Cubs' top challenger in the NL Central announces a bad luck season-opening injury

I'm probably a fool for kind of looking past the Milwaukee Brewers after losing Devin Williams and Willy Adames this offseason, but it's the Cincinnati Reds that worry me the most when I look at the National League Central with Opening Day drawing closer by the day.

The Chicago Cubs seem to have a fairly clear path to their first division title since 2020 (and first in a full season since 2017) in the sense there's no juggernaut standing in their way (a la the Dodgers in the NL West). But sleeping on the Reds, who brought in future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona this winter, would be a big mistake.

At least to start the season, though, Cincinnati will be without catcher Tyler Stephenson, who suffered an oblique strain this week and will open the year on the IL. The team hasn't clarified any sort of expected recovery timeline yet, but a month isn't out of the question given it's a Grade 1 strain, according to Gordon Wittenmyer.

The club's offseason acquisition of Jose Trevino from New York looks more important than ever, as he'll slot into the top spot on the depth chart with the injury. He's a more than serviceable backup to turn to in this situation, but definitely lacks the higher ceiling possessed by Stephenson, who was a 3.0 fWAR player for the Reds in 2024.

His upside lies in his offensive production as Stephenson is widely viewed as a subpar defensive catcher. Meanwhile, Trevino is an elite pitch framer and should help bolster the Reds' pitching staff in his teammate's absence.

The Cubs know all too well what it's like to lose a key member of the team early in the year. Just last year, Opening Day starter Justin Steele left his first outing of the year in Texas with a hamstring strain that cost him roughly a month. Cincinnati has a nice fallback plan in place in Trevino, but there's no doubt losing Stephenson is less than ideal with Opening Day right around the corner.