Cincinnati Reds claim Jose Lopez, designate Brandon Finnegan for assignment

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty ImagesIt’s been a long, hard fall for lefty Brandon Finnegan. The former 1st round pick and prize of the Johnny Cueto trade with the Kansas City Royals back in 2015 had a solid enough 2016 season, his 172 innings of 107 ERA+ ball helping anchor a rotation that was desperate for anything of quality, but a series of back and shoulder injuries seriously derailed his 2017 season before a 2018 season that was utterly, horribly bad.

The Cincinnati Reds didn’t see much improvement from Finnegan during the spring, which left him on the outside looking in when it came time to set the active roster. On Thursday, we found out just how far he’d fallen in their eyes, as…