Reds designate Kyle Nicolas for assignment, select Lyon Richardson

The Cincinnati Reds placed right-hander Pierce Johnson on the injured list with right elbow inflammation and recalled right-hander Lyon Richardson to fill his roster spot, the club announced. To clear a 40-man roster space for Richardson, the Reds designated right-hander Kyle Nicolas for assignment — closing a chapter on a brief and turbulent stint that began with a trade and ended with a mop-up appearance that required a position player to finish the inning.

What happened

The club announced Johnson's placement on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, triggering the sequence. Richardson, a right-hander, was selected to take Johnson's spot on the active roster. Because Richardson needed to be added to the 40-man roster, Cincinnati designated Nicolas for assignment to create the necessary room.

Under general league mechanics, a pitcher placed on the injured list is eligible for a 15-day IL stint, and a player designated for assignment must be traded, released, or placed on waivers within seven days. Nicolas's path from here — whether that means a trade, a release, or an outright assignment to the minors — remains to be determined.

Why it matters

The Johnson injury is the operational center of this move. Right elbow inflammation is the kind of phrase that tends to generate follow-up questions faster than it generates answers, and the club has not offered a timetable or further diagnosis beyond what was announced. For a Reds bullpen already navigating a long season, losing a right-hander to the IL — regardless of how that bullpen has performed — means leaning on whoever is next in line. Richardson is that person now.

The Nicolas designation closes a short and uneven run with the organization. He arrived via trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates in March, with outfielder Tyler Callihan heading to Pittsburgh in the deal, per MLB Trade Rumors. Nicolas did not break camp with the big-league club but made his team debut in early April. Over seven appearances, he allowed seven earned runs across 7 1/3 innings and issued 13 walks — a walk rate that would test the patience of even the most philosophically inclined pitching coach. The 40-man space he occupied is now Richardson's.

The numbers

The Reds carry a record of 75-87 (.463), sitting 5th in the NL Central, 28 games back in the division. They have been eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race, and enter Saturday's game on a one-game losing streak. The Wild Card ranking sits at 9th, 13.0 relative to the cut line.

Those standings provide the backdrop against which every roster decision this month gets made. When a club is playing out the string, the calculus around a DFA shifts: it becomes less about protecting a pennant race and more about evaluating who belongs on a 40-man roster heading into the offseason.

A closer look at Nicolas's time in Cincinnati

Nicolas's tenure with the Reds was brief enough to fit inside a single box score summary, but eventful enough to warrant a second look. His debut was the kind of outing that gets remembered in the clubhouse long after the box score is forgotten: three earned runs in mop-up duty, with a position player called in to finish the inning. That is a specific kind of rough.

What followed was more encouraging. Per MLB Trade Rumors, Nicolas settled in for four consecutive scoreless appearances after that debut — a stretch that suggested the debut might have been an outlier rather than a preview. Then came a late April outing against the Tampa Bay Rays, in which he allowed four earned runs. He was optioned back to Triple-A shortly after. The seven earned runs over 7 1/3 innings and 13 walks across his seven appearances represent the full ledger of his time with Cincinnati at the big-league level.

The trade that brought him here sent outfielder Tyler Callihan to Pittsburgh. Whether the Reds view this DFA as the end of the Nicolas experiment or simply a roster-mechanics necessity — with a potential waiver claim or outright assignment keeping him in the organization — is not yet known.

Where the club stands

The Reds are 75-87 (.463), fifth in the NL Central and 28 games behind the division leader. They have been eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race, where they rank 9th and sit 13.0 games relative to the cut line. The current streak is a one-game losing skid.

Saturday's home game at Great American Ball Park features Brady Singer against Atlanta's Martín Pérez. Sunday brings Nick Lodolo to the mound against Spencer Strider. Then, on Monday, June 1, Lyon Richardson is listed as the probable starter against the Kansas City Royals' Luinder Avila — which means the right-hander recalled in this very transaction is expected to take the ball in the series opener against Kansas City. That is a quick turnaround from roster move to probable starter, and it answers the most immediate question about what Richardson's role looks like right now.

What we don't know yet

The nature and severity of Johnson's right elbow inflammation has not been detailed beyond the announcement. No timetable has been offered, and no further diagnosis has been reported. Elbow inflammation in a pitcher covers a wide range of outcomes, and the club has not indicated where on that spectrum Johnson's situation falls.

For Nicolas, the seven-day DFA clock is now running. Whether he clears waivers, is claimed by another club, or is traded remains open. His 13 walks over 7 1/3 innings at the big-league level this season will be part of whatever evaluation any interested team conducts, but so will those four consecutive scoreless appearances that came between the rough debut and the late April Rays outing.

What to watch

Richardson's Monday start against Kansas City is the most immediate thing to monitor. He steps into a rotation spot — or at minimum a high-leverage bullpen role — on short notice, and his performance will shape how the Reds use him through the remainder of a season that has already been mathematically resolved in the standings.

The Johnson situation warrants watching for any update on diagnosis or timeline. Right elbow inflammation can resolve quickly or linger, and the club has given no indication of which direction this is heading.

And Nicolas's DFA resolution — claim, trade, release, or outright — will close the loop on a transaction that started with a March trade from Pittsburgh and ends, at least at the big-league level, with seven appearances, seven earned runs, and 13 walks in 7 1/3 innings. The bullpen door revolves. The paperwork follows.