The answer to the question of might San Francisco’s LaMonte Wade Jr. be a fix for the 2025 Reds offense is yes, though it’s worth emphatically pointing out that the question said ‘a fix’ and not ‘the fix.’
Wade, who’ll reach free agency at the end of the 2025 season, is reportedly on the trade block in the Giants front office, while Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported just yesterday that the team is pursuing big-smashin’ free agent 1B Pete Alonso to further render Wade redundant. Wade spent time at 1B in 94 games for the Giants just last year after spending time there in 116 games the season prior, but his 25 total dingers across the last two seasons pale in comparison to Alonso’s power (80 dingers in that time).
Here’s yet another example of me proposing the Reds take the lesser of the two options purely in the name of saving money. Here’s where I also mention that yes, I would prefer the Reds pursue Pete Alonso instead of LaMonte Wade Jr., but I’m doing my best to look at the baseball player landscape through the lens of the team’s epic frugality instead of through the lens of actually trying hard to win baseball games, something that’s become a giant pain in the patooskie over time.
Wade is estimated to earn some $4.7 million in 2025, his final arbitration year. Alonso is probably going to sign for $100 million or more. Other teams are playing games on a wireless xBox elite series 2 controller. We’re still stuck on the original Nintendo one. You can either try to figure out how to play that game within the limitations, or throw up your hands and walk away. I’m trying to do the former here.
Wade’s weakest points in San Francisco might be exactly what make him a great fit for the 2025 Reds, however, and I’ll try to lay that out here once more. Last summer, I made the suggestion that the Reds try to pick him up at the trade deadline, too, so this is me doubling down on a guy whose primary attributes – great walk rate, ability to mash LHP, positional versatility – make him a really good fit for an otherwise malleable roster situation.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Wade owns a .376 OBP – good for 11th best among the 144 MLB players who’ve logged at least 900 PA in that time. The Reds leader over that time was Jonathan India (tied for 34th best at .349), and you may recall the Reds jettisoned him to Kansas City already this winter.
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