Cincinnati Reds insist they're not sellers yet, beat Atlanta Braves to open series

ATLANTA – Cincinnati Reds officials were quick to push back Monday on a report that surfaced after they got swept over the weekend in Washington that their trade-deadline position had changed and they were telling teams they have rental pitchers to sell.

“We’ve had conversations with everybody,” team president Nick Krall said, “but we have not gone down one road that specific.”

Team officials say they’re still in wait-and-see mode during this nine-game road trip out of the All-Star break before deciding which way their trade winds will blow in a week.

Monday’s series opener in Atlanta against the top team in the National League wild-card standings is why.

After an admittedly deflating sweep, the Reds rode the All-Star-caliber pitching of Hunter Greene and some early lightning on the bases from Elly De La Cruz to a 4-1 victory.

One more win over somebody that looks like a sure playoff team – albeit, one without injured stars Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies – for a Reds team that also has season series wins over the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.

Good luck trying to figure out whether this team is good enough to fight all the way back and make the playoffs or whether it would be better off selling some of those short-term assets like pitchers Frankie Montas and Nick Martinez.

“Obviously, from a players standpoint, our butts are kind of in the fire right now,” said Martinez, who was expected to be assigned the bulk innings Tuesday in bullpen day against the Braves.

General manager Brad Meador said before the opener of the Washington series that he believed the Reds were a playoff team that he hoped to help with an addition or two at the July 30 deadline.

Left unsaid was that a face-plant during this three-city trip would mean a shift to selling mode.

“We’re not of to a good start there,” Martinez said. “We’ve got to keep playing hard and find ways to win ballgames, especially now. We’ve got to play with some urgency if we want to make the playoffs.”

Or even stay intact beyond next week.

Here’s how hard it is to feel sure about much of anything when it comes to how the NL wild-card mess might turn out: Even after the deflating sweep in Washington, the Reds were only four games out of playoff position, having lost only one game of ground in those three days.

“That doesn’t even matter to me,” manager David Bell said. “And it can’t to any of our players. It has to be as narrow as, like, one pitch at a time. Literally, there’s no other way to do it.

“When I give you answers that don’t address the question, it’s because I have such a passionate belief in that.”

That doesn’t change where baseball is on the. Calendar and the Reds are in the standings.

Even if they do play up to the contender competition

“Sometimes teams play their best when their backs are up against the wall,” Martinez said. “I would put us in that category as well.

“Another reason why I would never really count us out: We have the ability to punch back and fight and get rolling,” he added. “We keep fighting, keep playing hard and see whatever the front office decides to do on July 30, and kind of reassess from there.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds insist they're not sellers yet, beat Atlanta Braves to open series