What Nick Krall's History Shows Us About Reds Chances to Build Championship Contender

Nick Krall took over as the man in charge of the Cincinnati Reds front office on October 8, 2020. Since then, he has added very little to this roster.

Using the Wins Above Replacement stat from Baseball-Reference, we can see just how much the Reds added vs. how much they traded away. I will not be adding up the WAR the Reds lost on players who simply became free agents and signed elsewhere in this exercise.

Krall has made multiple trades to acquire talent and has signed some free agents. Unfortunately, what is most notable about the moves Krall has made is the players he’s traded away in the name of budgetary restraints and a big free agent deal that was a negative, in Jeimer Candelario.

For their time spent in a Reds uniform, the players that Krall either traded for, signed, or drafted have all added up to 58.2 WAR. Opposing that is the WAR accumulated by players that Krall has traded away, which is 50.7. So there has been a net increase of 7.5 WAR over the five-plus years Krall has led the Reds' front office.

Just for comparison’s sake, Nick Kurtz had 5.4 WAR last year. He was drafted in the 2024 MLB Draft just a few picks after Chase Burns. I bring him into this to illustrate the fact that all of the combined moves made by the Reds in the last five-plus years have amassed exactly 2.1 more WAR than Kurtz did with his rookie season.

You might be saying it’s unfair to totally blame Krall, as he was mandated to balance a budget, first and foremost. You’re not wrong. This, however, shows just how many of those trades turned into pure salary dumps rather than actual talent acquisitions.

Many trades he made to get rid of veteran players for prospects, acquired players who have not yet made it to the MLB level. On the flip side, some of his bargain signings were for players who showed very little promise to begin with, and then followed their Reds tenure by not playing for another team in the league.

If you do not have the resources to compete financially with the big spenders then you MUST have the scouting department capable of locating the diamonds in the rough. It would appear the Reds have not had that, either. The blame falls on Krall for not assembling a stronger scouting department.

Some players signed during the tenure of Krall’s predecessor, Dick Williams, have helped elevate the Reds a bit more, but this franchise is largely in a similar spot to where it was in 2021. The Reds are a few dollars short of serious and their time with Elly De La Cruz on the roster is shrinking by the day.

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