Cincinnati Reds Steal TWO Players From Brewers in Minor League Rule 5 Draft | MLB News and Rumors

Cincinnati Reds Steal TWO Players From Brewers in Minor League Rule 5 Draft | MLB News and Rumors

All right, Nick Kirby here. Pleased to be joined 
by Mike Hart. Quick episode here. We’re just going to run through a couple players that the 
Reds picked up in the minor league portion of the rule five draft, stealing some players from 
the Milwaukee Brewers. We’re going to dive into that. Reds also lost a player uh last week in 
the actual rule five draft. We’ll get to all of that here in just a second, but I want to remind 
you first, Omaha Stakes is your destination for Christmas gifts. If you’re looking for something 
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checkout. Terms to apply, seaside for details, omahastak.com promo code chatterbox. All right, 
Mike. So, the rule five draft was uh during the winter meetings last week. Reds did not select 
anyone, but they did lose someone. Mike, I was uh busy covering the Cincinnati Bengals for our 
social media accounts, clipping up some some Zack Taylor highlights from a press conference. So, I 
fortunately did not get to get dialed in and watch this prestigious rule five draft, but you did. 
And uh you said it was a very interesting viewing experience. Tell me a little bit more about that. 
Yeah, it was just broadcast out on the MLB website and um I was trying to watch it on mute, but I 
realized like there wasn’t any closed captioning coming up and there were no graphics at all. It 
was just a bunch of teams had a representative in a suit all lined up. Some of them had name tags, 
some of them didn’t. And they would walk up and just lean into a mic and say, “Uh, this person or 
we we’ll pass our pick.” And and that and that was about it. It was it was one of those things where 
I had to it was like, well, I gotta listen to this on on some volume now to be able to tell what 
the heck is going on because uh you know, if you wanted to know in real time, it’s just like like, 
you know, you gota you got to be watching because there was ultimately uh some of our favorite um 
Red’s accounts were able to post some of the the um the picks. Shout out to Gingosaurus Rex. Uh, 
always great to give that guy a shout out, but um, it’s it was it was a fun experience. It was an 
interesting one. I understand why there’s not a lot of production value in it, but you know, maybe 
throw throw us a bone a little bit. At least I at least give us something. You know, have an intern 
type the names up in the team that they got taken from. Maybe that maybe something like that. You 
would only need to make not everyone made a pick, so you could just say, you know, Cincinnati 
Reds pass or something like that. Um, so who knows? Wasn’t a lot of production value, 
but it was uh you know the as a baseball sicko, it was fun to watch. Maybe one day when we’re big 
Jay journalists, we’ll get invited to the event and we could actually watch it and give you more. 
We’ll live stream it. We’ll put we’ll put graphics up. Yeah, we will. We can do it. We we we can do 
it. So, well, thanks for your incredible insight into that. Uh Mike, do appreciate that. Uh for 
those who are unfamiliar with the rule five draft, just kind of the basics. Uh, every team gets 
a pick. Uh, and you can pick any player on any team that’s not uh, on the 40man roster that has 
been in the minor league organization five years, I think. Is it there’s some sort of cut off? 
Basically, they players that have been in the minor leagues a while, haven’t made it to the big 
leagues or haven’t got added to a 40-man roster, you get to pick them. And a lot of teams pass. 
Mike, you said a large portion of these teams pass. Of the overall major league, there was 
only 13 picks. So over half the teams passed in the major league portion. Reds were 18th. Uh 
how many players were selected? 18th beyond 18th. Um I think four Blue Jays, Yankees, Phillies, 
White Socks. I think they’re the ones that were Yeah. So when you get kind of to the bottom, it’s 
it’s it’s pretty common to pass is kind of at least at least this year um in this year’s rule 
five draft. Well, after the the main rule five draft, there’s a minor league rule five draft. 
And we’ll get to the two players that the Reds select here in a second. Reds did lose a player uh 
Rodery Munoz, who’s had a turbulent off season. Uh the Reds uh claimed him off of waiverss. Uh the 
Reds dfaided him uh right before the non-tender deadline to uh add other players. Uh then somehow 
were able to sign him to a minor league deal and then lost him in the rule five draft. or did they 
sign a minor league deal or did he get optioned? I I don’t remember. I don’t remember. But long 
he had to pass through he definitely had to pass through waiverss. So there’s a potential that we 
could lose him and then he came back to the Reds off the roster. But nonetheless, he goes to the 
Houston Astros. Um if the Houston Astros keep him on their big league roster the entire 2026 season, 
