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Several Teams Showing Interest In Miguel Andujar

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Free agent infielder/outfielder Miguel Andujar is drawing widespread interest, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post, with the Rangers, Padres, Cardinals, Reds, Cubs and Athletics listed as some of the clubs in the mix.

Andujar, 31 in March, is coming off his best season in years. He missed a little over a month due to an oblique strain but got into 94 games, split between the A’s and Reds after a deadline trade. He generally puts the ball in play a lot, avoiding both strikeouts and walks, and that continued to be the case last year. In his 341 plate appearances, his 5% walk rate was quite low but he was also only struck out at a 14.4% clip.

He produced a .318/.352/.470 batting line, production which translated to a wRC+ of 125, or 25% better than league average. There was likely a bit of good luck in there, as his .348 batting average on balls in play was quite high, but it would have been a good showing even with neutral luck. He slashed .277/.315/.399 over 2023 and 2024 for a wRC+ of 103, with a decreased .306 BABIP in that stretch.

Andujar hits from the right side and has strong platoon splits. For his career, he has a .297/.332/.475 line and 121 wRC+ against lefties, compared to a .275/.307/.427 line and 101 wRC+ without the platoon advantage. It was even more extreme last year, as Andujar had a .389/.409/.578 line and 171 wRC+ against southpaws. Against righties, he held his own with a .290/.331/.429 line and 108 wRC+.

Defensively, he doesn’t play a premium position but does provide some versatility, as he lined up at the four corner spots last year. He doesn’t get great marks anywhere but the ability to move around is helpful when a club is looking to play matchups.

Andujar can therefore be of theoretical use to any club with a lefty in a corner somewhere. The A’s employed Andujar in 2024 and part of 2025 and could do so again. They have Nick Kurtz at first with the outfield corners manned by Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler. They could potentially be more competitive in 2026 but could also trade Andujar at the deadline again. Last year, they were able to get pitching prospect Kenya Huggins from the Reds.

The Rangers project to have Brandon Nimmo in left. Evan Carter is another lefty, with notable struggles against southpaws, and projects to be the club’s center fielder. There has been some suggestion that Wyatt Langford could take some center field playing time, which could make room for a righty bat in a corner. Joc Pederson projects to be the designated hitter. He is coming off a poor season but has crushed righties and flailed against lefties in his career.

Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom recently said the Cards have room for a righty-hitting outfielder. The club projects to have lefty Lars Nootbaar in one corner, with Alec Burleson at first base and Nolan Gorman possibly getting lots of playing time at third. The Cards are rebuilding but Andujar could help the club protect their current players and then perhaps be traded at the deadline, just as he was last year.

The Reds just had Andujar for the final two months of the 2025 season and could once again slot him in. They traded Gavin Lux to the Rays but project to have lefty JJ Bleday in one outfield corner. The Cubs have Michael Busch at first base and Moisés Ballesteros is probably the favorite to take over the designated hitter spot. The Padres project to have some combination of Jake Cronenworth, Sung Mun Song and Gavin Sheets covering first base, second base and designated hitter.

Andujar isn’t likely to command too much on the open market as a short-side platoon player. Guys like Austin Hays and Randal Grichuk are somewhat comparable players who each got one-year, $5MM deals last offseason. Rob Refsnyder just got $6.3MM from the Mariners on a one-year deal last month.

Hays and Grichuk are out there again now, alongside Andujar. Other similar players in this market include Austin Slater, Tommy Pham, Starling Marte and Chas McCormick. There’s also Harrison Bader, though he should be a tier above this group. Since he is a strong defender in center, he is a viable everyday player and may be able to secure himself a two-year deal.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Hanisch, Imagn Images

Reds Receiving Trade Interest In Starting Pitchers

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The Reds’ excellent rotation was the biggest reason behind the team’s return to the playoffs in 2025, and rival teams have taken notice of this talent and depth.  The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes that Cincinnati is still getting trade inquiries about its starters, and while the Reds “remain open to the possibility if the return improves them for the present and future,” this high asking price might scare off a number of suitors.

Indeed, it might be that not much has changed on the pitching front since October, when president of baseball operations Nick Krall said he “wouldn’t say no” to the idea of dealing from the rotation.  As Krall added, however, “when you trade pitchers you’ve got to go (back)fill them somehow.  We all know how it works, where you run out of innings at some point in the season, guys get hurt, things happen.”

