Reds trade reliever Fernando Cruz to Yankees for catcher Jose Trevino

The move solidifies the catcher position behind Tyler Stephenson.

With Luke Maile having reached free agency at the end of the 2024 season, the Cincinnati Reds were in a pretty desperate situation behind the plate. Tyler Stephenson - who had perhaps his best all-around season last year - was the only catcher on the team’s 40-man roster, and the options across the minors were few and far between.

Cincinnati addressed that issue for the 2025 season late Friday evening, swinging a deal with the New York Yankees that landed them backstop Jose Trevino in exchange for reliever Fernando Cruz.

Abreu, 32, was acquired by the Yankees from the Texas Rangers back in 2022, and across a trio of seasons in the Bronx posted a combined 79 OPS+ in 755 PA.

An offensive powerhouse he is not. A pretty solid all-around receiver and defender he is.

Statcast rated him in the 95th percentile in pitch framing and 88th percentile in blocks above average just last year, even though his pop time and ability to catch baserunners rated incredibly poorly. Given the relative youth of the Cincinnati pitching staff, the former two traits appear to have taken on great importance to Nick Krall & Co. in their search for help behind the plate.

Trevino is in his final year of arbitration eligibility, and the model produced by MLB Trade Rumors projects him to earn $3.4 million for the 2025 season. That’s a good bit more than the league-minimum that Fernando Cruz was slated to earn in 2025, his final season before reaching arbitration.

In Cruz, the Reds give up a reliever who tantalized with his ability to throw a splitter with more action than anyone else in the game. His 14.09 K/9 was the third-highest among the 160 pitchers who threw at least 50 IP last year, though his 5.04 BB/9 ranked as the 11th worst. Despite his stuff looking mostly unhittable, he still managed to be tagged for 9 homers this year and a 4.86 ERA - though his FIP of 3.27 suggests he was a much better arm than that.

It seems a pretty tough price to pay for a catcher making that much on his final year of team control, especially when you add Alex Jackson to the mix. Still, there’s the thought that Cruz - who’s late-bloomer story is pretty incredible - is on the cusp of his 35th birthday and the other catching options on the open market simply weren’t anywhere close to the caliber of receiver as Trevino. I think it’s less that the Reds chose to give up a big league arm to make this move and more that they now need to bolster the bullpen more than they already needed to do, and they already needed to do that, too.