and we wanted to continue to play that out.”

Looking ahead, Krall said the Reds were trying to balance competing now while building for the future.

“We were trying to figure out how to thread the needle, how to make sure that we can stay in this, continue to compete here for this year. And also, was there a way to make us better for the future?”

Even with the trade deadline over, Krall said the front office is still looking for ways to improve the roster.

“You’re still going to look to figure out if there’s some guys that you can get on your club. Maybe you can make your club a little bit better from now until the end of the season and see what happens.”

He also praised newly acquired infielder Juan Brito, saying, “He’s played well in AAA and… maybe he comes up and helps this team at some point at the end of the year.”