A few weeks later, both Krall and manager Terry Francona further downplayed the idea that Hunter Greene in particular would be available at the right price, with Krall noting “That’s a hard one to actually say, ’Hey, we’re going to trade the guy that has a chance to be the ace of your staff and top-of-the-rotation guy going into the postseason.’  We’re looking to figure out how to get better, but right now that’s not on the table.”

Continuing that thread, Rosenthal writes that “rival clubs doubt their big arms are truly available,” in reference to Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Andrew Abbott.  Greene is signed to an extension through at least the 2028 season, Lodolo has two years of arbitration control remaining, and Abbott is controlled through 2029 and is still a year away from reaching arbitration eligibility.  Brady Singer has been more widely mentioned as a potential trade chip since he is a free agent next offseason, but Rosenthal feels the Reds would want both an MLB-ready starter and a bat for Singer’s services, which seems like a tall order.

As good as Cincinnati’s rotation was in 2025, the group is already down a couple of arms since Nick Martinez and Zack Littell are free agents.  Chase Burns is one of baseball’s top pitching prospects and is penciled into the fifth starter’s role for 2026, and another top-100 prospect in Chase Petty is in the mix.  Beyond these top six starters, however, the Reds have more young depth but a lot of injury-related question marks.  Forearm and oblique problems limited Rhett Lowder to 9 1/3 minor league innings and no time in the majors last year, and Julian Aguiar and Brandon Williamson missed all of 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgeries.

Like Krall implied, the “you can never have enough pitching” mantra might alone be enough to make the Reds wary about trading any of their starters and depleting the team’s clear strength.  On the flip side, moving a starter (even one of the top three arms) for a premium return would allow Cincinnati to address multiple roster holes, particularly within the team’s lineup.

The Reds haven’t done a ton to upgrade their average-at-best offense, as the team has added JJ Bleday and Dane Myers while trading Gavin Lux.  Cincinnati’s pursuit of Kyle Schwarber was an outlier based on Schwarber’s status as a local product, so the team’s limited payroll will likely preclude any more major expenditures unless some other money is moved off the books (i.e. Singer’s $12.75MM salary for 2026).  For now, the Reds are primarily counting on internal improvements for lineup help, which is a risky endeavor in an NL Central that keeps getting more competitive.

Elly De La Cruz Declined Franchise-Record Offer From Reds In 2025

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The Reds made an unsuccessful effort at locking up Elly De La Cruz last spring. While details were sparse at the time, president of baseball operations Nick Krall revealed today the team made an official offer that would have topped their 10-year, $225MM franchise-record deal with Joey Votto.

“We made Elly an offer that would’ve made him the highest-paid Red ever,” Krall said (link via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic). “That’s not where he is and you respect that. It’s their career. You keep going and you keep working on what you can do today.” De La Cruz opted not to go into specifics, telling fans at Redsfest only that he leaves contractual matters to his agent, Scott Boras.

The offer came on the heels of De La Cruz’s first full season in the big leagues. He hit 25 home runs and led the majors with 67 stolen bases while batting .259/.339/.471 in a little under 700 plate appearances. A switch-hitting shortstop with a massive power-speed combination, De La Cruz was a top 10 MVP finisher in his age-22 season. He had arguably been MLB’s #1 prospect before his promotion. It was enough for the Reds to safely consider him the face of the franchise.

As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, any extension above Votto money would have been a record for a player with fewer than two years of service. Julio Rodríguez holds that mark on his extension with the Mariners. That technically comes with a $210MM guarantee but has a massive escalator/option structure that could push the value closer to half a billion dollars. The player’s earning ceiling climbs as they approach arbitration. Fernando Tatis Jr. (14 years, $340MM) and Bobby Witt Jr. (11 years, $288.78MM) each commanded much bigger guarantees when they signed extensions at exactly two years of service.

Krall didn’t specify where the offer to De La Cruz would have landed in comparison to those precedents. Witt is an MVP-caliber player now but had some similarities to De La Cruz at the time he signed his extension over the 2023-24 offseason. He was also a former #1 prospect with the tools to be a franchise shortstop. Witt had hit .276/.319/.495 with 30 homers and 49 steals in the season preceding his long-term deal. He was already a star but had yet to level up to the player who’d win a batting title with an OPS pushing 1.000. Witt’s deal also built in four opt-out chances that could get him to free agency as early as his age-31 season — a time when a decade-long contract could be in the cards.

