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[Cincinnati Reds]

If the Cincinnati Reds are done making big moves for the offense…

Tuesday saw another rival of the Cincinnati Reds make a significant move towards being better at baseball during calendar year 2026. The Pittsburgh Pirates, of all clubs, jumped at signing free agent 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn, landing him on a deal worth some $29 million across a pair of seasons, proving that they are at least moderately dedicated to the concept of successful baseball while generational ace Paul Skenes is under team control on the very same roster.

For the Reds, it’s yet another name off the board who, in theory, would have made a lot of sense for their club. O’Hearn hit .281/.366/.437 (127 wRC+) last year between Baltimore and San Diego, his patient approach and consistent pop providing a service that would have been a boon to any offense, but his profile – and the positional versatility of Spencer Steer – would’ve made the two pretty perfect rotational pieces between a corner OF spot and 1B most days. Work in Sal Stewart with that trio (while adding in the DH spot every day), and the three could’ve been cornerstones of the lineup while each got a day off from fielding once every third day, too.

That won’t happen now, of course. How much the Reds were interested in O’Hearn remains to be seen despite our own fascination with the idea, but the Reds have also a) been very public in their failed pursuit of Kyle Schwarber and b) still remain linked to mercurial Chicago White Sox OF Luis Robert’s services going forward. At least, that’s what we continue to hear, even though the Reds still haven’t managed to pull the right levers on any of those moves to date.

It’s enough to make you wonder if the Reds have conceded that making moves of that ilk – on players who’ll make over $14 million a year – is either too costly financially or the ask is too high in terms of trade currency. And if that’s the case, below is what the team’s offense currently looks like heading in to 2026.

C – Tyler Stephenson, Jose Trevino

1B – Spencer Steer

2B – Matt McLain

SS – Elly De La Cruz

3B – Ke’Bryan Hayes

LF – Gavin Lux, Will Benson

CF – TJ Friedl

RF – Noelvi Marte

DH – Sal Stewart

The utility options with that group include a trio of guys you’ve heard from before in Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Rece Hinds, and Blake Dunn. Add in that prospects Hector Rodriguez and Edwin Arroyo are on the cusp in AAA, and there’s some pretty talented (albeit with flaws) youth that’s ready to step in and step up if the need arises. There’s even a case to be made that CES, Hinds, and/or Dunn could form a potentially effective platoon with Benson and Lux, given that the first trio all hit right-handed and the latter two hit lefty.

What that roster does not have, though, is a proven outfielder who can hit lefties and, in theory, platoon with the likes of Lux and Benson. It also doesn’t have a middle infielder with defensive aplomb, a player theoretically in the role of Santiago Espinal (who, also in theory, would hit better than Espinal ever did). So, even if the Reds are mostly done making the kinds of moves that would shake up everything on paper, there still seem to be two pretty key peripheral moves they’d need to make to build this ground-up roster in a way that includes a couple cheaper failsafes.

Rob Refsynder would’ve made for an interesting fit, for instance. Soon to be 35, the former Reds farmhand has settled into a classic role of mashing lefties and lefties only, hitting a combined .276/.364/.440 dating back to the start of the 2022 season with the Boston Red Sox and playing corner outfield on the days he does so. He just signed for a year and $6.25 million with the Seattle Mariners, however, and ain’t on the market anymore.

If anything, a reunion with Miguel Andujar seems within the realm of expectations for this Reds club, even if there are pretty clear concerns about his ability to actually play any defense. If adding a little bit more palatable defense is a thing the Reds want to prioritize with the same signing, perhaps Randal Grichuk becomes an option (even if his own once-lauded defense has slipped a good bit as he’s aged). Harrison Bader is likely way out of this price range despite still being available, with an Austin Hays reunion likely in a similar realm.

