Cincinnati Reds prospect Nick Senzel has had an impressive spring and appears to have done enough to earn a spot on the major league roster, but he was among a group of players that the team reassigned to minor league camp on Friday. His agent is furious about that.
After the Reds announced that Senzel will begin the season in Triple-A, his agent Joel Wolfe ripped the team in some comments to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Wolfe described the situation as “an egregious case of service-time manipulation.”
After the Reds sent Nick Senzel down to AAA, his agent, Joel Wolfe, told ESPN that it was “a simply egregious case of service-time manipulation.” Here are more quotes from that interview. pic.twitter.com/nTMvhgeduK
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 22, 2019
Senzel is a third baseman, but the Reds said they would give him every opportunity to win the starting center field job after they non-tendered Billy Hamilton this offseason. The 23-year-old has seemed comfortable in the outfield this spring and has batted .308 through 12 exhibition games.
Many believe Senzel is one of the 25 best players on the Reds roster, but keeping him in the minors for two weeks will prevent him from accruing a year of service time and keep him under team control for an additional season.
We’ve seen a similar situation unfold with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays, and the slugger has reportedly considered taking legal action against the organization.