Whatever the specifics, De La Cruz has thus far opted to bet on himself. That’s the usual path for Boras Corporation clients, especially those who have yet to qualify for arbitration. He played on a pre-arbitration salary last year and will do the same in 2026. De La Cruz will qualify for arbitration next offseason and is under club control for four seasons. He’s on track to hit free agency at age 28.

De La Cruz’s production backed up a little bit in his second full season. He hit .264/.336/.440 with 22 longballs and 37 stolen bases. His average and on-base percentage were essentially unchanged, but his power and baserunning each took slight steps back. It’s unlikely to change much about how the Reds view him. De La Cruz started all but one game as the Reds battled for the National League’s final playoff spot. Krall said earlier in the offseason that De La Cruz played through a strained left quad. The injury and potential fatigue wore on him in the second half, as he hit .236/.303/.363 after the All-Star Break. He had carried a .284/.359/.495 slash with 25 steals into the Midsummer Classic.

Cincinnati will probably take another run at extension talks this spring, though it’d be a surprise if they get anything done. He’ll remain the team’s most important position player in either case. Krall made clear they’re committed to De La Cruz at shortstop, where he has a cannon arm but has led MLB in errors in consecutive seasons. He should lead the way offensively if he’s fully healthy, with his physical gifts giving him one of the highest ceilings in the league.

Rays, Angels, Reds Agree To Three-Team Trade Involving Josh Lowe, Gavin Lux

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While Kyle Tucker dominated baseball’s headlines, the Rays, Angels and Reds worked out a three-team trade. Outfielder Josh Lowe heads from Tampa Bay to the Angels. The Rays acquire utilityman Gavin Lux from Cincinnati and minor league pitcher Chris Clark from the Halos. The Reds get left-handed reliever Brock Burke from Los Angeles. The deal was finalized on Friday morning.

It’s the second trade involving an everyday outfielder for the Angels this offseason. This time, the player is coming their way. Lowe will fill the outfield void left by Taylor Ward, who was shipped to Baltimore for Grayson Rodriguez. Tampa Bay entered the winter with a pair of Lowes, but the club will head into 2026 without either one. The versatile Lux can fill the void left by the Brandon Lowe deal. Cincinnati nets a veteran southpaw, while also getting off the $5.525MM contract Lux received in arbitration. Burke will make about half of that this season.

Lowe seemed like a fixture in Tampa Bay’s lineup after a massive 20/30 campaign in 2023. He posted a 135 wRC+ in his first season as a regular. Injuries would stifle his production the next two seasons. Oblique and hamstring issues delayed the start of his 2024 season. The oblique cost him time later that year, and then again at the beginning of this past season. He wasn’t productive when healthy this year, stumbling to a career-worst 79 wRC+ behind a .220/.283/.366 batting line. Lowe hit .139 with a 35.3% strikeout rate in his final month with the team.

With Ward gone and Mike Trout penciled in at DH, the Angels had limited options in the outfield prior to the move. Lowe will now slot in alongside Jo Adell and Jorge Soler. The Rays shielded him from lefties for much of his time there, and with good reason. Lowe has a .504 OPS and a 33% strikeout rate in his limited work against same-handed pitching (288 plate appearances). He could be ticketed for regular at-bats given the lack of a platoon partner. The right-handed bench outfielder is currently Bryce Teodosio, a glove-first option. Trout only made 22 starts in the outfield last season, but that could change considering the alternatives.

A former first-round pick, Lowe is a plus runner who has slightly above-average bat speed. The aforementioned 20-30 season hints at his physical upside, but the durability and strikeout concerns kept him from establishing himself as a cornerstone player. He has only once reached 500 plate appearances in a season.

Lowe played a little bit of center field early in his career. The vast majority of his experience has come in right, and he has only logged seven innings up the middle over the past two seasons. He’d be stretched in center defensively, yet that’s also true of Trout and Adell. The Halos will probably need to live with rough up-the-middle defense from Lowe or Adell to get a better bat than Teodosio’s in the lineup, at least until 20-year-old center field prospect Nelson Rada arrives.

