Cincinnati Reds trade Amir Garrett for another lefty pitcher

Credit: John Bazemore

Credit: John Bazemore

Amir Garrett is the next man headed out of Cincinnati.

The Reds announced Wednesday afternoon they have traded the 29-year-old for Mike Minor of the Kansas City Royals.

The 34-year-old Minor is a 10-year veteran who is coming off two down years spent with the Rangers, A’s and Royals.

He had a 5.05 ERA last season after posting a 5.56 mark in the truncated 2020 season.

For his career, the former first-round pick of the Braves has a record of 79-78 with a 4.11 ERA. He has been a starter for all but one of his major-league seasons.

Garrett got a late start on his baseball career after playing basketball at St. John’s, but he showed great potential as a hard-throwing lefty once he became a full-time hurler.

He started 14 games for the Reds in 2017 but has been a reliever since. He was being counted on to be a big part of the squad last year but had a disastrous season, going 0-4 with seven saves and a 6.04 ERA. He gave up 46 hits and walked 29 while striking out 61 in 47 1/3 innings.

The move comes on the heels of the Reds also trading starter Sonny Gray to the Oakland A’s and sluggers Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez to the Mariners earlier this week.

Those moves were all viewed as acts to cut costs, but the Reds might end up adding salary in the latest deal.

Minor is due to make $10 million this season while Garrett, who is in his second year eligible for arbitration, was projected by MLBTradeRumors.com to make $2.2 million.

The Reds also received an unspecified amount of cash in the trade.

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