As for a utility infielder, the likes of Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ramon Urias highlight the glove-first portion of that free agent group. The former approached competence with the bat as recent as 2024 when he posted a 93 wRC+ split between the Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates, though that number plummeted to just 75 in 2025 split between the same two clubs (even though his defense at SS/2B/3B remained well regarded throughout). In Urias, there’s significantly more offensive upside – he posted a wRC+ of 114 with 11 homers in just 301 PA for Baltimore as recently as 2023 and swatted 16 in 445 PA en route to a 105 wRC+ in 2022 – and he has consistently graded as an excellent defender at both 2B and 3B. However, he’s got limited experience at SS (and none since 2022), didn’t grade well there when tasked with the job, and hit poorly enough after landing in Houston last year that he ended up getting non-tendered. Signing him would mean putting the pressure on Matt McLain to slide over to SS in order to get Elly De La Cruz a day off here and there.

That’s the realm where the Reds would look if they’ve moved beyond trying to find a ‘full time’ or ‘everyday’ player as an addition and, instead, are now looking to round out their bench and platoons. At least, that’s the realm they’re in on the free agent market, as there is clearly the chance they try to pick up one of these kinds of complementary pieces via trade. Doing that might mean they can bring in a player even cheaper than these options, something we know the Reds are always trying to do, but regardless it will be interesting to see if the club fully pivots to looking at peripheral pieces after missing out on yet another guy who looked the part of an everyday part of their offense.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/hotstove/49326/cincinnati-reds-rumors-ramon-miguel-andujar

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

To the Reds credit, we get to sleep on Brandon Williamson and Rhett Lowder

It was announced earlier in December that Aaron Harang would be inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame during the summer of 2026. His spate of brilliance came during the mid-aughts era of Reds history, a time when he became both the first pitcher in National League history to lead the league in both wins and strikeouts in the same year and not win the Cy Young Award, but also logged a 4th place finish one year later.

His 2005 season can be, in hindsight, considered his breakout campaign, a year in which he logged 211.2 IP and 4.5 bWAR. In any era, that’s borderline ace stuff, and he hadn’t even peaked yet.

Eric Milton, Ramon Ortiz, Brandon Claussen, Luke Hudson, Randy Keisler, and Elizardo Ramirez combined to make 126 starts that year next to Harang’s 32, and that six-some combined to post -3.5 bWAR. The dearth of pitching depth behind Harang is what torpedoed that entire era of Cincinnati Reds baseball, a roster construction epidemic that was endemic for decades within this organization, who had – even when insanely successful – been built on hitting first, second, and third with starting pitching deep down the pecking order of priority.

Congrats to Aaron, by the way. It’s a well deserved honor while also being a timely reminder of just how different things used to be on the Reds roster. Nowadays, it’s almost the inverse – they’re as deep in starting pitching as they’ve perhaps ever been while desperately on the hunt for someone, anyone who can hit a line drive over a hundred miles per hour.

Even after losing both Nick Martinez and Zack Littell into the realm of free agency, Cincinnati’s potential rotation for the 2026 season looks stout. It’s headlined by the likes of Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott, a pair of All Stars who have consistently shown themselves to be among the few elite pitchers on the senior circuit (even if they go about their craft in vastly different ways). Nick Lodolo, a former 1st round pick and top prospect himself, has flashed ability just as elite as those two, and his 2025 season was his most complete to date. Brady Singer has served as an absolute rock and innings-eater wherever he has been, and Cincinnati’s where he calls home once again. Then there’s Chase Burns, whose arm has as much upside as any we’ve seen around here since perhaps Aroldis Chapman, though Greene himself would probably like a word in that conversation.

Here we are on the cusp of 2026, a playoff appearance in 2025 freshly under their belt, and we aren’t even talking about their former 1st rounder from 2023. The guy who Baseball America ranked as the #26 prospect in the game after he dazzled at the big league level for 30.2 IP at the tail end of 2024. If the Reds had a player with that profile in the era of Harang, we’d have already crowned him the next great hope of the entire franchise.

