The Reds sent reliever Lucas Sims to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for 19-year old pitching prospect Ovis Portes on Tuesday before the MLB trade deadline.

Sims has spent seven seasons in Cincinnati since being acquired in a trade from the Braves. Sims was (1-4) with a 3.57 ERA in 43 appearances for the Reds this season. Sims is playing on a $2.85MM salary in his final season of arbitration. He’ll hit free agency for the first-time next winter. 

Portes is a 6’4″ righty who signed with the Sox out of Antigua and Barbuda in 2022. Baseball America ranked him as the #29 prospect in the Boston system.

Cincinnati also traded right-hander Frankie Montas to Milwaukee for young outfielder Joey Wiemer and veteran right-hander Jakob Junis on Tuesday evening. 

Montas signed a one-year, $16MM contract after missing nearly the entire 2023 season due to shoulder surgery. Junis is on a one-year, $7MM contract that contains a mutual option for the 2025 season. 

The Cincinnati Reds have acquired first baseman Ty France and cash from the Mariners in exchange for minor league catcher Andruw Salcedo.

Seattle designated France for assignment last week.

Cincinnati also placed catcher Austin Wynns on the 10-day injured list due to a lat strain, selected the contract of catcher Eric Yang from Triple-A Louisville and transferred righty Graham Ashcraft to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.

France figures to slide in at first base — certainly against left-handed pitching — while Candelario could see increased time at DH. France is not currently signed to a contract for the 2025 season but is arbitration-eligible one final time this winter.

The Bengals announced that HB Corey Dillon (1997-2003) and NT Tim Krumrie (1983-94) will be added to the team's Ring of Honor in 2024.

They will join Ken Anderson, Willie Anderson, Paul Brown, Isaac Curtis, Boomer Esiason, Chad Johnson, Anthony Muñoz and Ken Riley in the Bengals Ring of Honor.

Dillon remains the franchise's all-time leader in rushing attempts (1865), rushing yards (8061) and 100-yard rushing games (28), and earned three consecutive Pro Bowl selections from 1999-2001. 

Krumrie spent his entire 12-year playing career ('83-94) in Cincinnati. He played in 188 regular-season games, the most ever by a Bengals lineman on either side of the ball.

The Ring of Honor induction ceremony will take place during halftime of the Monday Night Football game against the Washington Commanders on Sept. 23. 

Major League Baseball’s amateur draft wrapped up Wednesday with east Kentucky native Mason Moore being selected in the 15th round by the Chicago White Sox.

Moore, who played high school baseball at Paintsville and Rowan County, spent last season helping the Kentucky Wildcats reach the College World Series for the first time in school history.

Moore started 18 games as a junior this season for the Cats, posting a (9-4) record with 83 strikeouts and a 5.05 ERA. Moore won a pair of super regional games over Indiana State and Oregon State to aid the Wildcats in the postseason.

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati Reds Director of Amateur Scouting Joe Katuska Sunday night announced the selection of RHP Chase Burns (6-4, 215, R/R) out of Wake Forest University with the team's first pick (2nd overall) of the 2024 first-year player draft.

            Katuska said, "Chase has the ability to be a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher at the Major League level, and do it quickly. It's a profile that we always start with in the draft, and Chase checks all the boxes. We love the quality and depth of his pitch mix, and his competitiveness. He's made great strides since we first saw him pitch 4 years ago, and see him continuing on that same trajectory."

            Burns, 21, was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year, a Dick Howser Trophy Finalist, a Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist, and a First Team All-American by Baseball America as a junior in 2024, his lone season with the Demon Deacons. He went 10-1 with a 2.70 ERA and 191 strikeouts (a single-season program record) over his 16 starts at Wake Forest.

            Burns is rated the 4th-best player in the draft by Baseball America and the 6th-best player in the draft by MLB.com. Burns, who was born in Naples, Italy, transferred to Wake Forest after spending his freshman and sophomore seasons at the University of Tennessee. In 2 seasons with the Volunteers, he went 13-5 with a 3.54 ERA and 217 strikeouts across 35 games (22 starts).

            For the second consecutive year, the Reds have drafted a pitcher from Wake Forest with their first pick. In 2023, Cincinnati selected RHP Rhett Lowder with the 7th-overall pick.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s basketball team has set its 2024-25 nonconference schedule. The 13-game nonconference schedule includes nine home contests in Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, an away tilt at Clemson and three neutral-site matchups.

The Southeastern Conference slate, along with television networks and game times will be announced at a later date.

After a pair of to-be-determined exhibition contests, the Cats open the home schedule against Wright State on Nov. 4 and Bucknell on Nov. 9, before traveling to Atlanta for a State Farm Champions Classic matchup against Duke on Nov. 12.

