How Marlins-Padres rare May blockbuster informs Cincinnati Reds effort to fix ailing lineup

It the San Diego Padres can trade for a two-time batting champion on May 4, maybe the Cincinnati Reds can jump into the on-deck circle for another crazy-early trade for some desperately needed hitting help.

It may not be as crazy as it sounds. It also may not be as easy as it sounds, no matter what the Miami Marlins may have started by declaring themselves sellers nearly three months before the trade deadline and shipping Luis Arraez to the Padres for a raft of prospects.

“I don’t think it’s changed as much as you think it has just because a deal was made earlier,” Reds president Nick Krall said of the potential market impact of Saturday’s rare trade of consequence for this early in the season.

On the other hand, Krall sounds ready to deal, too, and he’s already been poking around on what’s available, he said — even before the Baltimore Orioles completed their three-game throttling of the Reds’ beleaguered lineup with an 11-1 win Sunday.

Even before the Padres and Marlins appeared to open the summer trading season.

If the Marlins are sellers already, the White Sox certainly must be (assuming they have anything worth buying). And can the Rockies or Angels be far behind?

“It depends team by team,” Krall said of the Arraez impact on potential early activity across the league.

“We’ve had conversations with teams,” he said. “It’s just team-by-team, trying to figure out what is available, what the price is and where things are. That was one where obviously two teams matched up on a price.

“But we haven’t found a match yet.”

Krall isn’t saying what he’s looking for specifically, or even if he’s seeking to fill specific needs at this point.

But there’s no denying the offensive deficit the Reds have experienced since the season began and that has only been exacerbated in the two weeks since opening a six-week stretch of nothing but star-studded playoff contenders.

The Orioles outscored the Reds 16-2 in their weekend sweep at Great American Ballpark with the Reds mustering just 10 hits in the series — one on Sunday against Dean Kremer and the O’s bullpen before another too-little-too-late rally in the ninth that included a pair of singles.

The Reds have lost eight of their last 10, including five straight as they open a three-gamer Tuesday against the defending NL-champion Arizona Diamondbacks

They’ve been shut out twice in those 10 games — three times in the last 13 — and they’ve scored more than three runs only three times in the last 10 games.

They’re the worst-hitting team in the majors this year after Sunday (.210), rank second from the bottom in the NL in on-base percentage and are fourth-worst in OPS.

So is it any wonder what they might think they need as they talk to other teams about possible early season trades?

“I need some guys to come back from injury right now,” Krall said.

To that end, center fielder and leadoff man TJ Friedl was to talk with team officials after Sunday’s fourth minor-league rehab game with Triple-A Louisville about his timeline for returning from his March 16 wrist fracture.

Manager David Bell said Sunday that Tuesday’s series opener against Arizona was in play, depending on whether Friedl is determined to need more at-bats. He had a walk and two hits, including a double, Sunday.

Is that enough?

Matt McLain, the Reds’ best player last season as a rookie when healthy, has an important followup exam with his surgeon Monday to determine the first big step in his activity progression as the Reds eye what they hope is a return in August from his left shoulder injury.

For now, Krall calls the conversations with other teams “regular due diligence.” But this also is the time of year teams begin their first substantive roster evaluations.

And it doesn’t take a genius to evaluate the fact the Reds have scored in only two of their last 31 innings.

“Some of this has to just play out,” Krall said. “You can make a move for a day, and then it changes tomorrow. You’ve got to figure out what makes sense.”

That’s where the injury projections come into play as well as the progress of prospects.

Even the decision in recent days to release minor-league journeyman Mike Ford, the lefty slugger who once hit 16 homers in a big-league season, was a decision made for the perceived benefit of the season rather than, say, the rough week for the lineup.

To keep Ford once he opted out of his minor-league deal Wednesday would have meant releasing somebody else on the big-league roster.

“We just didn’t feel he was an upgrade for the team for a long period of time,” Krall said.

So even if the trade market has opened early this season — which is at least debatable on a league level — what plans or players do you scrap on the roster short-term knowing that the health of the roster might change over the longer run and that the strength of schedule almost certainly will?

“And when we say longer term, longer term is the season,” Krall said. “You’ve got to figure out — if this guy’s coming back shortly, it changes the dynamic of your team. If Brandon Williamson’s throwing again it changes the dynamic of your team. There’s a lot of guys like that.”

Williamson (shoulder), the seventh man on the starting rotation depth chart, starts a minor-league rehab assignment this week.

“Right now it’s still too early to tell,” Krall said, “but if somebody’s ready to make a deal and there’s a deal out there, then we’d have to look at it.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds willing to join Padres in early trades if they find fit