Former Red Kyle Farmer, named 2022 team MVP, reflects on an era gone by

As former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Kyle Farmer reflected on the trade that sent him last month to the Minnesota Twins, he got a FaceTime call from former Reds outfielder Jesse Winker.

Farmer stays in touch with the core players of the 2020 and 2021 Reds. When he got dealt to the Twins, he had an hour-long conversation with Sonny Gray, a former Reds ace and current Twins starter. Farmer mentioned the core of players he still speaks with, like Nick Castellanos, Tucker Barnhart, Winker and Gray.

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“No one understands that everyone wants to play in Cincinnati,” Farmer said. “They want to be in Cincinnati. Castellanos wants to be back in Cincinnati. Sonny wants to be back in Cincinnati. Wade wants to be back. Tucker wants to be back. Everyone who comes there wants to stay in Cincinnati. It’s not like people who leave are happy to leave. It’s that they just can’t keep them around. It’s kind of sad. Everybody loves Cincinnati. It’s a sad thing that we all can’t stick around.”

On Friday, Farmer was named the Reds’ Most Valuable Player and the team’s Joe Nuxhall Good Guy Award winner for the 2022 season. He accepted the award as a member of the Twins after the Reds traded him for Casey Legumina, a minor league reliever who could make his MLB debut in 2023.

While accepting the award, Farmer looked back at how he requested a trade when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers. When he got dealt to the Reds in December 2018, Farmer checked Twitter.

“It's Matt Kemp, (Yasiel) Puig and Alex Wood and my name's not even on the freaking list (of players in the trade),” Farmer said. “I told my wife, 'you know, I think at the end of the day, I'm going to be the best part of that trade. I have a little chip on my shoulder and I think I'm going to be the best part of that trade.' Sure enough, I stuck around the longest of all of them. And two of them are already out of the game. I also take a lot of pride in that.”

Farmer split time at shortstop in 2020 with a few players, but he was the one who got the start in Game 1 of the playoffs that season. In 2021, Farmer became the Reds’ everyday shortstop and posted a .259 batting average with a .716 OPS between 2021 and 2022.

Farmer said he expected to be traded along with Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and Brandon Drury at the trade deadline this season. When he wasn’t, he was confident that he’d be dealt in the offseason.

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“I kind of figured I was going to get traded after having decent enough numbers to where I realized I could make quite a bit more (money) in arbitration and stuff like that,” Farmer said.

“I’m 32 now. I don’t fit in their plans, which is fine, that’s just the way it is with what they’re doing, bringing other guys in.”

Farmer said he was looking forward to joining the Twins organization, but added that he didn’t want to leave Cincinnati. He said he “loved” manager David Bell and general manager Nick Krall. He thanked Bell for “letting us become our own players.” He described how Cincinnati was a “baseball town” and a blue collar city with a great ballpark and a great fanbase.

“People who have left took that for granted and didn’t realize how good it was (with the Reds),” Farmer said. “You come to Cincinnati, and you’re there to play baseball.”

Farmer was the last veteran player on the Reds who had much trade value, and his deal was another sign of the Reds’ total rebuild. Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas are in the final years of their contracts. Aside from them, Tyler Stephenson, Jonathan India, Nick Senzel and Jake Fraley are the “veterans” in the starting lineup.

“(Stephenson) is going to be the guy that is going to be the quiet leader,” Farmer said. “He's going to be the one that's going to lead by example. Jon's going to be the vocal leader in that locker room. I think Jon, after being around him for two, two-and-a-half years, he'll be just fine. Jon is the man.”

The rest of the Reds 2022 awards

At Redsfest on Friday, reliever Alexis Díaz was named the Johnny Vander Meer Most Outstanding Pitcher for the 2022 season. In his rookie year, Díaz posted a 1.84 ERA and led all NL rookies in appearances and saves.

Shortstop prospect Elly De La Cruz was named the Sheldon "Chief" Bender Award as the Reds' Minor League Player of the Year. Between High-A and Double-A, De La Cruz became one of the best prospects in baseball with a .945 OPS. First base prospect Alex McGarry was named the Minor League Hitter of the Year, and prospect Andrew Abbott was the Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former Reds shortstop Kyle Farmer named 2022 team MVP