Unexpected trade pays off big-time for Reds

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Among the offseason moves the Reds made while spending around $108 million on free agents last winter, the best of them might have been an unexpected Spring Training trade for utility player Santiago Espinal to fill a sudden need.

Cincinnati thought it had a deep infield heading into camp before rookie third baseman Noelvi Marte was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. That was followed by losing second baseman Matt McLain for the season because of a left shoulder injury.

On March 20, president of baseball operations Nick Krall acquired Espinal from the Blue Jays for Minor League pitcher Chris McElvain.

"To be honest, I was actually happy as soon as it happened," Espinal said. "I didn’t care how many days we had left in Spring Training. I was already ready. The boys here made it more comfortable for me. It made me feel like I had been here for a long time. It’s been great."

Evolving from a role player on the bench to earn more time in the lineup, Espinal came into Sunday batting .354 in 44 games since July 8. That includes separate hitting streaks of 11 and 10 games and the game-winning hits in back-to-back games on Sept. 1-2 -- vs. the Brewers and Astros, respectively -- and again on Sept. 8 vs. the Mets.

“I feel like the more opportunity that I get, the better I can be," Espinal said. “I know what I need to do before I get into the game. Mentally, it’s being ready. It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound. It doesn’t matter if Randy Johnson is on the mound. I’m going to go get it. I’m going to compete and have a hungry mentality every day -- where every time I go to the plate, I am going to make it hard for pitchers to get me out.”

Espinal, a 2022 All-Star for Toronto, entered Sunday batting .259/.307/.380 with nine home runs and 45 RBIs in 108 games overall.

"I can’t believe we were able to get him, get an All-Star player. I don’t know what the return was -- and I’m not trying to be disrespectful to who the Blue Jays got -- for basically seemed like nothing at the time," Reds reliever Emilio Pagán said. "What he’s done in this league is hard to do. It’s hard to be an All-Star and he’s having arguably an even better stretch now than he did in his All-Star season. The results on the field are awesome -- but he’s also probably one of the better leaders in how he goes about his business, which is important for a young team."

Espinal, who turns 30 in November, has made several nifty plays in the infield this season, another fruit of his meticulous preparation. Pregame routines include taking short hops from coach Jeff Pickler off a ball machine that resembles an industrial-sized hair dryer. After that, coach Freddie Benavides uses a fungo bat to hit him grounders at the different positions.

For practice, Espinal uses a 9 1/2-inch glove, which is much smaller than his game glove.

“It makes me actually get down and realize where I’m at with my body and all of that stuff," Espinal said. "That’s why I like to use it. It makes sure the ball goes in the webbing and that I stay down on the ball and catch the ball the right way.”

Besides playing second base, third base and shortstop, Espinal played his first-ever games in the outfield, too. He's essentially become an everyday player for manager David Bell -- mostly at third base -- as Marte struggled offensively and defensively.

Espinal, who is making $2.73 million this season, is arbitration-eligible this winter. It should be a no-brainer for Cincinnati to tender him an offer.

"You could argue he’s one of the more important players on our roster, if not the most right now, because of what he can do defensively playing all over the field," Pagán said. "We’re definitely very thankful that we have him.”