It’s a similar story for one Brandon Williamson, who’s already been a) a 2nd round pick, b) a Top 100 prospect in his own right, c) a huge piece of a major trade, and d) a pitcher who’s thrown to a 106 ERA+ across 131.1 IP at the big league level! In how many eras would a player with that profile be an afterthought heading into an upcoming season? In those cavernous mid-aughts rotation, he’d be the team’s #2 starter on paper at this juncture of the winter!

Pitching, as we all now know, is a far cry from where it was two decades ago. From 2004 through 2008, Harang averaged 204.2 IP per season. Over the last five seasons, no more than three pitchers have had single-seasons with more than 204.2 IP in any year. The attrition rate at this point in MLB history is absurd, and depth of any variety is a luxury – let alone at the level the Reds have built theirs to.

In other words, being #6 or #7 on the team’s depth chart no longer means what it used to. These days, it means just as much that you might only have 100 innings in your arm for the season than it does that there are five starters on the roster better than you, and that’s where Lowder and Williamson find themselves right now. With both fresh off lost 2024 seasons – Lowder to a combo of forearm and oblique issues, Williamson due to Tommy John recovery – the Reds are going to do everything they can to slow-play these two until they are absolutely needed, and ‘absolutely needed’ they will most certainly be at some point down the road.

The Reds have an envious stockpile, and it’s as talented as its ever been. Still, it’s pretty easy to see why Nick Krall & Co. are hesitant to move any of that in deals to acquire hitting, as odds are they’ll need to tap into that depth more often than they’d ever let on. It’s a well-built arsenal that’s designed for just how much the times have changed across the Major League pitching landscape, one that evolved into a literal arms race where the Reds are positioned quite well.

Hell, I didn’t even make it to Chase Petty!

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/hotstove/49329/rhett-lowder-brandon-williamson-cincinnati-reds-rumors

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Cincinnati Reds acquire OF Dane Myers from Miami Marlins

The Cincinnati Reds spent their Saturday morning finalizing a deal to sign outfielder JJ Bleday, the former 4th overall draft pick and former member of both the Miami Marlins and Athletics of Wherevertheyare. That move added depth to Cincinnati’s outfield, something that was a) vital and b) something that most of us considered a spot where they could truly add an impact player without further jumbling up the roster.

Well, the Reds went back to work on jumbling later Saturday, this time in the form of adding outfielder Dane Myers from the Miami Marlins in exchange for minor league outfielder Ethan O’Donnell. The Reds confirmed the move on Twitter, noting that they’d designated reliever Lyon Richardson for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

The #Reds today acquired OF Dane Myers from the Marlins in exchange for OF Ethan O’Donnell.

Additionally, RHP Lyon Richardson was designated assignment.

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) December 27, 2025

For the Reds roster, that means that Myers – a former pitcher who converted to hitting full-time after the 2019 season – adds a right-handed bat who’s shown some pretty decent work against LHP in his limited time in the bigs. He’ll turn 30 years old in March of 2026 yet has just 511 PA in the bigs under his belt, though he has managed to hit .297/.360/.456 in 203 PA against southpaws in that time. That paired with his plus defensive ability means he’ll be a platoon option for a club that now sports left-handed options in Bleday, Will Benson, Gavin Lux, and TJ Friedl opposite presumptive RF regular Noelvi Marte.

(In case that paragraph doesn’t emphasize it enough, he’s posted just a .549 OPS against RHP and will turn 30 next year. That’s a non-starter.)

It’s less about what this move adds, however. Myers is a pre-arb guy with team control and a league-minimum salary who, given the rest of the group, should serve some purpose. He also adds a potential seventh outfielder to the mix, and that mix now features a full handful of guys who we’re still not sure really deserve to get regular time out there at all, let alone regularly.

In adding Bleday and Myers the same day – literally a full-time position by platoon – the Reds have gone cheap to ‘complete’ one position on the potential roster, something of a sign that there may not be another major offensive addition actually in the pipeline. For the team that was once connected with the likes of Kyle Schwarber, Ketel Marte, Brandon Lowe, and Luis Robert Jr., among other more ‘notable’ bats, this sure reeks of the club simply copping out on the cheap.

