Impressive Deal: Brooks Kriske, a Free Agency Reliever, has been Signed by the Cincinnati Reds

On Thursday morning, the Cincinnati Reds added to their pitching depth by signing free agent relief pitcher Brooks Kriske. The right-handed reliever agreed to a minor league deal and was invited to spring training in 2024 as a non-roster player.

Brooks Kriske has spent time in the major leagues with the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, and Kansas City Royals. In four appearances with the Royals in 2023, he compiled a 4.05 ERA in 6.2 innings while striking out six batters. During his stints with the Yankees and Orioles in 2020 and 2021, he struggled, posting a 14.40 ERA in 15.0 innings and allowing 24 earned runs. His career statistics can be seen here.

The righty pitched for Yokohama in Japan during the 2022 season. He returned to the United States in 2023 and signed with the Royals, but was released in July and returned to Japan, pitching for Seibu.

Brooks Kriske is a 3-pitch pitcher with a fastball that averages 95 MPH, a slider in the low-80’s, and a splitter in the mid-80’s, according to his scouting report. He throws the fastball and splitter 36% of the time in 2023, with the slider accounting for the remaining 27% of his pitch use. That’s a big change from his use in 2020 and 2021, when he only used his slider 7% of the time and relied on his fastball more than 60% of the time.

With Brooks Kriske’s invitation to big league camp, the Reds now have seven non-roster invitees to spring training in 2024. Kriske is joined by pitchers Jacob Heatherly, Tony Santillan, and Reiver Sanmartin, as well as catcher P.J. Higgins and infielders Erik Gonzalez and Mark Mathias. Only left-handed reliever Jacob Heatherly has never played in the major leagues. Heatherly reached Double-A with the Chattanooga Lookouts last season.

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How do Reds stack up against NL Central entering ’24?

With so many teams aiming to compete in 2024, the National League Central has already had a busy winter.

Simply follow the money. If you exclude the mind-boggling $700 million commitment by the Dodgers to Shohei Ohtani, Major League teams have already spent $906.85 million on other free agents this winter (as of Monday). Nearly $200 million of that has gone to the NL Central, accounting for an outsized 22 percent of non-Ohtani spending.

The Reds have contributed significantly to this, having committed $87 million to Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagán, and Jeimer Candelario. However, it is the entire division. Everyone is attempting to improve, and four teams (excluding Pittsburgh) appear to be preparing themselves to compete next season. Only the Cubs have not signed a major league free agent this offseason, despite spending a record $40 million on their new manager.

The wheeling and bargaining is undoubtedly far from over. But, with less than two weeks left in 2023, let’s zoom out for a bigger picture of the NL Central contenders – which is expected to be one of baseball’s most fascinating divisions next year – and how Cincinnati compares at this juncture.

HP Wade Miley (OF) and Jackson Chourio (DH) Jake Bauers, Taylor Clarke, and Joe Ross are the starting pitchers.
Manager Craig Counsell, RHP Brandon Woodruff, 1B Rowdy Tellez, OF Mark Canha, 3B Josh Donaldson, OF Jesse Winker, 1B Carlos Santana, 1B Darryl Ruf, 3B Abraham Toro, LHP Andrew Chafin are notable departures.

With Counsell leaving for Chicago after eight seasons, it’s a new era in Milwaukee, but are the Brewers in transition? That answer is mostly dependent on whether they sell Corbin Burnes later this winter and the arrival of $82 million top prospect Chourio in the big leagues. In any case, Pat Murphy’s 2024 roster will be very different from the one that won the Central for the third time in six years last season.

Craig Counsell is the manager.
Notable departures include manager David Ross, RHP Marcus Stroman, and 1B 3B Cody Bellinger RHP Jeimer Candelario RHP Brad Boxberger Mr. Michael Fulmer

After missing out on Ohtani, the Cubs must now turn their attention to other summer concerns. Will Bellinger be re-signed? Matt Chapman, please? How can you enter the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes? Chicago made the first headline of the offseason when it offered Counsell a record contract to replace Ross. However, after nearly making the postseason this year, the Cubs now have two significant assets on the market in Bellinger and Stroman, and they still need rotation help and bullpen reinforcements.