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he jump. Should the Reds consider a contract?"The Reds will , allegedly, “get the pitching” this offseason, as team owner Bob Castellini has stressed since the moment that David Bell had been named manager of the club. It’s the beginning of December, and the Reds have yet to “get the pitching,” though the Winter Meetings are typically where the moves get made. Those Winter Meetings begin in Las Vegas next week.Earlier this week, a move was made that added even more the pitching to the free agent market, should the Reds choose to pursue it, though it’s not necessarily a name that will need to get done by the end of next week.On Monday, the Seibu Lions officially posted left handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, paving his way to pitch in the Major Leagues in 2019.Kikuchi is a 27 year old (former) ace of the Lions. By far, his best season for the Lions came in 2017, where he pitched 187.2 innings of 1.97 ERA ball, with a 0.911 WHIP and robust 4.43 SO/W. He struck out 217 batters while walking only 49. Had he made the leap in 2017, it would’ve been quite the bidding war.And that’s not to say that there won’t be a bidding war. Teams have until January 2 to get their terms submitted , so it’s not particularly pressing. But the biggest question about Kickuchi doesn’t necessarily surround his talent or stuff, but durability. The aforementioned 187.2 innings was quite a bit more than he’s ever been able to pitch in a season. In 2018, he reached 163.2, which otherwise would’ve been his career high by about 20 innings.To compound the issue, Kickuchi dealt with shoulder fatigue and stiffness as early as this past May, and his numbers suffered for it, which is enough to give any MLB team pause.I say his numbers suffered; they didn’t suffer all that badly. In the 163.2 IP in 2018, Yusei pitched to a 3.08 ERA with a 1.033 WHIP. The strikeouts regressed, from 10.4 K/9 in 2017 to 8.4 in 2018 (though that number is still higher than his full career average). His BB/9 remained a low 2.5. He wasn’t erratic... he was just more hittable. How much of that was natural regression and how much of that was due to the shoulder (and how much of the injury is correctable) is the real question.The stuff is as solid as you would expect. Kickuchi’s fastball consistently sits in the mid-90s, and he’s a typical top-rate Japanese pitching prospect in that he has plenty of breaking pitches that all play and are all honed. Each of the slider, curve, and splitter rate as “average or better.” As a lefty, that’s going to be super tasty for MLB general managers when considering a contract offer.Where this gets interesting for the Reds is the contract. While Kikuchi isn’t considered to be a future ace the way Yu Darvish was, not to mention the uber-two-way star Shohei Ohtani is predicted to be , he’s certainly very good. He also very much qualifies as getting the pitching. Patrick Corbin just received six years, $140 million from the Washington Nationals. That sets the market, and while the Reds are apparently “all up on” Dallas Keuchel, even at his predicted four years and $80 million from MLBTradeRumors.com, that’s a hefty price to pay even if it’s one the Reds should be considering.On the other hand, while there are plenty of questions surrounding Kickuchi’s durability and the uncertainty about how he’ll translate from the NPB, he’s a pitcher on the right side of 30 (by quite a bit) and figures to cost nearly half as much (not accounting for the release fees, which are friendlier to MLB clubs now).Kickuchi’s ceiling seems to be more of a number two in a rotation rather than the potential ace of some of his predecessors. So maybe he “only” settles into a three or a four. But, at 31, how much longer do teams figure Dallas Keuchel is more than that? Or JA Happ? Or even Patrick Corbin?There are plenty of questions to be answered about Yusei Kikuchi, but at the lower price and the potential upside, if the Reds are going to get the pitching, this is a signing they should seriously consider exploring. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Bryan Reynolds made a promise during his first days as a major leaguer, a vow that spoke volumes about the understated Pittsburgh Pirates rookie outfielder’s mindset.It has helped him evolve from a relative unknown in the deal that sent Andrew McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants to an invaluable cog in an offense that’s desperately trying to keep Reynolds’ injury-plagued team afloat.