Zach Buchanan

zbuchanan@enquirer.com

OXON HILL, Md. – The Cincinnati Reds have one area of obvious veteran surplus – the middle infield. The problem is, so does everyone else.

The past three days at the Winter Meetings in the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, the Reds have tried to gauge interest in 31-year-old shortstop Zack Cozart and 35-year-old second baseman Brandon Phillips. Both are free agents after the upcoming season, and both have 22-year-olds nipping at their heels in Jose Peraza and Dilson Herrera.

But neither veteran seems on the verge of switching jerseys. Most teams are set at shortstop, and the few teams in need of a second baseman could be scared off by Phillips’ no-trade rights and $14 million price tag. If nothing changes, the Reds may be facing the reality of finding room for four players at two positions in 2017.

“You can’t control who comes knocking or what their needs are,” general manager Dick Williams said. “This particular year, people seem to be set. It’s always good to have some depth there. We’ve got some good players. I think it’ll work itself out. If you end up going into spring with that group in the middle, I’ve always said those are some pretty good players to mix and match.”

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Playing all four isn’t impossible, but it is complicated. Price doesn’t envision a situation where two players are full-time starters while the other two are on the bench, so the Reds will need to find a way to get all four involved to some extent. That almost assuredly means somewhat reduced roles for Cozart and Phillips.

It could also mean moving Peraza around the diamond. Manager Bryan Price would like to avoid pinballing the young Venezuelan from position to position, but may be forced to do it anyway to feed all of his hungry mouths. Price also said Peraza should probably get playing-time priority over Herrera, although Williams said both youngsters need to get time.

It may mean getting creative, and it may mean trips to and from Louisville for Peraza and Herrera.

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“Two of the guys have options, so if you need to option them down and play, you could do that,” Williams said. “The other two are in their last year. If they’re not going to be here beyond this year, they can take a more limited role. We still have to go through six or seven weeks of playing to see who’s playing well and see that everybody’s healthy. Then we’ll deal with having to divvy up playing time if everybody’s healthy and playing well.”

Sending Peraza or Herrera to the minors at some point may be unavoidable with Cincinnati’s glut – Cozart and Phillips still have to play to a certain extent to maintain potential trade value – but the Reds won’t do it frivolously.

Both young infielders have only one option year remaining; sending them down this year means committing a big-league spot to them in 2018. With Cozart and Phillips gone at that point, Peraza and Herrera will need to be ready. Still, as Williams point out, neither is without big-league experience.

“They’ve both had more than a cup of coffee,” he said. “They’ve shown they can compete at both levels. It’d be good to get them big-league playing time this year. Most important is to get them playing time.”

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The exact division of playing time remains to be seen. They would certainly expect both prospects to receive more than the 256 plate appearances Peraza received last year.

That was more than Peraza likely would have taken if not for Cozart’s knee issues in the final month of the season. The situation could still resolve itself – trade interest could heat up this weekend, or a contender could lose an infielder in spring and suddenly need a replacement.

“We’ve got to get to spring training and see what we have and see how the health shakes out,” Williams said. “It’s fair to say we’re trying to get playing time for guys there. It’s unlikely two of those four are going to get 140-150 starts and the other two are going to be on the bench for that time.”