Tony

Santillan

As expected, Santillan will require surgery to address a labral tear in his left hip. There’s a chance that his rehabilitation process stretches into next spring. There should be a definitive return timetable following the procedure.

It’s Santillan’s second IL stint of the year, as he missed mostly of July and August with an oblique strain.
With his velocity down about two mph from the previous couple of seasons,

the 29-year-old Santillan concludes the year with a 6.42 ERA in 40 2/3 innings. That would seem to make him a non-tender candidate this winter.

He’ll return to the late game Reds bullpen group. Santillan may still have saves ahead of him if Emilio Pagán falters again, but it appears unlikely at this point. The 29-year old returns to a 5.23 ERA in 31 innings with the Reds so far this season.

Santillan’s velocity in his second rehab outing was down about 1.5 mph on his fastball and three mph on his slider from where he was before landing on the IL with an oblique strain in late June. Still, the Reds probably won’t wait much longer to activate him.

Pagán wrapped up a minor league rehab assignment over the weekend and will regain his role as Cincinnati’s closer. The 35-year-old veteran stopper has been out since early May working his way back from a hamstring strain. He should be rostered in all fantasy leagues based on his track record and minimal in-house competition with the Reds.

The Reds could certainly use Pagán back to shore up the back-end of their bullpen with Tony Santillan hitting the injured list with an oblique strain prior to Friday’s series opener against the Pirates. The 35-year-old veteran stopper’s return to Cincinnati’s relief corps feels imminent and he should be rostered in any fantasy leagues where he somehow ended up on the waiver wire after suffering a hamstring strain back in early May.

It’s been a rough season for Santillan, who has a 5.23 ERA in 31 innings for the Reds. He had been pitching slightly better in June and had taken over the role as the primary closer with three saves in the month. It’s hard to say who may take the ninth-inning duties now because the Reds’ bullpen has been so poor, but Tejay Antone has the next highest game leverage index in June, and he also has a 0.69 ERA in 13 innings across 11 appearances this month, so maybe he’s worth the gamble.

Pagán checked out fine from a physical standpoint after facing hitters in a 25-pitch live batting practice session on Monday and will kick off a rehab assignment later this week. The 35-year-old veteran stopper has been on the shelf recovering from a left hamstring strain since early May. He’s on track to return to closing games for Cincinnati before the end of June, which would push Tony Santillan back to a setup role.

Santillan is a difficult guy to trust with his nine homers surrendered on the season and 5.10 ERA, but he has earned saves in three straight appearances and has turned in seven scoreless innings since giving up three runs in a loss on June 3. He had an easy one today, though Amed Rosario and Anthony Volpe both had sharp lineouts to center in the ninth. He will need Monday off after this, so perhaps Tejay Antone could close then.

Santillan got the call to protect a two-run lead against the heart of New York’s order and managed to work around a one-out single by Juan Soto to preserve the victory. He’s picked up the last two saves for Cincinnati and appears to be their preferred ninth-inning option with Emilio Pagán (hamstring) on the shelf.