The purge of the Cincinnati Reds roster at the outset of the offseason trimmed their 40-man roster in a thorough fashion, and there was always a wonder how they’d end up using those roster spots as the season neared.
As it turns out, they’re using that flexibility to pluck fringe roster players off other clubs, clubs who are dipping into the free agent market despite fully 40-man allotments. We saw that on display on Friday when the Reds plucked RHP Hector Perez from the Toronto Blue Jays, a player in jeopardy of losing his roster spot to pave the way for new signee George Springer, and on Saturday the Reds picked up LHP Cionel Perez from the Houston Astros for similar reasons.