Tampa Bay and Lowe settled on a $2.6MM deal to avoid arbitration this year. It was his first trip through the process. He’s controlled for three seasons and still has a minor league option remaining, so the Halos could send him down without putting him on waivers. The Angels’ estimated payroll on RosterResource still sits at about $30MM below last year’s mark.

The Reds acquired Lux last offseason in a trade with the Dodgers. He delivered league-average results at the plate in his lone season in Cincinnati, hitting .269/.350/.374 with five homers over a career-high 503 plate appearances. Lux made most of his appearances in left field, while also spending time at second base and third base. He was also used frequently as a pinch hitter.

Lux was one of Cincinnati’s more reliable on-base hitters, but he has never developed into much of a power threat. The former top prospect hasn’t hit more than 10 homers in any of his five-plus MLB seasons. Last winter’s change of scenery trade and move to Great American Ball Park didn’t really move the needle. The left-handed hitter has a solid offensive floor but probably doesn’t have much untapped upside as he enters his age-28 season.

The bigger drawback is that Lux has never settled into a clear positional home. He has moved around less because he’s an incredibly versatile and more due to his defensive struggles at various positions. His throwing accuracy has been an intermittent issue on the infield, even at second base. Defensive metrics haven’t looked favorably upon his work in the corner outfield.

The Rays had a clear gap at second base after the (first) Lowe trade. The internal choices were uninspiring, though Richie Palacios has some similarities as a left-handed hitter whose game is built around his on-base skills. Lux should step into a near-everyday role, with Tampa Bay’s typical platoon shenanigans likely capping his reps against left-handed pitching. He could also get some rotational corner outfield work, replacing Josh Lowe as a lefty bat in an outfield that remains without much certainty. Lux is a one-year addition who’ll reach free agency for the first time next winter.

The Angels claimed Burke, coincidentally a former Rays’ draftee, off waivers from the Rangers in August 2024. His one-and-a-half years with the club represented one of the better stretches of his big league career. Burke put together a 3.40 ERA across 90 appearances as an Angel. He pitched in a career-high 69 games last year. The 29-year-old is in his final year of arbitration and will hit free agency next season.

Burke was able to tap into more velocity after joining the Angels. He sat 94-95 mph after transitioning from the rotation to the bullpen with the Rangers. In L.A., Burke bumped his heater to 96 mph. He also upped his slider usage with the club. Burke had a career-high 30.5% strikeout rate with the Angels in 2024. That number fell by more than 10 points in 2025, but he counteracted it with a career-best 53.3% ground-ball rate. Burke doesn’t have huge platoon splits and isn’t a situational specialist so much as a generally steady arm whom Terry Francona can use in the middle innings.

Cincinnati relied on Taylor Rogers as its primary lefty last season, until he was sent to the Cubs at the deadline. The Reds have added Burke and Caleb Ferguson to fill the role for 2026. They also tendered a contract to the out-of-options Sam Moll, so it seems they’ll begin the season with three veteran lefties in the relief corps.

Clark was a fifth-round pick by the Angels in 2023. He posted a 4.73 ERA across 28 minor league appearances this past season. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs praised Clark’s developing changeup and loose arm action heading into the 2025 campaign. The righty uses a sinker and sweeper as his two main pitches. A changeup would fit in nicely. The 24-year-old Clark topped out at Double-A last year. He made just one start at the level and will likely be back there to open the 2026 season.

Jeff Passan of ESPN was first on the trade. Respective images via Chris Tilley, Gary A. Vasquez of Imagn Images.

Mariners Acquire Yosver Zulueta

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The Mariners and Reds announced a trade sending reliever Yosver Zulueta to Seattle for minor league pitcher Dusty Revis. Zulueta was just designated for assignment by Cincinnati a few hours ago when they made their Pierce Johnson signing official. Seattle designated infielder Samad Taylor for assignment in a corresponding move.

Zulueta, who turns 28 next week, has a limited major league track record. He has thrown 23 2/3 innings for the Reds over the past two seasons. In that time, he has allowed 5.32 earned runs per nine frames. His 10.9% walk rate is on the high side but his 24.8% strikeout rate and 54% ground ball rate are both strong figures.

