A Q&A with Derek Johnson on the Reds' pitching plans
It’s a critical juncture of the season for the Cincinnati Reds rotation as they develop the plan for the second half of the season. There are a lot of moving pieces.
-Hunter Greene didn’t pitch in his previously scheduled rehab game on Tuesday, but he did throw a bullpen session in full uniform.
-Carson Spiers starts a rehab assignment tonight. He’s now ahead of Greene on the track to return from the IL.
-Chase Burns is on track to pitch on Friday, which would be his first time pitching on four days rest in MLB (he did that once in the minors and didn’t do that in college).
-There’s talk about using a six-man rotation or using Nick Martinez in a “rover” hybrid role as the rotation gets healthier in the next few weeks.
Here’s a Q&A with Derek Johnson on where things stand.
How have you shaped the plan and the schedule moving forward with Chase Burns as you manage his innings?
Derek Johnson: “Right now, we’re just going through our rotation. There aren’t any days off or things like that. He got extra (rest) the last time. He’ll be on a normal turn this time. We’ll have to regroup after and see where we’re at. We have days off each week after the All-Star break, so he should be able to get those extra days. We’ll put him at the end (of the rotation after the break) so he’ll get a longer blow. We haven’t announced the rotation yet, but he’ll probably be toward the end.”
You guys are going to check where things are at with your starters at the All-Star break and then map out the plan more specifically for the start of the second half?
Derek Johnson: “A part of it is who we play. New York is heavily left-handed, so there’s a good chance we’ll have our left-handers there too. A lot of it depends on if Abbott would happen to get a nod for the All-Star Game. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. If he does, that would change things too. Right now, we’re in limbo. We have the Mets to start off with. We need to give Burns every bit of time that we can just to save his innings. We’ll go from there.”
What did you think of the way Burns bounced back in his last start?
Derek Johnson: “It was good. He addressed his tipping stuff. If nothing else, it probably made him feel good that they weren’t all over him. He did some really good things. He obviously ran up his pitch count pretty well. He couldn’t land his breaking stuff. That’s a part of the process of getting here and figuring things out. He did a nice job.”
A million things could change before then. But with Carson Spiers potentially coming back, is a six-man rotation at some point even on the table?
Derek Johnson: “It’s possible. It might be more possible, more like five with Hunter (Greene) coming back and Nick (Martinez) roving. We’ve talked about that too. We haven’t talked too much about Carson yet. He has barely pitched. I don’t have any expectations on him quite yet. We have to see how we come out of the break, see where Hunter is at and see where Carson is at and go from there.”
Terry Francona talked about Hunter Greene building up confidence back up physically. What are you working on in the bullpen?
Derek Johnson: “He’s just throwing. He looks fine.”