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Red Reporter

AAAA Affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds

Latest Entries

A trade concept I hate, but this is the Reds we’re talking about

Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror, and that launches us firmly into the Hot Stove season across Major League Baseball with the Winter Meetings set to take place December 7th through 10th down in Orlando, Florida. It’s a time of little concrete activity, but the next week and a half will feature teams doing their […]

MLB Roundup – Cardinals rebuild escalates with Sonny Gray dealt to Boston

It became pretty clear prior towards the end of the 2024 season that the St. Louis Cardinals were destined to begin a pretty epic rebuild. Bloated contracts for aging stars that simply weren’t good enough to drag them to contender status led longtime GM slash president of baseball operations John Mozeliak to announce in September […]

Four Reds boost earnings through MLB pre-arbitration bonus pool

One of the pre-agreed upon additions to the compensation structure of Major League Baseball during the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement was the addition of an annual $50 million pre-arbitration bonus pool. In essence, it’s a way to compensate newer players who haven’t logged enough service time to reach their arbitration (read: bigger earning) years […]

MLB

Reds bring back RHP Carson Spiers on minor league deal

Carson Spiers has appaeared in 29 games for the Cincinnati Reds across the last three seasons, pitching to a 5.69 ERA (79 ERA+) and 5.28 FIP across 117.0 IP. He’s been versatile – 14 of his outings have been starts, and he’s managed to finish 6 games in that time – and that’s been valuable […]

Mets, Rangers posture through huge trade of Marcus Semien for Brandon Nimmo

Major League Baseball’s offseason is still in its infancy, yet the New York Mets and Texas Rangers shook its pillars late on Sunday evening. The two sides came to an agreement on a deal that sent second baseman Marcus Semien to Queens and outfielder Brandon Nimmo to Arlington, an extremely rare one-for-one swap of nine-figure […]

Reds non-tender Will Banfield, Roddery Muñoz, Carson Spiers

As Friday’s deadline to tender contracts to all arbitration-eligible and pre-arb players neared, questions arose about which of the litany of players in that category would still be on the roster of the Cincinnati Reds by day’s end. Some 14 players who finished the 2025 season on Cincinnati’s roster were originally destined to go through […]

We’ll learn a lot about the 2026 Reds with today’s Gavin Lux decision

The deadline to tender contracts to all players in their pre-arbitration and arbitration years is this Friday evening, and it gives a perennial glimpse into how teams operate their budgets at the margins. Almost by definition, pre-arb and arb players aren’t truly ‘expensive’ just yet. They are either gaining enough service time to finally get […]

Elly De La Cruz played through a torn quad, and here’s the context

Elly De La Cruz cruised into the 2025 All Star Game with an .854 OPS to his name, having hit a cool .284/.359/.495 in his second full season as a Major Leaguer. He’d hit 18 homers and swiped 25 bags through 97 games, putting him on a full-season 30/40 pace – all while being the […]

MLB

ZiPS projections see 2026 Cincinnati Reds as just about average

Dan Szymborski of FanGraphs (hi, Dan!) and his basement supercomputer have been hard at work getting the ZiPS projections for the 2026 season ready, and today marked the drop of those for the Cincinnati Reds. Keep in mind that the model used here includes players who were on the Reds for the 2025 season and […]

Cross Taylor Ward off Cincinnati’s offseason shopping list

Since Jesse Winker was dealt to the Seattle Mariners after the 2021 MLB season, the Cincinnati Reds have leaned hard into refusing to address their corner outfield situation long-term. Instead, they’ve relied on a steady stream of over-30 guys brought in for one year (if that), the likes of Tommy Pham, Wil Myers, and most […]

Reds add trio of top prospects to 40-man roster ahead of Rule 5 Draft

The deadline for Major League Baseball clubs to add players to their 40-man rosters to prevent them being exposed during December’s Rule 5 Draft was on Tuesday at 4 PM ET. The Cincinnati Reds did not let it pass without protecting a trio of their best and brightest prospects, officially adding shortstop Edwin Arroyo, shortstop […]

