TODAY: As expected, Espinal rejected the outright assignment and chose to become a free agent, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer reports.
OCTOBER 31: The Reds announced today that infielder Santiago Espinal has been sent outright to Triple-A Louisville. That indicates he cleared waivers in recent days. He has the right to elect free agency and will presumably do so in the coming days.
It’s common for clubs to clear roster space at this time of year. The offseason will begin in the coming days, which means the injured list goes away. Players on the 60-day IL will need to retake roster spots, though some players are also heading to free agency. The Reds don’t have a super tight roster crunch at the moment. RosterResource pegs them at 38 guys for the start of the winter, though picking up options on Brent Suter and Scott Barlow could have got them back up to 40. Espinal’s removal drops them to 37, not including Suter or Barlow.
Even if the Reds don’t strictly need a roster spot right now, there’s value in opening one. Perhaps some interesting players will be put on waivers by other clubs in the coming days. The Reds will also presumably want to add a few players to the roster to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.
Espinal wasn’t going to be long for the roster anyway. His performance has been declining for a while now. He could have been retained for the 2026 season via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a $2.9MM salary, but the Reds were going to non-tender him.
The infielder had some decent results with the Blue Jays a few years ago, even making the All-Star team in 2022, but he hasn’t done much since then. He has stepped to the plate 973 times in the past three years with a combined .245/.298/.325 line and 71 wRC+. That includes a .243/.292/.282 line and 58 wRC+ in 2025.
At his best, Espinal can play multiple positions while hitting lefties. As recently as last year, though his overall offense was poor, he slashed .289/.344/.491 for a 122 wRC+ against southpaws. He was still better against lefties in 2025 but hit only .265/.317/.342 for a wRC+ of 81.
Assuming he elects free agency, Espinal could get interest from clubs for a bench/utility role, either on a minor league pact or a modest big league deal. He has experience at all four infield spots as well as the outfield corners.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Don’t bring him back.
Don’t bring me down
Right out!
Hell yes! This could be the first sign of them actually being serious about contending in the offseason.
That’s because Francona is there. I believe the Reds will try to give him as much as he needs to contend again next year.
Even though he played in the same number of games in 24 and 25, his homerun and rbi production fell off a cliff. Not going to give him 2.5 M in arbitration for those numbers. Reds can always sign him to a minor league contract if he would be interested in returning.
Lol….thanks for the laugh even mentioning his HR production. He’s always been considered a deep treat.
And considering he’s the only one who at any point in the season, tried, and had some success, at moving runners. If anybody else would have done that, instead of striking out or popping up to the infield, they would have gotten into the playoffs on their own, not needing teams to lose for them. He’s earned 2 5 million more so than a lot who are making more than 2.5. But…he didn’t take two over the plate, and swing at strike 3 in the dirt like Elly and McClain. Maybe they can bring in another one who does to fill his spot.
Sounds like you are Santiago Espina’s mom.
He does have a point though about the guys mentioned. There are a lot of guys in that boat on that team though.
Sounds like you are Santiago Espina’s mom’s hairdresser
Haha…Espinal is not the answer to that at all. You have to make contact more than that.
But you have to move runners, especially on a team with average power at the best of times.
He is making money, of course he won’t be back.
Stewart kind of makes him redundant though.
It’s lot to pay for a backup utility guy. Hopefully they bring someone else into camp to push Matt McLain. Can’t option McLain now without adding someone else to the depth chart at SS.
Still have Gavin Lux, though it could be argued that he isn’t really an option for SS
I’d say Lux is more of an emergency-only option at SS. But I guess they could roll with Lux backing up SS, and if De La Cruz is out for more than a game or two they call McLain back up. Or Edwin Arroyo.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lux is gone by spring training
Yeah Lux won’t be around as a five million utility DH guy.
They should have gotten a real outfielder to begin with.
Apart from Lux there are now only two other left-handed bats on the 40-man roster (Friedl, Benson) plus the switch-hitting De La Cruz.
By the time we get to spring, Friedl may be the only one of that trio still on the roster.
The whole platoon thing is overrated by my opinion though. If you are platooning, that usually means neither is good enough to play every day.
That’s true, they would need someone to replace him. Maybe someone who can play defense lol. Also hitting rhp wasn’t nearly as much of a problem for the reds and hitting lhp.
They probably had to restrain Francona to get Espinal off the roster.
Him and bell are probably consoling each other as we speak
It’s safe to say the situation with Espinal is fluid.
Should’ve done this in June
Finally
Always liked Espinal as a Blue Jay, great player off the bench.
Bench players won’t be all stars. They will contribute by being versatile defensively , being able to pinch hit, or pinch run. They will have flaws. The idea is to have their strengths match the weaknesses of the starting lineup. If you’re expecting gold glove defense and a wRC of 120, its just not going to happen, because that is called a starter. $2.5 for a veteran bench player is hardly expensive. I wouldn’t expose a prospect to keep Espinal on the 40, but I also wouldn’t want a prospect sitting bench during the regular season, and not developing just to save a few bucks.
Out of the still remaining 11 arbitration eligible players, the following could be non-tender candidates: Benson, Lux, Moll.
I would say that’s a definite knowing how they operate.
Free Agency is not free
Don’t forget Tyler Callahan. Kid had a nasty injury but a homegrown young player who can play a lot of positions and should be ready next spring.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if Edwin Arroyo would be knocking on the door soon. Kid already has a big league glove. That might be what pushes Elly to the outfield.
Remember, cheap is always the best plan in Cincinnati these days with this ownership. Which is why they haven’t won a playoff series since 1995.