C. Trent Rosecrans

crosecrans@enquirer.com

The Reds have made the biggest move they’re going to make in regard to the coaching staff, firing pitching coach Mark Riggins last week, according to President of Baseball Operations Walt Jocketty.

“We don’t anticipate any other changes,” Jocketty told The Enquirer when asked about the status of manager Bryan Price.

When asked if that was for the time being or the rest of the season, Jocketty answered, “for the season.”

The Reds went 32-57 in the first half, on pace for the second-worst season in team history. The .360 winning percentage is only better than the 1934 team that lost 99 games in a 152-game schedule, finishing 52-99-1 (a .344 winning percentage).

The 2016 Reds have the highest ERA in baseball at 5.47, with blame shouldered both by the starting rotation (5.29) and the bullpen (5.73) – both the worst marks in baseball.

Coming into the season, Jocketty and Reds general manager Dick Williams said Price would be evaluated on things other than the team’s record, especially working with the team’s young pitchers.

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“I think he’s done an excellent job. This has been a tough first half for anybody, but especially the manager trying to field a competitive club every night and piece together a pitching staff that has been broken most of the year and trying to keep everyone’s spirits up,” Jocketty said of Price. “I think the guys are still playing well and still playing hard and that’s a big part of what he’s responsible for.”

Jocketty also noted the recent returns of Anthony DeSclafani (oblique), Michael Lorenzen (elbow) and Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) as boosts to the team’s struggling pitching staff. DeSclafani has helped the rotation, while the other two have moved to the bullpen for the rest of the season in order to stabilize the unit.

Right-hander Homer Bailey, signed by Jocketty to a $110 million extension before the 2014 season, is expected to make his fourth rehab start on Friday and could return to the Reds by the end of the month.

“Some of our pitching is starting to come around like we thought it would. I think the biggest disappointment was we had guys hurt directly out of spring training or got hurt shortly thereafter,” Jocketty said of the team’s first half.

The Reds brought up one of their top pitching prospects, left-hander Cody Reed, who has not fared as well as they would have hoped in the early going. In his first five starts, the 23-year-old Reed is 0-4 with a 8.39 ERA. The team’s other pitching prospect close to the majors, right-hander Robert Stephenson, has looked good in his two starts at the big-league level this season, going 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA, but has had some struggles in Triple-A.

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Stephenson has gone 5-5 with a 3.89 ERA for Louisville, but has seen his strikeout rate drop so far this season, while still struggling with walks. Stephenson walked two batters in each of his big-league starts, but he’s walked at least three in all but two of his 14 starts since returning from the big-league team. Jocketty said he hopes to see Stephenson back with the Reds by the end of the season, but doesn’t see an imminent arrival.

“I know he had a couple of great outings earlier in the year, but has gone down and he still has some things to work out, I think we’d like to see him up here at some point, but there’s no timetable,” Jocketty said.

He also said top position prospect Jesse Winker has to show he’s recovered from a wrist injury before he’s called up. Winker returned to the Bats’ lineup on Thursday after a short rehab stint in Arizona.

While neither Stephenson nor Winker should be in a Reds uniform in the immediate future, Jose Peraza will likely stay in the big leagues. Peraza has played in 25 games for the Reds this season and in 21 of the team’s 24 games since being called up in mid-June. He has started 12 of those games, but only three in the nine games in July. Peraza has started games in five different positions – second base, shortstop, center field, left field and designated hitter.

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“It’s not ideal, but I think he is getting great experience and there’s not a lot more he can do at Triple-A, and I think Bryan’s done a good job of trying to get him worked in to different areas, different positions and getting him at-bats,” Jocketty said. “Ideally we’d like to settle on one place for him and have him play more, but that’s just not going to happen right now.”

Also not happening right now is a trade, he said. Although teams have inquired about the availability of All-Star outfielder Jay Bruce, Jocketty said most of the trade market is focusing on pitching at this point.

Earlier on Thursday, the Padres traded All-Star left-hander Drew Pomeranz to the Red Sox in exchange for a top Red Sox pitching prospect, starting the movement of pitchers. Other dominoes may have to fall before teams get around to looking to improve offense, Jocketty said.

“We still have some clubs that are interested in him and we’ll still talk with them. There’s nothing imminent or even on the front-burner,” Jocketty said. “I think most clubs right now are looking for pitching. We’re not going to move any pitching. Most clubs are looking for pitching that’s why I think anything with Jay may not happen right away if it happens at all.”

Bruce still has a $13 million team option for the 2017 season (with a $1 million buyout), and the team had looked to trade him not only last year at the trade deadline, but even agreed to a deal that would have sent him to Toronto during spring training. That trade fell through and Bruce has had a resurgent season after two down years, increasing his trade value.

Also increasing his trade value, it would seem, would be shortstop Zack Cozart. But Jocketty said there’s no market for shortstops right now and hasn’t gotten any interest from other teams for Cozart, who turns 31 in August.

Cozart has one year of salary arbitration remaining and could become a free agent following the 2017 season.