Deadline to protect players from Rule 5 Draft is today

Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 Draft isn’t until December 10th, but today (Tuesday, November 18th) marks the deadline for teams to protect prospects who would otherwise be draft-eligible by adding them to their 40-man rosters. Teams have until 6 PM ET this evening to make additions, and the Cincinnati Reds have several key pieces from […]

Shin-Soo Choo, Edwin Encarnacion headline newcomers on 2026 Hall of Fame ballot

The names on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for 2026 were released on Monday afternoon, and there are several with previous ties to the Cincinnati Reds. Chief among them are outfielder Shin-Soo Choo and 3B/DH Edwin Encarnacion and, presumably, the parrot on his shoulder. Ryan Thibodaux relayed the latest ballot on Bluesky, with the […]

MLB Roundup – Mariners bring back Josh Naylor, where will Pete Alonso go?

The Seattle Mariners traded minor league rightie Ashton Izzi and lefty reliever Brandyn Garcia to the Arizona Diamondbacks one week before last July’s trade deadline, and what they got in return was a masterclass in teambuilding. Its physical form was Josh Naylor, formerly of the Cleveland Guardians, who immediately morphed into a five-tool star from […]

Reds bring back Tejay Antone on minor league deal

Tejay Antone’s recovery and return from his third Tommy John surgery will apparently remain within the ranks of the Cincinnati Reds organization. On Friday, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon announced that Antone and the Reds had reached an agreement on a minor league deal, though it’s not yet officially ‘official.’ That would mark his return to the […]

Cincinnati Reds links – Oscar Marin as bullpen coach, Alfredo Duno mashes

Let’s head immediately to the Land of the Endless Strip Mall where Cincinnati Reds top prospect Alfredo Duno has been plying his trade for the Peoria Javelinas in Arizona Fall League play. For much of the AFL season, Duno had been somewhat quiet. Rhett Lowder’s much anticipated return to health (and to a competitive mound) […]

Cincinnati Reds Trade Idea – CJ Abrams of the Washington Nationals

The Cincinnati Reds have Elly De La Cruz entrenched at shortstop, so much so that they moved fellow shortstop (and former 1st round pick) Matt McLain off the position altogether. Elly’s special defensively, even though he’s had far too many lapses in his first two and a half seasons, but his athleticism, age, and arm […]

MLB

Reds lose assistant pitching coach Simon Mathews to Nationals

Since taking over as the pitching coach/guru/director for the Cincinnati Reds, the club has consistently established itself as a pitching-first organization that’s earned quite the bit of respect around the league. They’ve drafted well in that time, too. Adding the likes of Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Rhett Lowder, Chase Burns, Tony Santillan, Graham […]

Andrew Abbott may regress, but probably not by much

Cincinnati Reds lefty Andrew Abbott averaged 92.8 mph with his fastball during his All Star campaign in 2025, a mark that ranked him in just the 26th percentile according to MLB’s Statcast. He also generated grounders just 32.9% of the time, a mark that ranked in just the 9th percentile. I point out his weaknesses […]

Cincinnati Reds links – Tejay Antone leaves, Brandon Phillips to the Reds HoF?

Tejay Antone rocketed on to the scene with the Cincinnati Reds back in the shortened 2020 season, his repertoire pairing perfectly with the ‘Spincinnati’ revolution. Across 36 appearances in 2020-2021, he fired 69.0 IP and allowed just 19 ER (2.48 ERA), putting up a ridiculous 87/29 K/BB and 0.96 WHIP while being a multi-inning weapon […]

Reds decline 2026 options on Austin Hays, Brent Suter, Scott Barlow

The Cincinnati Reds would have been on the hook for some $21.5 million for the 2026 season should they (and the player with a mutual option) have chosen to keep around each of outfielder Austin Hays, lefty reliever Brent Suter, and workhorse righty Scott Barlow. That simply was never going to happen. Cincinnati’s front office […]