There’s Just One Logical Reason Behind the Reds Moving On From Jake Fraley

The Cincinnati Reds decided to let go of Jake Fraley on Sunday and there is only one scenario that makes this make sense.

Let’s begin with Reds manager Terry Francona. His quote about the move was uncomfortable at best. He seemed to allude that there was more to the conversation that led to Fraley’s dismissal.

“Through conversations and there's some that are kind of private, and some that I can't explain, but just came to the I think the idea that kind of giving Jake a chance to go play, where maybe he thinks he deserves to play, which I understand, is maybe better than him sitting the bench here,” Francona told reporters after the move.

Forget for a moment that my grammar check just went off, screaming at that run-on sentence, there is a lot to unpack there.

First off, “… where maybe he thinks he deserves to play, which I understand, is maybe better than him sitting the bench here,” seems like an odd thing to say about a dude who just played the day before. My conclusion to that leads me to the first part of the quote.

Francona very obviously points out the importance of conversations that we will not be made privy to. Was Fraley scolded after his error on Saturday? Was he called out in front of the team, or pulled aside privately? Did Fraley stand his ground?

Fans have wanted accountability from this team for a few years now. The fact that we are seeing this type of move in the middle of a chase for a spot in the wild card is just odd. While Fraley is nowhere near the best player on the team, he’s also far from the worst.

Here is the list of players who have a worse OPS on the season than Fraley’s .719:

- Tyler Stephenson .705

- Spencer Steer .705

- Jose Trevino .687

- Will Benson .684

- Ke’Bryan Hayes .670

- Matt McLain .637

- Santiago Espinal .592

The reasoning for letting him go can’t have been for production reasons.

So then it’s about the fit with the team. Okay, we are talking about the guy who came up with the viking hat celebration. That would qualify to me as a clubhouse guy.

There are two reasons I see as to why this has happened. 

1. Francona has seen something in Fraley that he doesn’t like. I would defer to Franona’s judgment on this ONLY if the second point is valid.

2. Miguel Andujar will play every day.

The Reds want Noelvi Marte in right field every day. He has earned that with his bat and will (hopefully) improve with his outfield defense. So then left field is between Andujar, Austin Hays, Benson, and Gavin Lux. As long as we mostly see Hays and Andujar rotating DH and left field for the rest of the season, then this move sort of makes sense.

Without knowing that right now, this move is confounding.