Despite the short résumé, the stuff is intriguing. His four-seamer and sinker have both averaged in the upper 90s during his time as a big leaguer. He has also thrown a slider and changeup in the upper 80s. His minor league numbers are also enticing, though with similar control issues as his time in the majors. At Triple-A last year, he tossed 60 1/3 innings with a 3.28 ERA, 31.2% strikeout rate and 56.5% ground ball rate but a 12.8% walk rate.

Zulueta first got a 40-man spot from the Blue Jays in November of 2022. He has mostly been on optional assignment in the three seasons since then, with a waiver claim by Cincinnati along the way.

That would normally position him to be out of options but he may qualify for a fourth option. A player can qualify for a fourth option if he doesn’t have five “full” seasons as a professional, with a “full” season usually consisting of 90 days on an active roster. Zulueta made his professional debut in 2021 but only made one appearance in Single-A that year, so he may only have four “full” seasons. That’s likely why his FanGraphs page lists him as still having an option.

The Mariners have a pretty good reputation of getting good results from unheralded relievers. That doesn’t mean they succeed with every guy they pick up but Zulueta clearly has a powerful arm, so perhaps Seattle can figure out a way to make good use of it. If things go well, Zulueta has less than a year of service time and can be affordably controlled into the foreseeable future.

Cincinnati takes a flier on Revis, whom Seattle drafted in the 11th round last summer. The 6’2″ righty turned in a 4.04 ERA across 15 starts during his final season at Western Carolina University. He didn’t pitch after the draft. Josh Kirshenbaum of MLB Pipeline wrote on draft day that he held his fastball velocity in the mid-90s while working out of the Catamounts rotation.

Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com first reported that Zulueta was being traded to Seattle. Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Reds Designate Yosver Zulueta For Assignment

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The Reds announced Thursday that they’ve designated right-hander Yosver Zulueta for assignment in order to open a 40-man roster spot for righty Pierce Johnson, whose previously reported one-year deal with Cincinnati is now official.

A hard-throwing 6’1″ righty, Zulueta has pitched briefly in the majors with Cincinnati in each of the past two seasons. He’s totaled just 22 1/3 innings and been tagged for an unsightly 5.32 earned run average but has some more encouraging underlying traits. Zulueta averaged a blistering 98.1 mph with his four-seamer this past season and has fanned 24.8% of his opponents in the majors and kept a hearty 54% of batted balls against him on the ground. However, a paltry 8.4% swinging-strike rate and 25.4% opponents’ chase rate don’t really support that strikeout rate, and Zulueta has also walked 10.9% of his big league opponents.

Zulueta has a solid Triple-A track record, including 60 1/3 frames of 3.78 ERA ball in 2025. He punched out more than 31% of opponents with Louisville in 2025 but also issued walks at a near 13% clip and plunked another two percent of the batters he faced (five of the 250). In parts of four Triple-A campaigns, the Cuban-born righty has a 3.74 ERA, 27.5% strikeout rate and 14% walk rate.

Based on his velocity, ability to both miss bats and generate grounders, and the fact that he still has a minor league option year remaining, Zulueta seems like the type of low-risk bullpen arm who could appeal to other clubs via a small trade or waiver claim. The Reds will have five days to work out a trade before he has to be placed on waivers, which would be another 48-hour process. His DFA will be resolved within a week’s time.

Reds Sign Pierce Johnson

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Jan. 15: The Reds have formally announced the signing. There’s a mutual option for the 2027 season on the contract as well, though since mutual options are never exercised by both parties, that amounts to little more than an accounting measure to push some of the $6.5MM salary to the ’27 books (by way of an option buyout).

Jan. 12: Johnson is guaranteed $6.5MM, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

Jan. 11: Right-hander Pierce Johnson is headed to the Reds, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The details of the contract are not yet known. Johnson is represented by John Boggs & Associates.

Johnson, 34, was a first-round pick all the way back in 2012. He made his big league debut in 2017 but didn’t stick in the majors right away and eventually headed to Japan in 2019 to pitch for the Hanshin Tigers. The result was a dominant 1.38 ERA over 58 2/3 innings of work in NPB, and Johnson then returned to the majors in 2020 and posted strong numbers overall across three seasons with the Padres.

