Cincinnati Reds place Hunter Greene on injured list, need pitching in the worst of ways

Ooof.

The good news of the day is the return of Joey Votto to the Cincinnati Reds active roster, the future Hall of Famer finally making his way back after multiple arm and shoulder surgeries last fall derailed his 2022 campaign.

The bad news of the day is the roster move it took to get him active, however.

The Reds announced prior to the start of their series opener against the Colorado Rockies that they’d placed Hunter Greene on the 15-day IL due to, presumably, the same right hip issue that had pushed him back from a start last week.

That right hip of Hunter’s is, if you think about it, the one he pushes off with to hurl his 101 mph heaters past professional hitters with aplomb. It’s what he uses to both generate his strength and his balance, and any discomfort there is going to throw the whole system haywire. So, while the lack of a sprain or strain or puncture or quibble within the description is a very good thing, the injury itself is one that needs to be handled very, very carefully going forward.

For now, that leaves the Cincinnati Reds devoid of each of Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Graham Ashcraft from their current starting rotation, the three-headed trio of near-rookies who were being tasked with leading this otherwise under-funded starting rotation.

Just so we’re clear here, this is a list of pitchers who’ve logged the most innings as starters for the Reds dating back to the start of the 2021 season (nearly in order of total IP):

Luis Castillo

Sonny Gray

Wade Miley

Tyler Mahle

Vladimir Gutierrez

Hunter Greene

Nick Lodolo

Graham Ashcraft

Mike Minor

Jeff Hoffman

Luke Weaver

Connor Overton

Ben Lively

Justin Dunn

Brandon Williamson

Luis Cessa

Chase Anderson

Tony Santillan

Andrew Abbott

TJ Zeuch

Reiver Sanmartin

Levi Stoudt

Can you tell me how many of those players are on the Reds active roster right now?

Can you tell me how many of those players who are on the Reds active roster right now you really feel good about being on the active roster right now?

The Cincinnati Reds are in a pitching pinch like few I’ve ever seen, and the injuries are stacking up at precisely the time where the underinvestment in the arena is rearing its ugly head. Hopefully, the front office can patch things together long enough to find a real fix here, because this is the kind of problem than can derail even the most exciting of lineups - and that’s precisely what this team boasts on a daily basis for the first time in a long time.