he will be a Houston Astro from there on out. They can option the Miners the next year, do whatever 
they want. uh they will pay the Reds $100,000 for Rodery Munoz’s service. Uh if he does not, he gets 
I if if he does not at any point he gets returned to the Red’s organization. Uh the Reds get to 
keep $30,000 uh for that. Uh I mean, yeah, like it’s I I there was some stuff I liked about Rodery 
Munoz. We talked about him before, but not going to lose any sleep over this. And you actually had 
an interesting point about how this could actually be a good thing for the Reds, right? Uh, this is 
a guy that now the Astros are motivated to have on their big league roster and I I don’t think it 
was somebody that we were expecting to contribute in our bullpen, but if he can go and at least 
in camp get major league experience there and maybe even into the season pitching major league 
experience and then if he doesn’t make it through the season gets sent back to the Reds, I think 
they just gained a a prospect with some really good experience where you can know, okay, this is 
how he has performed in the big leagues. So having an opportunity to go uh play play and and and 
pitch against major league pitching, I think is is um something that he may not have been afforded 
in Cincinnati. So uh we we may be thanking the Astros for giving some some well-needed experience 
to a farm hand that comes back and then maybe does um help the Reds in 2026 if he does get returned. 
That’s a quite interesting way to look at it. I I had thought of that, but I uh I I I do kind 
of uh uh I kind of see what you’re saying. So, we’ll see certainly how that works out. Now, the 
Reds did pick up two players in the minor league portion of the rule five draft. Uh they pick 
up left-handed pitcher Nate Peterson and first baseman Xavier Warren. We’ll start with Xavier 
Warren. Xavier Warren a switchhitting utility player. He was a Brewers third round pick in 2020 
out of Central Michigan. didn’t hit much in 2025, just hit 228, 314 on base percentage, 11 home runs 
in 117 games. But he’s kind of played all over the place. Uh he played 20 plus games in 2025 at first 
base, second base, third base, and left field. So, in my opinion, that’s pretty much why the Reds got 
him. A guy that can play all over the place. Gives them some depth at the AAA double AAA level where 
they don’t really have a lot of depth at those positions. I I highly doubt that Xavier Warren’s 
going to make the big league club and there’s going to be much more than this was a guy minor 
league depth. That’s how I view it. Do you view it any different? Yeah. A switch hitter as well 
and I think that this is he’s going to have to figure out his strikeouts. He struck out 113 times 
in double A last year. And um you know there’s people you can make strides. There’s there’s I I 
would say there’s not not a nonzero chance we ever see Xavier Warren. But uh yeah, I think you’re 
right. This is not somebody that um I would expect to factor in and you know could provide some 
solid depth with position flexibility all over the infield on either double A or AAA. And you 
know never bad rating a division rival for their uh prospect depth. you know, ma, you know, maybe 
you bring him to the Reds and maybe he doesn’t do anything, but at least you prevent him from the 
Brewers using their double magic to make him, you know, a three- win defensive uh star uh on on 
the big league club or something like that. So, um you know, it’s always nice to be able to 
raid the um uh division rivals uh minor league system because they seem to be doing something 
well. Now, the the pitcher Nate Nate Peterson, a lefty, a little bit more intriguing to me, 
I think has a at least a potential of of maybe um at some point making the big league roster in 
2026. I mean, he did finish the year in 2025 uh with the Brewers. He was an eighth round pick 
in 2022, had an RA of four and even four in 74 in the third innings between double A and AAA. 
There was a 14 fast ball slider, change up curve, and splitter. fast pole averages 91.9. I think 
there’s some interest in some of his uh some of his pitches might might have the ability 
to uh be a little bit deceptive. Um but yeah, I mean look, Brewers pitcher that was at Triple A 
checks all the boxes for me of Yeah, let’s take a let’s take a flyer on this guy. Yeah, exactly. and 
left-handed. Also, you know, it’s as we saw with the conversation with the Reds this week signing 
Caleb Ferguson, just the lack of depth of anyone that we can trust in the organization that’s 
left-handed is is pretty tough. So, you know, I know he doesn’t throw really hard, but it’s just 
like being able to have somebody that you might be able to utilize as a starter, which is how he’s 
been, or if you can maybe get his stuff to tick up as a reliever, having a, you know, a a good 
lefty reliever that you, you know, any of these guys that you’re bringing over has the potential 
to, you know, maybe pop as a reliever. I’m always in favor of being able to do that. I think we’ve 
seen some pretty good examples of of that with the Reds recently with people like Connor Phillips. 