Missing most of the 2022 campaign due to injury, however, put Johnson in an awkward position entering free agency following the year. He caught on with the Rockies and struggled badly, posting a 6.00 ERA during his time in Colorado, but was still an attractive enough target to be dealt to the Braves at the trade deadline. Upon arriving in Atlanta, he looked like a different pitcher, turning in a a 0.76 ERA, 36% strikeout rate, and 5.4% walk rate across 24 appearances down the stretch for the Braves.

It was a performance so impressive that Atlanta chose to extend Johnson on a fresh two-year deal that guaranteed him $14.25MM, including a $250K buyout on a $7MM club option for the 2026 season. Johnson posted a 3.36 ERA and 3.77 FIP overall across 115 1/3 innings in the next two seasons, but he was unable to carry over the pinpoint command he had flashed down the stretch in 2023. His peripherals declined, culminating in the righty striking out a diminished (but still strong) 24.8% of his opponents this past year, and the Braves ultimately chose to buy out his 2026 option.

Now headed into his age-35 season, Johnson will join a Reds team that managed to squeak into the playoffs last year and has its sights set on returning in 2026. After re-signing Emilio Pagan to serve as the club’s closer, Cincinnati has continued to retool its bullpen by adding Caleb Ferguson and now Johnson. That trio should be joined by Tony Santillan to make a formidable late inning relief corps for the Reds, while former starters like Graham Ashcraft and Connor Phillips provide some upside but likely slide into lower-leverage roles. With a stacked rotation led by Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott, Terry Francona’s pitching staff looks solid headed into the season.

The question for the Reds headed into 2026 is mostly focused around the club’s lineup. While Elly De La Cruz is a budding superstar and players like TJ Friedl and Spencer Steer have proven themselves to be quality role players, it’s hard to know if the Reds’ lineup will produce enough on offense to carry them back to October. Players like Noelvi Marte and Matt McLain have shown great promise in the past but have also struggled badly at times. The same can be said for reclamation projects JJ Bleday and Ke’Bryan Hayes. If the Reds have more planned this offseason after adding Johnson, adding more to the lineup would be the best way to improve the roster, whether that’s through free agency or perhaps a trade of someone like right-hander Brady Singer, who’ll be a free agent next winter.

Reds Sign Will Banfield, Hagen Danner To Minor League Deals

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The Reds announced a number of non-roster invitees to spring training today. In addition to some names already covered by MLBTR, catcher Will Banfield and right-hander Hagen Danner are on the list. That indicates the Reds have signed those players to minor league deals.

Banfield, 26, just got to make his major league debut with the Reds last year. He got into seven games and made ten plate appearances. He struck out six times and grounded into a double play but also collected one hit, a single. The Reds non-tendered him in November, which sent him to waivers without him being exposed to waivers. They have now brought him back into the organization in a non-roster capacity.

He has never been a huge hitter, though he did launch 23 home runs at the Double-A level in 2023. He was once a notable prospect in the Marlins’ system thanks mostly to his strong defensive reputation.

The Reds have a catching group consisting of Tyler Stephenson, Jose Trevino and Ben Rortvedt. No one in that group can be optioned to the minors, so the Reds will need to have a three-catcher setup or bump someone off the roster, unless an injury changes the picture. However it plays out, Banfield gives the club a glove-first depth catcher. If he’s later added to the roster, he still has options.

Danner, 27, still has a limited track record. He was drafted by the Blue Jays as a catcher but stalled out and got moved to the mound. He got to make his major league debut with Toronto in 2023 but tossed just a third of an inning. In the minors, he has generally had decent strikeout and walks rates. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 114 minor league innings with a flat earned run average of 3.00. He struck out 28.8% of batters faced with an 8.3% walk rate.

The Jays bumped him off the 40-man going into the 2025 season. The Mariners claimed him off waivers and then later outrighted him. He spent last year at Triple-A Tacoma, in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He logged 56 1/3 innings for that club with a 5.59 ERA, 21.4% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate. He didn’t get his roster spot back by the end of the year and became a free agent. For the Reds, there’s no harm in a non-roster pact to add some more depth. If Danner gets a roster spot at some point, he is out of options.

Photo courtesy of Katie Stratman, Imagn Images

Reds Sign Garrett Hampson, Josh Staumont, Brandon Leibrandt To Minors Contracts

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The Reds signed utilityman Garrett Hampson, right-hander Josh Staumont, and left-hander Brandon Leibrandt to minor league deals in December, as per each player’s official MLB.com profile page.  Hampson’s deal was also announced today on the Reds’ official X feed, with the added detail that Hampson has been invited to the club’s big league Spring Training camp.