Of course, that’s if they’re totally done, which their even further disjointed roster suggests may not be the case. The bullpen, now devoid of both Keegan Thompson and Richardson today after the Reds entered the weekend already short on options down there, seems to be a spot the team still desperately needs to address, and you’ve got to wonder if now they’ll end up using their surplus of positionless noodlebats they’ve acquired this offseason to try to help that spot via trade somewhere else.

Maybe that means they’ve got a way to unload Gavin Lux and the roughly $5 million he’ll be owed to get an arm for down there. Maybe it means they see Father Time sapping TJ Friedl’s speed and think now’s the time to move him for a legitimate piece with plenty of team control.

Maybe, though, it means the Reds saw a way to cobble together as many AAA-AAAA pieces as they could that still have minor league options remaining – as Myers does – and simply hope they can adeptly rotate through them at precisely the right times each is hot and healthy and at the end of the year they’ll end up with a full season’s worth of decent production. In essence, they’ve built a roster that will require constant substitution and tinkering, putting the onus on both Nick Krall and Tito Francona to manage it absolutely to perfection to extract its maximum value in lieu of, say, simply bringing in a player or two good enough to just dicatate that success themselves.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/hotstove/49346/dane-myers-cincinnati-reds-miami-marlins-trade

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Cincinnati Reds designate RHP Keegan Thompson for assignment

The Keegan Thompson era of Cincinnati Reds history lasted nearly two months and featured exactly zero innings of actual professional baseball. That is, of course, if it actually ends today – and it sure looks like it has.

The Reds designated the right-hander for assignment on Saturday as they were in need of a 40-man roster spot for the recently signed JJ Bleday. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon confirmed the news.

The Reds announced the Bleday signing. RHP Keegan Thompson was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

— Mark Sheldon (@msheldon.bsky.social) 2025-12-27T17:54:59.546Z

Thompson, 30, is a former 3rd round pick by the Chicago Cubs out of Auburn University who’d pitched to some pretty solid results across 227.1 IP in his big league career – a 3.64 ERA and career-best 10.7 K/9 in his 30.1 big league innings back in 2024. That said, his peripherals always drew his actual results into question, as he walked a lot of batters (4.4 per 9 IP) and owned just a career 4.51 FIP and 1.32 WHIP.

The Cubs designated him for assignment previously and he spent all of the 2025 season with AAA Iowa, and the deal he signed with the Reds in November was a split-contract that all but assumed he’d spend at least some time at the AAA level if he stuck around. It remains to be seen if that’ll be the case – he’ll hit waivers and have a chance to be claimed by another club – but I’d wager the Reds are hoping that he clears waivers and returns to the club in a non-roster spot as depth for the bullpen.

The move corresponded with the Reds making the Bleday signing official.

The #Reds today signed OF JJ Bleday to a one-year Major League contract
and designated for assignment RHP Keegan Thompson.

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) December 27, 2025

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/hotstove/49341/cincinnati-reds-transactions-keegan-thompson-dfa

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Cincinnati Reds sign outfielder JJ Bleday

The Cincinnati Reds have signed a former 4th overall draft pick, a player who once ranked as high as the #20 overall prospect according to MLB.com!

In their seemingly neverending search for corner outfield upgrades, the Reds landed on former Oakland Athletic JJ Bleday, who reportedly signed a major league deal with the club on Saturday morning. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed the news, noting that the team’s 40-man roster is currently full so a corresponding roster move will be forthcoming.

Sorry for the earlier autocorrect nonsense. Sources say Reds are in agreement on a one-year big league contract with OF JJ Bleday. Team roster is at 40 so someone will have to come off before the deal is made official.

— Mark Sheldon (@msheldon.bsky.social) 2025-12-27T16:10:05.433Z

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand adds that the deal will be worth $1.4 million for 2026, though the Reds will have control over Bleday through the arbitration process for two additional years beyond this settled amount.

