Alfredo Duno

If they're not on the 40-man roster, they're good to go and do whatever they need to do.

So from a standpoint of guys like Alfredo Duno, who we want to develop faster than humanly possible at this point, he can continue with his offseason uninterrupted.

So that's a key note for some of the guys in the Reds organization that have opportunities to advance but haven't hit the 40-man yet.

So basically what you're saying is if we don't have a season, we're going to be the locked-on Dayton Dragons, the locked-on Chattanooga Lookouts.

This wasn't quite as, as stellar of a selection, but still I think the right one here, another one we lined up on.

Alfredo Duno, who... actually I, I should have looked back to see, you know, who the winners were last year, as I feel like Duno maybe won it last year for Cincinnati as well.

So maybe this is back to back for Duno.

Um, not quite as phenomenal of a year this year, but still really solid.

So, I don't know if we see him up w- up with the big club this upcoming year in 2027.

I mean, maybe for a cup of coffee, but you know, probably more so 2028, and I think he could really become one of the better power hitting backstops in the game.

So, Alfredo Dunow, the selection here for me, and both of us.

For the Reds, uh, what do you have h- to add on Dunow, Toby?

But we spent a lot of time talking about this.

Tim Daniel joined me and we talked about how it makes sense to us to give Ty Steve a qualifying offer and try and bridge some more time to get to Alfredo Duno.

I read the comment sections.

You guys were like, just bring Duno up now.

Ketcher is...

the one position where the red should spend and they should use that money and bring Tyler Stevenson back.

The organization also, uh, you know, can't afford to waste more stud players and Alfredo Duno can't be rushed.

And I just, I can't emphasize enough that, that the reds organization has to be careful with how they develop Duno because he could be great, but if they rush him, if they derail him, he's, We will never know.

If you look at this list we're going to talk about in the next segment, you and I were literally making fun of it because it's so short and bad.

The Reds really kind of can't afford to let him walk in the sense that the drop-off to Jose Trevino, which we'll talk about later, Alfredo Duno not quite being ready yet, PJ Higgins just selected free agency, which is a hilarious statement to say.

And, you know...

It's not like there's a whole lot of catchers.

And maybe Tyler Stevenson isn't worth $23 million.

I don't think he's worth $23 million on the open market.

But for the things you just said, specifically the bridge to Duno, because what we know is Alfredo Duno is not ready and he's not going to be ready whenever there is baseball next, whether that's opening day, regular 2027, whether that's June of 2027, whether that's all the way to 2028, whenever that is, Duno's not going to be ready to be catcher number one on day one.

They need some kind of bridge to fill that gap.

I referenced it every day on the postcast for like two weeks because I was so on board.

Yeah, that's like if you don't trade him and you let him walk for nothing and then you're looking at a trio of Jose Trevino, Will Banfield, and PJ Higgins as your catching rotation next year because Alfredo Duno is not ready yet.

then that's the other piece of it.

A qualifying offer.

The rest of the top 10, a lot of pretty good games here.

Bo Bichette, Tower Freeman, Connor Griffin, Sammy Basayo, Julio Rodriguez, Alfredo Duno, Eloy Jimenez, Reyniel Rodriguez.

So it's a pretty good list there, and Premier is only beaten out by Vlad Jr.

Also, shout-out to Franklin the Turtle.

I think that I would trade Lodolo, let Singer walk, and then I'd probably let Stevenson walk as well.

Go for like a stopgap catcher until Alfredo Duno is ready and focus my resources on the outfield and like hopefully seeing what shakes available for starting pitching on the trade market.

But yeah, this is going to be, they need to fix a lot.

And it's when you're talking about, you have a sequence of six or seven needs that you have to hit in one off season to feel like you're going into the upcoming year in good shape from a roster perspective.

Maybe out of this list, the biggest prospect name is our next one to talk about.

That's Alfredo Duno with Cincinnati.

20 years old this year.

Spent most of the year in high A, but he'll end up with about 150 plate appearances in double A by the end of the year.

That's excellent.

102 strikeouts, not killing you.

So, I mean, everything you'd want a catching prospect to do at 20 years old as he moves his way up to AA, Alfredo Duno just checked like every single one of those boxes this year.

But on his team, so that he could get some days off, they did have one of those old guys that was supposed to be an org guy, John Michael Fail, F-A-I-L-E, and 26 years old.