Every winter, front offices talk tough about “opportunity cost” and “roster efficiency,” and then February rolls around and one or two names you penciled out of the picture show up in Goodyear wearing a brand-new number.
The Cincinnati Reds have enough traffic on the 40-man to make the non-tender deadline feel like an airport security line, but there’s an oddly compelling case for a player most fans aren’t circling in red ink. When you’re trying to stretch every dollar and every roster spot, survival can favor the Swiss-Army profiles, not the loudest tools on the billboard.
Ryan Vilade fits that profile, a glove-anywhere, hit-enough type who keeps giving decision-makers reasons to keep the conversation going.