“I’m not a guy that’s going to strive to get in front of the camera at every opportunity I get ,” Reynolds said shortly after making his major league debut on April 20.He wasn’t kidding.When the media descended on the Pirates’ clubhouse shortly after Reynolds’ three-run home run capped the franchise’s biggest rally in over a decade in an 8-7 victory over Detroit on Wednesday night, Reynolds’ locker was already empty. No talking about a 3-for-4 night that boosted his average to .362 — tops among first-year players — or trying to put his electrifying start into perspective. That’s simply not his way.Besides, his teammates are doing a pretty good job serving as his hype men anyway.“What Bryan Reynolds is doing right now is extremely impressive,” pitcher Trevor Williams said. “I hope a lot more eyes are being opened to who he is as a ballplayer and who he is as a person, because it’s really, really impressive. I hope he gets the attention that he deserves.”If the switch-hitting Reynolds keeps raking, he’s going to get it whether he wants it or not.Acquired along with reliever Kyle Crick in January 2018 as part of the deal that sent McCutchen — a hugely popular five-time All-Star who served as the foundation around which the Pirates shed two decades of losing — to the Giants, the 24-year-old Reynolds has become a fixture on manager Clint Hurdle’s lineup card. Putting together a pair of hitting streaks of at least 10 games in your first two months in the majors will do that.Reynolds has played so well and so steadily — collecting at least one hit in 37 of the 43 games he’s started — it has allowed the Pirates not to rush veteran Corey Dickerson back from a strained right shoulder that sidelined him for more than two months. Dickerson, who won a Gold Glove and hit .300 after coming to Pittsburgh on the eve of the 2018 season, has quickly developed a bond with Reynolds since returning from the injured list. The two nerd-out almost daily over hitting and Dickerson hasn’t been shy about offering bits of advice.Dickerson suggested to Reynolds that he write down everything that’s working for him at the moment so he can come back to it later when things go sideways. Thing is, Dickerson isn’t so sure how sideways things will get for Reynolds.“He’s so simple,” Dickerson said. “He has a simple approach. When you’re simple like that, you’re going to have good contact.”A second-round pick by the Giants in the 2016 draft, Reynolds earned a call-up to the Pirates following injuries to Dickerson and Starling Marte and a hot start at Triple-A Indianapolis , where he hit five home runs in 13 games. His power doesn’t come so much from strength — he’s a lean 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds — but rather solid mechanics and a knack for knowing when to pounce.When Detroit’s Nick Ramirez floated a 78 mph breaking ball over the outer half of the plate with two on in the sixth on Wednesday night, Reynolds turned on it, dropped his bat and started sprinting, only taking a cursory glance at the ball as it landed five rows deep into the left-field bleachers to give the Pirates the lead.“It was a big-time play by a big-time player,” Williams said. “He’s been doing nothing but impressing Pirates and guys he’s been playing against.”Not that you’d know it by watching Reynolds. When he crossed home plate, he celebrated by nonchalantly bashing forearms with teammates Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman, then jogged back to the dugout with only the hint of a grin emerging from underneath facial hair best described as a wispy rumor of a goatee.Reynolds arrived in Pittsburgh the same day as ebullient shortstop Cole Tucker. The charismatic Tucker quickly became a fan favorite with his ever-present grin and the massive set of curls that erupt from underneath his cap when he tries to turn a single into a double. Reynolds is the opposite. Throw a flannel shirt on him and put a guitar in his hands and he looks like he could be the low-key bass player in a Southern rock band.Call it part of what Hurdle described as a “cool, calm and collected” demeanor that has allowed Reynolds to adjust quickly to the majors. He won’t keep hitting .362, but Hurdle thinks he might stick closer to that number than most predict.“I’m always intrigued by the fact they say he was under the radar or he’s over-performed,” Hurdle said. “Maybe we underestimated him. Maybe we under-evaluated him. Could be one or the other. All I know is he gets a chance, he shows up, he plays, he works hard. And there’s a lot of value to be said for that.”