The Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies have made a trade, sending right-handed pitcher David Buchanan to Cincinnati in exchange for cash considerations according to Matt Gelb of The Athletic.

While the trade deadline has come and gone, that only applies to trades of players on the 40-man roster. Trades of minor league players not on the 40-man roster can still take place. Cincinnati had to find more pitching somewhere and that somewhere was the farm system of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Reds currently only have two starters in their rotation in Julian Aguiar and Nick Martinez. Today the team placed Nick Lodolo on the injured list and David Bell seemed to suggest that his finger injury may keep him out for the remainder of the season. Andrew Abbott is on the injured list. Hunter Greene is on the injured list. Even down in Triple-A, the Louisville Bats only have three guys who have been getting semi-regular starts in their rotation currently. It’s just bad news all around when you look at the current state of starting pitching at the two highest levels for the Reds organization.

David Buchanan is a 35-year-old who has pitched just about everywhere. A decade ago he spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues, making 35 starts for the Phillies. After spending all of 2016 in Triple-A with Philadelphia’s team in Lehigh Valley, he signed to pitch in Japan. He stayed there from 2017 through 2019 before then heading to Korea to pitch from 2020-2023. He came back to the US in 2024 and signed back with the Phillies.

All but one of his games came in Triple-A with Lehigh Valley this season. He went 9-3 with a 4.82 ERA in 16 starts and six relief appearances. He threw 102.2 innings while giving up 119 hits, walking 33 batters, and picking up 78 strikeouts. His final start with the Phillies organization came on Sunday when he made a spot start for High-A Jersey Shore for some reason. He threw seven shutout innings. You can see his career stats here.

Buchanan is a groundball pitcher, though not an extreme groundball type of guy. He’s had a 49% groundball rate this year (big league average is 42%). He had big home/road splits this season when it came to OPS and home runs. Opponents hit for nearly identical averages against him this season, but they slugged .504 at home against him and just .420 on the road. He allowed 10 home runs at home in 12 games and just three in 10 games on the road.

When it comes to stuff, David Buchanan throws everything except the kitchen sink. This year in Triple-A he’s throwing a 4-seamer, a 2-seamer, a cutter (which he throws more than anything else), a change up, a curveball, and a slider. His fastball works around 91 MPH, while his cutter is around 88. Both his change up and slider have worked in the low 80’s this season, and his curveball works in the mid-70’s.