Cincinnati Reds should trade Leonardo Rivas to the Angels for Raisel Iglesias

Raisel Iglesias, the de facto ‘closer’ for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of Earth, is currently having something of a career year. He’s sporting career bests in WHIP (0.864), K/BB (9.00), K/9 (13.6), BB/9 (1.5), and H/9 (6.3), and those are numbers that are mostly trending in the right direction after a rocky first week plus of the 2021 season.

In 26 appearances since May 8th, Iglesias owns a 2.27 ERA in 31.2 IP, with a stellar 50/6 K/BB in that span, numbers that also indicate what we’ve long known about him as a reliever: he’s plenty capable of going past just 1 IP per outing to get the job done. That’s honestly just about the most perfect piece the Cincinnati Reds could possibly be targeting at the moment given not only their overall bullpen struggles and health but also their lack of definitive roles at the back end, something that while not a major issue at times during a season becomes something much more important as the stress of a playoff push begins to ramp up.

On top of that, Iglesias is set to be a free agent at season’s end, so he shouldn’t end up being to overtly expensive. I’d wager he’s not quite on the threshold of a reliever who’d be given a Qualifying Offer at season’s end, though if he continues to pitch so incredibly lights out for the rest of the year that may well change. That potential compensation pick for him receiving and rejecting a QO at season’s end will likely end up impacting his value at this trade deadline for the Angels as they weigh what they should ask for the veteran righty, too.

That’s all assuming the Angels end up moving him at all, I guess. They’re 45-44 at the moment and devoid of one Mike Trout, but they sit buried behind a number of teams in both the AL West and AL Wild Card standings at the moment, so who truly knows. All I know is that the Reds sure could use a reliever like Iglesias for this, a 2021 season in which they’re so close to being a legit contender.

It’s almost as if someone somewhere could’ve seen that coming from a mile away.

Yes, of course I tried impossibly hard not to laugh while writing this.

No, it did not work. I laughed my ass off. I’m still laughing.

Go Reds, go.