Yankees, Reds trade Jose Trevino for Fernando Cruz

21:34: The teams have announced the trade.

21:20: Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports it replaces Fernando Cruz and non-custodial prisoners Alex Jackson is on his way back to New York.

21:19: The Reds acquire Jose Trevino from the Yankees, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Trevino is on the road for the second time in his career. The Yankees landed him from the Rangers shortly after Opening Day 2022 in a deal that sent a reliever Albert Abreu to Arlington. It was a win for the New York front office as Trevino developed into a quality defensive catcher in the Bronx. Abreu, on the other hand, hit seven times with the Rangers before they lost him on waivers.

The 2022 season has been Trevino’s best. He appeared in a career-high 115 games, hitting .248/.283/.388 in 353 plate appearances. Trevino led all catchers with 21 Defensive Runs Saved that season, earning an All-Star selection and a Gold Glove in the process.

Trevino has opened each of the last two years as New York’s primary catcher. His playing time and offensive production are down, though he continues to rate very highly for his receiving skills. Trevino has appeared in just 129 games over the last two years. In 2023, it was largely the result of a ligament tear in his right wrist that necessitated season-ending surgery in July.

The 32-year-old stayed mostly healthy last season. He missed a month between the All-Star Break and mid-August due to a quad strain. Trevino was otherwise on the active roster, but quickly fell into a depth role. Finalist for rookie of the year Austin Wells is a superior offensive player who qualifies as an elite receiving catcher in his own right.

Trevino was limited to 62 starts behind the plate overall. He had basically become a non-factor by the end of the year, appearing in just 14 games between his return from the injured list on August 15 and the end of the regular season. He made just two starts during the Yankees’ run to the World Series. He took 234 trips to the plate and hit .215/.288/.354 with eight home runs.

Part of the drop in playing time can be attributed to Trevino’s difficulty controlling the run game. According to Statcast only Yasmani Grandal had a higher average pop time (throw time to second base on stolen base attempts) than Trevino’s 2.07 second mark. Opponents swiped 57 bases out of 70 attempts in his 544 1/3 innings behind the plate. Trevino continues to grade exceptionally high for his framing and blocking abilities, so he remains a valuable defender overall, but inferior arm strength has become an issue.

The Reds obviously placed great value on those receiving skills. Trevino should back up Tyler Stephensonwho hit .258/.338/.44 with a career-high 19 homers this past season. Stephenson started 112 games and got just over 1000 innings. He didn’t play any first base in ’24, but has played there sporadically in previous seasons. Cincinnati could give Stephenson some more modified rest days at first base or designated hitter if they are comfortable with Trevino logging 70+ starts behind the plate.

Trevino has over five years of service. MLTBR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $3.4MM salary during his first trip through the arbitration process. Taking it on pushes their projected payroll to $104MM (courtesy of RosterResource). The Reds finished the ’23 campaign with a payroll of about $100 million. and have indicated they are comfortable matching or surpassing that number next season.

Stephenson had been the only catcher on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster. They obviously needed to acquire a veteran backup this winter, but it’s still surprising to see the Reds trade Cruz for a year of Trevino’s services. Cruz has been a fixture in Cincinnati’s bullpen for the past two years. He has scattershot command, but elite bats lack ability.

Cruz, a native of Puerto Rico, was drafted as an infielder back in 2007. He flamed out as a hitter and was completely out of affiliated ball between 2016-21. Cruz converted to pitching in 2012 and continued to pitch, but eventually caught the attention of Reds scouts in the independent ranks. He dominated Triple-A opponents in 2022 and earned his first major league call at age 32 in September.

Typically, players who don’t reach the majors until their 30s are quickly dropped from the roster. However, Cruz pitched well in his late-season cameo, and the Reds kept him on their 40-man roster. He has topped 65 innings in each of the past two seasons, building from middle relief in 2023 to become one of David Bell’s more frequent leverage options in front of closer Alexis Diaz.

The bottom line results have not been good. Cruz has allowed nearly five earned runs per inning. nine in both seasons. He owns a 4.52 ERA across 147 1/3 career innings. ERA estimators like FIP and SIERA find him significantly more interesting than actual run prevention would suggest — a testament to his gaudy swing-and-miss numbers.

Cruz has struck out 35% of opponents in each of the last two seasons. He carries a cumulative 36.5% strikeout rate over that stretch. Only among pitchers with 100+ innings Josh Hader and Aroldis Chapman got a better grade. Spencer Strider, Kirby Yates, Garrett crochet, Jeff Hoffman, Bryan Abreu, Paul Skenes and Tyler Glasnow rounds out the top 10. Cruz is also dominant on a per-pitch basis. His 16.7% swinging strikeout rate ranks fifth among this group—behind Strider, Hader, Andres Muñoz and Ryan Helsley.

His calling card is the splitter, which is one of the most effective pitches in the sport. Cruz used the offer a little more than 40% of the time this year. Opponents only made contact about 40% of the time they swung. Batters hit .116 against it. Cruz used it as the final pitch for 88 of his 109 strikeouts.

More to come.