JJ Bleday is finalizing a one-year, $1.4 million deal with the Reds, per source. Deal includes incentives. @ByRobertMurray was on it.

— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) December 27, 2025

As recently as 2024, Bleday was a legitimate bat who’d fit well in any lineup in the game. He hit .243/.324/.437 with 20 homers in 642 PA that year for Oakland, a season-long effort that was valued at 3.2 fWAR/2.1 bWAR. The discrepancy there is pretty much an indictment of how his defense in CF was valued, something that Oakland/Sacramento clearly had serious opinions about as they effectively began to phase him out of CF and into a corner spot just last year.

As his defense was moved down the spectrum last year, so, too, tailed off his offensive value. He hit just .212/.294/.404 with 14 homers in 344 PA last year in his new home park, and even was optioned back to AAA for a time. The lack of results paired with his service time reaching arbitration status meant he was non-tendered this offseason instead of taking down an estimated salary of $2.2 million, though he now comes with a trio of years of team control for the Reds (should they choose to keep him on the roster that long).

The upside with Bleday is clear. There are ample reasons why he was drafted so highly, rated so highly, and even once traded straight up for fellow highly regarded pitcher AJ Puk in the deal that swapped the two southpaws between Miami and Oakland. There’s also a chance that last season was a bit of bad luck for Bleday, whose BABIP tanked to just .251 (after it was .279 during his breakout 2024 season).

What’s clear, though, is that this is a reclamation project that the Reds are willing to take on, one that doesn’t even seem to fit the roster perfectly at the moment. Bleday’s a lefty who has hit RHP better than LHP for his career (with 2025 the lone exception), and that overlaps a ton with the likes of Will Benson and Gavin Lux. Ideally if the Reds were going the cheap route for platoon options in the outfield, adding a righty who smashes LHP to complement those two is what they should have been after, though there’s a caveat here that Bleday still has an option remaining.

This isn’t the kind of signing that would, in theory, prevent the Reds from still pursuing a larger upgrade to both the outfield and the offense, but it does further muddy a roster that’s running out of places to stash these kinds of upside plays. Perhaps it’s an indication that there’s a future trade in the works to help thin out that glut – Lux is slated to make about $5 million in 2026 after a lackluster 2025 – or maybe it’s just the Reds getting what they can while it’s out there cheaply.

Whatever the reasons, it’s another Vanderbilt connection with the Reds that’s gone down since Derek Johnson – former Vandy pitching coach and recruiter – has been on Cincinnati’s staff. Sonny Gray! Caleb Cotham! Curt Casali! Sal Stewart was a Vandy commit! Carson Fulmer! Tony Kemp! Nick Christiani! Drew Hayes!

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/hotstove/49333/cincinnati-reds-jj-bleday-free-agent-rumors

 

[Cincinnati Reds]

Cincinnati Reds links – Slim Sal Stewart & a Matt McLain renaissance

Where, exactly, the Cincinnati Reds choose to deploy Sal Stewart during the upcoming season remains very much to be seen. The 22 year old took the lineup by storm when called upon late in 2025, but did so primarily while rotating through 1B and 3B to keep each of Spencer Steer and Ke’Bryan Hayes ‘fresh’ down the stretch.

There’s a good chance the Reds keep said rotation in order going forward, what with the other two respective names fresh off Gold Glove Award and Gold Glove Award finalist finishes at their corner infield positions in 2025, respectively. That may mean that Sal ends up getting ample time at DH to keep his bat in the lineup, though there remains the chance that he could even get some run at 2B – a position where he does have 61 games of minor league experience under his belt.

Said belt is a little tighter these days, too, perhaps even as preparation for those frequent moves around the diamond. As our friends at Redleg Nation noted over the weekend, Sal told the folks on the Reds Hot Stove League show that he’s lost 26 lbs while getting in shape this offseason. He remains listed as 6’1” and 224 lbs on his Baseball Reference player page, but some super complicated advanced mathematics now tells me he’s closer to 200 lbs at the moment.

