The Reds have struggled to put together a solid bench the last few years. This year, they’ve given 602 plate appearances to the combination of Skip Schumaker, Brennan Boesch, Kris Negron, and Jason Bourgeois. Their collective efforts have produced -2.9 WAR. While we don’t expect bench players to put up extraordinary numbers, we hope they provide value above replacement-level players. The importance of not having bad players is outlined in this Fox Sports article.
In the case of Negron, the Reds seemingly gave him a spot on the major league bench based on a strong performance during the latter third of the 2014 season.