The Wildcats will host the BBN Invitational that includes Lipscomb (Nov. 19), Jackson State (Nov. 22) and WKU (Nov. 26). The tilt with Jackson State will also mark the fourth installment of the Unity Series.

In each of the past three seasons, UK has played a contest against an historically black college and university. The game aims to raise awareness of the missions of the HBCUs and to raise funds to provide opportunities for students at their institutions.

Kentucky wraps up the month of November with a home contest against Georgia State on Nov. 29 before hitting the road for two straight. Up first is the SEC/ACC Challenge at Clemson on Dec. 3, and then the team will travel to the West Coast for a date with Gonzaga on Dec. 7 in Seattle.

The Cats will play three more home games in the month of December, hosting Colgate (Dec. 11) and Brown (Dec. 31), along with in-state foe Louisville on Dec. 14. UK’s final nonconference date away from home is Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic in New York on Dec. 21.

Kentucky will face four first-time opponents in Brown, Bucknell, Colgate and Jackson State. In all, the Wildcats will take on 13 teams who reached the 2023-24 NCAA Tournament a total of 15 times. Kentucky will play five Sweet Sixteen teams from a year ago.

Pope and his staff have put together a dynamic roster for the 2024-25 season that features a mix of six fifth-year players, one senior, one junior, one sophomore and three freshmen.

UK’s veterans have combined to play in 845 collegiate games and have scored nearly 8,000 career points. Ansley Almonor, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams are all 1,000-point scorers. The group has also drained 1,033 career 3-pointers at a 37.0% rate.

Butler and Williams were named their league’s defensive player of the year, while Koby Brea and Jaxson Robinson have been tabbed a conference’s sixth man of the year in their career and Almonor was a most improved selection. Brandon Garrison is a former McDonald’s All-American. Kerr Kriisa has played in 99 career games and has made 238 3-pointers, while Otega Oweh has seen action in 60 games and was Oklahoma’s second-leading scorer a season ago.

Kentucky’s freshmen group includes Travis Perry and Trent Noah from the state of Kentucky and Collin Chandler, a former top-35 signee in the class of 2022. Perry is the state’s all-time leading scorer, while Noah broke the Sweet 16 state record for most 3-pointers drained in a single run with 19 this season.

Season ticket renewals will be sent out later in July. Those interested in season tickets are encouraged to enter the season-ticket lottery. Due to the extremely high renewal rate of men’s basketball season tickets, only a limited number of upper-level tickets are available each year through the lottery.

CINCINNATI (WMDJ) - The fastest man in baseball is heading to his first All-Star game. 

Reds Shortstop Elly De La Cruz is headed to Arlington for next week’s MLB All-Star game.

De La Cruz was one of 10 position players chosen by the Player Ballot and will be the lone representative at the Mid-Summer Classic from Cincinnati.

De La Cruz leads all of baseball with 43 stolen bases and leads the National League in triples. 

MLB All-Star Week includes the MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard (July 16^th), Gatorade All-Star Workout Day featuring the T-Mobile Home Run Derby (July 15^th), All-Star Saturday featuring the All-Star Futures Game and the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game presented by Corona (July 13^th), the MLB Draft presented by Nike (July 14^th-16^th), the HBCU Swingman Classic presented by T-Mobile (July 12^th), and Capital One All-Star Village (July 13^th-16^th)

Reds minor leaguers OF Cam Collier and RHP Rhett Lowder have been named to the 2024 ALL-STAR FUTURES GAME.

Rosters for the 2024 All-Star Futures Game, as well as selections to participate in the all-new MLB Futures Skills Showcase, were announced earlier today on MLB Network. The 25^th edition of the Futures Game will be played at 4:00 p.m. (ET)/3:00 p.m. (CT) on Saturday, July 13^th at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and will be immediately followed by the hitting challenge prior to the start of the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game presented by Corona, which caps off a full day of All-Star Saturday events at the ballpark. The Futures Game will air exclusively live on MLB Network and simulcast on MLB.tv, MLB.com and in the MLB App with Melanie Newman (play-by-play), Mark DeRosa (analyst), Jonathan Mayo (analyst) and Sande Charles (reporter) on the call.

Major League Baseball, in conjunction with MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and the 30 Major League Clubs, selected the 27 players named two each team (25 active players and two inactive players designated for injury/call-up replacements).  Each Major League organization is represented and players from all player development leagues were eligible to be selected.  Complete Futures Game rosters, prospect analysis and rankings can be found at MLB.com/pipeline.