If the dropped weight means increased mobility – and if the increased mobility means increased defensive range – there’s a real chance we could see Sal deployed all over the infield in 2026, a development that could collectively lift the average output from that roster unit significantly over 2025. Try to recall that the likes of Santiago Espinal, Connor Joe, the rotting husk of Jeimer Candelario, Garrett Hampson (really), former prospect with sheen Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and even Miguel Andujar got time around the infield just last season, and replacing just their production with what’s expected from Sal is a major on-paper improvement.

If his defense comes with any improved aplomb through shedding weight, he could even begin to eat into the playing time of Gavin Lux, too, who now looks completely positionless after the weekend additions of JJ Bleday and Dane Myers to the outfield mix. And if he hits the way we all hope he can, well, he’s going to get 500+ PA in 2026 at the expense of just about everyone else.

That’s as things stand right now, of course, and that’s all very much subject to change. It’s hard to see the moves the Reds made on Saturday and not think there’s an additional deal in the works, as the roster just feels like there’s one too many guys for the spots they’ve got available. That’s normally not a problem for good clubs, it’s just not the kind of thing the Cincinati Reds, of all clubs, typically pay to possess. Relegating Lux, for example, to the final guy off the bench would be a net positive development if it’s because Sal and Ke’Bryan and McLain all hit/play well enough to demand full-time roles, but the Reds aren’t the kind of club to pay $5 million for the last man on the bench – especially if they think that player has some trade value.

As for McLain and 2B, well, it sure seems like the Reds are still very much optimistic about that being ‘2B McLain’ on the scorecard every day for 2026 and beyond. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon took a closer look at the scenario this morning (with quotes from manager Terry Francona echoing said optimism), and it’s clear that there are still high hopes for their former 1st round pick for now.

The thing about the Sal/McLain dynamic right now, though, is that McLain stands out as the current backup shortstop option on the roster. 2025 saw him get four starts at the position as Elly De La Cruz commanded it pretty much every single day for six months, but as the club looks to get Elly a bit more rest in 2026 there’s a very real chance we see McLain get many more starts at short next season – a development that could open a more clear path for Sal to get time at 2B, should his defense play well enough there.

Though it’s hardly a dream scenario for Reds fans who pine to have the roster built as bulletproof and definable as possible as soon as possible, this even reeks of the kind of thing that may not truly get sorted out until they all get to camp in Goodyear in February. If Sal shows up and all the offseason work he’s putting in truly begins to show out on the fields, maybe it’s then that the Reds front office finally realizes they can move on from Lux and they try to deal him then. If he shows up and it’s just not obviously working, though, the Reds still have ample options on the table – both metaphysically and of the minor league variety, if need be.

In retrospect, it’s a bit funny to realize all of this nebulous position talk in/re Sal is all because the Reds went gonzo with their last best position-player prospect’s position just last July. Where Sal was going to end up was in question then because it was Noelvi Marte who was newly plying his trade at the hot corner at the big league level only for the Reds to toss him to the wolves in RF and bring in Hayes to even further put down roots at the position. And just like that, the franchise that had perhaps the best future prospect depth at 3B of any of them gave itself the exercise of moving both of their best and brightest off the position within a few months.

These are good problems to have, of course. Depth is never a bad thing, so long as enough guys have minor league options – and Cincinnati’s do. Injuries will run their course, as we’ve seen with Steer’s shoulder last year, McLain’s lost 2024 altogether, and the wrist issue CES dealt with along the way, and that’s how you end up remembering that Jacob Hurtubise and Blake Dunn made the Opening Day roster just last year. Still, it’s a puzzle with redundancies that hasn’t quite revealed its perfect fit just yet, and it’s enough to make you wonder just what else is up.

Source: https://www.redreporter.com/red-reposter/49350/cincinnati-reds-links-sal-stewart-matt-mclain-rumors