This is Hampson’s second go-around in Cincinnati, after appearing in nine games for the team in 2025.  Hampson began the season on a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks and made the Opening Day roster, but was then released in May.  Cincinnati inked Hampson to a MLB deal a few days later but designated the utilityman near the end of June, with the Cardinals then claiming Hampson away on waivers.  Hampson has been a free agent since he was DFA’ed again and then released by St. Louis in September.

Over 62 games and 91 plate appearances spread out over his three teams, Hampson hit just .143/.250/.169.  It was a tough showing even for a player who carried a modest .240/.301/.362 career slash line into the 2025 season, though Hampson’s versatility has been far more important than his bat in carving out an eight-year MLB career.  Hampson has played at least eight games at every position on the diamond besides catcher, with the bulk of his coming as a second baseman and center fielder.  Even over just those nine previous games with the Reds, Hampson appeared at second base, third base, shortstop, and center field.

Cincinnati already has a number of multi-position players on the roster, so Hampson may have a tricky time winning a spot on the Reds’ roster.  Hampson is also out of minor league options, while Staumont has one option year remaining and Leibrandt has two.

Staumont is back for what is technically his second season with the Reds, though a preseason injury kept Staumont from getting any game action in either the majors or minors.  Staumont had pitched in each of the previous six big league seasons, posting a 3.97 ERA over 192 2/3 innings with the Royals and Twins.  Once a key leverage reliever and potential future closer for Kansas City, Staumont’s production started to drop off in 2022 as injuries impacted his career, culminating in a thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in 2023.

After averaging 98 mph on his fastball in 2020, Staumont’s velo dropped to 94.3mph by the 2024 season, and his strikeout numbers also sharply dropped off.  Control had been an issue for Staumont even in his best years, so it is anyone’s guess as to how he’ll now look entering his age-32 season and after a full year away from pitching.  The Reds already have first-hand knowledge of Staumont’s health situation, however, and a minors deals represents no risk for the team in bringing Staumont to camp and seeing what can still contribute.

Leibrandt is yet another former Red, as he posted a 9.95 ERA over 6 1/3 innings (two appearances) for the team in 2024.  This brief stint and five games (nine IP) with the Marlins in 2020 represent Leibrandt’s entire MLB resume, and the rest of his career has seen the southpaw pitch in the minors, with independent league teams, and with the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s CTBC Brothers in 2025.

Leibrandt had good results over approximately half a season in the CPBL, posting a 1.94 ERA and 5.37% walk rate over 83 1/3 innings with the Brothers, albeit with a 16.45% strikeout rate.  This was enough to get Cincinnati’s attention for another contract, and Leibrandt figures to act as Triple-A rotation depth.

Reds Sign Michael Toglia To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have added first baseman Michael Toglia on a minor league deal, according to his MLB transactions log. The 27-year-old was non-tendered by the Rockies in late November. Toglia split the 2025 season between Triple-A and the majors.

Toglia had the makings of a viable three-true-outcomes bat following the 2024 campaign. He popped 25 home runs in 116 games while walking at a strong 11.8% clip. The power and patience came with a 32.1% strikeout rate, but the end result was a passable 98 wRC+. Toglia’s shaky contact skills cratered to begin this past season. He posted a 39.1% strikeout rate in the first two months of the year, earning a demotion. He bounced up and down between the big-league club and the Isotopes for the rest of the season.

Colorado took Toglia in the first round of the 2019 draft. He flashed big power at every level of the minors, though it came with concerning swing-and-miss tendencies. Toglia debuted with the club in 2022, playing sparingly that season and the next. He totaled six home runs over his first 76 games. The 2024 breakout was closer to what Toglia had shown in the minors, particularly with the free passes. He had a walk rate of at least 12% at every minor league stop before his promotion. It hadn’t reached 8% in his first two MLB stints.

Toglia has shown the ability to do real damage when he makes contact. He ranked in the 98th percentile in barrel rate and the 94th percentile in hard-hit rate in 2024. The contact just hasn’t come consistently enough. Toglia’s had a whiff rate above 33% in all four MLB seasons. He had the fourth-lowest contact rate among hitters with at least 300 plate appearances last year.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

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