Breaking: Reds sign in Phillies mega star in a blockbuster deal.

According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, the right-handed pitcher David Buchanan was sent to the Cincinnati Reds by the Philadelphia Phillies in return for monetary considerations in a trade.

Although the trade deadline has passed, only deals involving players on the 40-man roster are eligible to take place. It is still possible to trade minor league players who are not on the 40-man roster. Cincinnati needed to locate additional pitching, and the Philadelphia Phillies’ farm system was that somewhere.

Nick Martinez and Julian Aguiar are the only two starters in the Reds’ rotation right now. Nick Lodolo was placed on the disabled list by the team today, and David Bell seems to imply that his finger injury might prevent him from playing for the rest of the season. Andrew Abbott is listed as hurt. Hunter Greene is listed as hurt. The Louisville Bats only have three players in their rotation that have been earning semi-regular starts, even down in Triple-A. When you consider the current situation of the Reds organization’s starting pitching at the two highest levels, it’s just horrible news all around.

Thirty-five-year-old David Buchanan has pitched almost everywhere. Ten years ago, he played in the major leagues for portions of two seasons and started 35 games for the Phillies. He agreed to pitch in Japan after playing Triple-A with Philadelphia’s Lehigh Valley squad for the entirety of 2016. After remaining there from 2017 to 2019, he left to make a pitch in Korea from 2020 to 2023. In 2024, he returned to the United States and re-signed with the Phillies.

This season, he has played all but one of his games in Triple-A with Lehigh Valley. After making 16 starts and six relief appearances, he finished 9-3 with a 4.82 ERA. He pitched 102.2 innings, picking up 78 strikeouts, walking 33 hitters, and surrendering 119 hits. For whatever reason, he made a spot start for High-A Jersey Shore on Sunday, which was his last start with the Phillies organization. He pitched seven perfect innings.

Though not a very aggressive groundball pitcher, Buchanan is a groundball pitcher. Compared to the big league average of 42%, he has a 49% groundball percentage this season. This season, he exhibited significant home/road splits in terms of home runs and OPS. This season, opponents have hit for almost comparable averages against him, but they slugged .504 at home against him and just .420 on the road. He allowed 10 home runs at home in 12 games and just three in 10 games on the road.