Um so I think that this is absolutely a great bet to make. It’s a minor league. So I think they 
gave up $25,000 or something something very very small to do that. And um yeah, I I think that 
this is somebody that maybe with Derek Johnson and a little bit of tweaking, you know, you turn 
into somebody that can be effective and maybe even makes your makes a Randy win start for you or 
a you know what I mean? Uh in the 2026 season, it looks like the limited data that we have is he 
only threw literally five and two3. That that’s all we get like uh at least us peeons get get 
any sort of data on. Looks like the the slider and his splitter graded out as the the two best 
pitches, which it kind of not surprising with uh with a left-handed reliever that doesn’t throw 
super hard. But yeah, interesting player that I’m certainly intrigued by and always good to to 
rob from the Brewers and uh um um see if uh if Peterson can uh uh can can work out. And 
um nice to see the Reds. The Reds, we already talked about earlier this week. um the Reds going 
out and signing Caleb Ferguson. But yeah, as many lefties as you can stockpile, there’s there’s 
not an overabundance of them in the Red’s upper levels of their system. So, um that’s certainly 
I think was was probably the most appealing piece uh aspect of this for the Reds. Nick, were you 
surprised they didn’t take anyone in the major league portion of the rule five draft? Well, then 
picking 18th, I think, is probably probably why it it it’s not super surprising. I think if they were 
higher, I think they would have. Um, it’s just, yeah, we talked off air. It just there is kind of 
going to be a roster crunch. At least right now, it appears there’s going to be a roster crunch. 
Now, it’ll be interesting to see as this offseason goes on because I do expect there’s going to 
be players that are on the 40man roster that the Reds trade this off seasonason. I just don’t 
know how many of those. Um, but if it if you went to camp right now, there’s going to be kind of a 
roster crunch in terms of of you just have like a lot of like platoon players and you kind of have 
to have if Gavin Lux is on the roster, you also have to have a right-handed compliment almost on 
the bench type thing. Um, and with the bullpen as it stands right now, yeah, you you do kind of 
have a couple nice pieces now with Pagan um and Ferguson to go along with with Santion, but you 
kind of have a lot of guys that are on the bubble like Zack Maxwell. There’s a lot of talent, but 
there’s no guarantee you’re going to put him on the major league roster because if he goes to camp 
and doesn’t look very good in spring training, there’s no chance he’s going to be able to roster. 
Same with Luis May. Conor Phillips showed a lot, but if Conor Phillips comes to camp and looks 
terrible, I don’t think you’re going to put him on the big league roster even. So, uh, yeah, 
that that that doesn’t really surprise me for the for the Reds. I just don’t think they’re going to 
throw away $100,000 if they think there’s a very very low chance uh of a guy sticking. Um, and 
uh if there wasn’t anyone that really they they felt convicted of that, I don’t really blame them. 
Yeah. And my guess is they probably had a couple names. They’re like, “Okay, if this throws falls 
to us, we’re willing to, you know, maybe take a shot here.” And those guys got taken. And so they 
said, “Hey, you know, um, thanks, but no thanks on on the major league side.” So that’s probably my 
that’s my assumption on how it went. I’m sure they maybe even checked in on some of the players that 
they’re interested on a trade or we’ve seen them trade away and trade for rule five picks in the 
past as well. So I’m sure I think one of them did get traded. Uh stable. Yeah. Yeah. So, and Connor 
Joe, right? I think we talked about this if you made it to the end of that that long episode where 
Craig read all of Mark Sheldon’s articles, but um the the Yeah, I think Connor Joe was another one 
that and we drafted and then traded to traded to the He did get he did get through most of spring 
training though. Blake Sable, there is like a there’s a checks and balances to this. Like if you 
say, “Oh, the Reds were just cheap. They didn’t want to waste.” Well, that’s not exactly true 
because the Reds could have picked someone and traded him to another team. So, if if another team 
would have said, “Hey, we’ll give you $10,000 for selecting this player.” You would think the Reds 
would have done it, right? Because, right, we’ll we’ll take it for $100,000. You’re going to pay us 
$110,000. We’ll go ahead and pocket $10,000. Like, I would think the Reds would have done that. So, 
it doesn’t seem like there was any other teams that were even interested as well. So, I think 
like that there might be a misconception that this was just a cheap move. No, probably not because 
there was no other teams that really wanted any of these players for a little bit more than 100 
to think the Reds would have done that. Maybe they wouldn’t have done that for the Pittsburgh Pirates 
