Louisville's Diaz making case for Reds' bullpen

LOS ANGELES -- As the Reds' bullpen remains a sore spot, with the highest ERA in the National League (4.85 entering Monday), power right-hander Jumbo Diaz has posted impressive numbers for Triple-A Louisville.

Diaz, who had a strong showing for the Reds in Spring Training but was one of the final cuts, has a 1.54 ERA and 12 saves in 21 appearances for the Bats this season. With pitchers like Logan Ondrusek, Sean Marshall and J.J. Hoover struggling, Diaz could be worth a look, but a callup didn't seem imminent.

"We want to have guys down there who are pitching well that give us that opportunity to make changes when we feel they're necessary to make," Reds manager Bryan Price said on Monday. "I don't think we're at that point now.

"You look back at our bullpen, and those are guys that have a track record of being effective. We really don't want to look to make that type of drastic decision. [But] in the end, we have to have the best team possible moving forward so we're going to need to see improvement."

Diaz is not on the Reds' 40-man roster, so a promotion would require someone to be taken off.