or the St. Louis Cardinal or Chicago Cubs, but if uh the Cleveland Guardians wanted a player and 
said, “Hey, we’ll give you an extra $25,000 for doing the deal for us,” I would think they would 
do it, right? Yeah, I think you’re Yeah, I think you’re right. I I you know deep down I wish as 
somebody who was watching it I would have wished that they would have done something you know I 
would have wished that they would have picked the person that I asked to highlight as well Reggie 
Crawford but uh I understand why they didn’t and you know and at the end of the day the odds of 
these guys sticking are very very low. I think that one or two make it every year and they’re 
on bad teams that have roster spo space. So, it’s like the odds of it actually mattering weren’t 
very high. So, I got over it pretty quickly. And the reason the Reds were picking so low is because 
they made the playoffs. That’s right. That’s why they’re picking 18th. So, if you want the Reds to 
pick up guys in the rule five draft, you’re going have to really hope they stink next year, which I 
don’t think any of us are. Good trade-off for me. I’ll I’ll take the playoffs over a rule five 
draft pick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully we’re never uh uh top five rule five draft picking 
uh uh again. Oh, Mike, this was a lot of fun, interesting kind of conversation. This is the 
real I mean, this is I put this on the Friday because I think a lot of people, you know, during 
football season, they want their football podcast. If you’re listening right now, you are the sicko 
that we love. You are listening to minor league rule five draft talk on a Friday afternoon or 
maybe a Saturday while you’re doing some errands. I think there’s some bowl games going on. You’re a 
sicko and we love you. That’s right. That’s right. We appreciate you. Uh we will appreciate all the 
comments that’ll get dropped in there, too. So, keep those coming. We love I love going through 
those because uh sometimes they agree with what we say, sometimes they don’t. So, uh I’m always 
I’m always open to new opinions about um you know what what we have going on. Say some nice things 
to Craig. Say some nice things with Craig. Craig Craig’s been getting a little little dragged 
a little late. And you got one thing you got to realize about Craig is is is I literally 
text Craig at like 12:45 in the morning. Hey, can you record something real quick? Like that’s 
how much notice I give this guy. So, this guy’s a grinder. Let’s appreciate him a little bit. Uh uh 
uh he also has to do the playbyplay of the Bengals game. Like he’s in a rough stretch. Cut that guy 
a break, man. He that dude’s going through it with the Bengals. I’m also a Bengals fan and man, 
I’m just ready. I just know that, you know, I saw the graphic. It’s 100 days till till opening day 
now. Uh and pitchers and catches are close. So, we’re it’s coming. I’m sorry, Joe Burrow, but your 
season’s over now. It’s time to start focusing on uh Cincinnati Reds. You got the World Baseball 
Classic, too. So, that’ll be uh uh it’s going to be a fun be a fun spring training. I’ll put you 
on the spot here, Mike, before we completely wrap this up. Who do you think the Reds get? Who do you 
think the Reds uh uh signing or trade is? Do you think their big big one is? I think they resign 
uh Miguel and Duhar. That’s my guess. I uh I wish that they wouldn’t, but I think they’re going to 
they missed out on it and they’re going to bring in Dar in to platoon the DH potentially with 
Lux. That’s my guess. I think Brandon Laauo. I think they’re gonna make a trade for Brandon Lao. 
I like that. I think that I think that’s the move that I just feel like might have the most legs. 
But the Reds really don’t give us a whole lot of hints usually. So, yeah, who knows? I They’ll 
do something. They’re going to do something. I don’t know how far out it’ll be. I know it’s going 
to leave most of Red’s fans wanting more. I just don’t know how how far down it’s going to want 
them more. Is it going to be one of those things like, “Okay, that’s kind of cool. We want more, 
but okay, that’s kind of cool.” Or is it going to be pitchforks? I don’t know the answer to that. 
We’ll continue to find that out here every week on Chatterbox Reds. That’s right. Stay tuned to 
Chatterbox Reds because you know that uh we’ll be live or we’ll we’ll have something posted 
no matter what they do whether we love it or not. All right. Well, appreciate you, Mike. Uh 
like the stream if you’re watching. Um leave us a fivestar review. Uh and of course check out all 
the other Chatterbox content. Uh there’s multiple episodes this week of Chatterbox Bearcats. Make 
sure to check that out. Um Chatterbox Bengals. We’re posting a lot of episodes there. short short 
episodes almost every day on Chatterbox Bengals of course off the bench and the Stone Shield show 
um runs 10 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday also available everywhere at podcast so all kinds 
of content for you all year long take care Reds break it hey Bye-bye.

Nick Kirby and Mike Hart break down the MLB Rule 5 Draft and what it means for the Cincinnati Reds. They discuss the Reds losing right-hander Roddery Muñoz, plus the additions of Zavier Warren and Nate Peterson in the minor-league portion of the draft. The guys also zoom out to evaluate the rest of the Reds’ offseason so far and make their predictions on what moves could be coming next for Cincinnati.

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The Cincinnati Reds enter this offseason at a familiar crossroads: a young, talented roster that showed flashes of contention, paired with an organization still trying to determine how aggressively it wants to push its chips toward the center of the table. After narrowly missing the postseason again, the Reds’ offseason is less about tearing anything down and more about deciding how much support to give a core that is already in place.

The foundation of the roster remains one of the youngest and most intriguing groups in baseball. Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and Noelvi Marte still represent a position-player core that most organizations would gladly build around. The challenge for the Reds isn’t identifying talent — it’s smoothing out volatility. Inconsistency, injuries, and stretches of underperformance plagued the club in 2025, but those issues also reinforce why internal improvement is a realistic expectation heading into 2026.

On the pitching side, the Reds’ offseason priorities are clearer. The rotation remains heavily reliant on youth, with Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, and Rhett Lowder forming the long-term backbone. Greene’s continued development into a frontline arm and Lodolo’s health are pivotal, while Abbott’s durability and Lowder’s transition to the majors remain question marks. The Reds don’t necessarily need an ace acquisition to stabilize the rotation, but adding a reliable veteran innings-eater would go a long way toward reducing strain on a young staff.

The bullpen continues to be a work in progress, and the Reds once again face turnover and uncertainty in late-inning roles. Alexis Díaz’s performance fluctuations and the constant churn of middle relief arms have made bullpen depth a recurring offseason conversation. Cincinnati has shown a willingness to mine value in low-cost relievers and waiver claims, and that trend has continued this winter. The key will be whether any of those arms can provide sustained reliability rather than short bursts of success.

The Rule 5 Draft served as a small but telling snapshot of how the Reds are operating. Losing Roddery Muñoz reflects the reality of roster crunches created by a deep system, while adding Zavier Warren and Nate Peterson in the minor-league portion shows Cincinnati continuing to prioritize athleticism, versatility, and developmental upside. These are not splashy moves, but they align with how the front office has built depth over the past several seasons.

The broader offseason question remains payroll. The Reds are not operating with the flexibility of big-market contenders, and that reality shapes every decision. Rather than chasing top-of-the-market free agents, Cincinnati’s approach has centered on calculated additions, internal promotions, and hoping that natural progression from a young roster bridges the gap. Whether that is enough to seriously contend in a competitive National League Central is the central debate among fans and analysts alike.

What makes this offseason especially important is timing. The Reds are no longer in the early stages of a rebuild. Expectations have shifted. Young players are entering arbitration windows, prospect depth is being converted into major-league roles, and the margin for patience is shrinking. Standing still risks wasting years of affordable production, while reckless spending would contradict the organization’s long-term philosophy.

There is also an undeniable sense that 2026 represents an inflection point. The division remains winnable, but rivals are also improving. The Brewers continue to develop pitching, the Cubs are spending aggressively, and the Cardinals are rarely down for long. For the Reds, modest upgrades — a veteran starter, bullpen reinforcement, and better health luck — could be the difference between another near miss and a legitimate playoff push.

Ultimately, the Reds’ offseason is defined less by headline moves and more by direction. Cincinnati believes in its core, trusts its player development pipeline, and appears committed to incremental improvement rather than dramatic overhaul.