LAS VEGAS – A flat budget and a laundry list of needs to backfill and augment a playoff roster have left the Cincinnati Reds in familiar territory as the offseason got underway in earnest with this week’s general managers meetings at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas:
“We just have to figure out how to be creative and figure out what makes sense on both the free agent market and on the trade market,” team president Nick Krall said .
Rinse. Repeat.
The biggest difference between now and this time last year or the year before with this club is the distinct, if faint, buzz of anticipation after earning a rare-of-late playoff appearance under first-year manager Terry Francona.
By the end of three days of meetings in Vegas, Krall said his front office team “met with just about every agent here, and we connected with every team.
“We’re trying to canvas the entire market.”
Krall said it’s to early in the process to know what “creative” will mean for a payroll that got no bump from ownership after its 83-win season and first-round elimination against the eventual World Series-champion Dodgers.
Based on projected arbitration raises and current contract commitments, he might have barely $20 million of payroll flexibility to backfill for significant losses among the Reds’ 10 departing 10 free agents.
It’s even too early to know whether “creative” means leaning harder into trades this winter, Krall said, after all those meetings this week.
“You get some more clarification, but I think there’s some other teams that are trying to do other things, and you’re trying to figure out what the repercussions of what they do is as well, either free agency or their roster,” Krall said. “If other teams are trying to do something, do they create a spot where there’s a trade (opportunity)? Or they make a signing and the rest of the market goes one way. There’s a lot of possibilities out there.”
A few takeaways from the GM meetings on the Reds’ potential path and pursuits this offseason:
Reds stuck in free agency waiting room
File this one under “no crap.”
The team that made one of the first free agent signings of the winter — a $1.3 million deal for right-hander Keegan Thompson – is all but certain to be waiting out the market for value buys much like it did last season when Austin Hays and Scott Barlow were signed after the first of the year (the same time frame Taylor Rogers was acquired in a trade).
“I wouldn’t read anything into the Keegan Thompson signing vs. the rest of the winter,” said Krall, who viewed that move as an “upside play” for a bullpen in serious need of more depth.
Mutual love not enough for Emilio Pagán reunion?
Bullpen workhorse Emilio Pagán, who became one of the most valuable players in the Reds’ playoff run this year because of his success as a 32-save closer, has probably already priced himself beyond the Reds’ limited means — no matter how much he expressed a desire to stay and his family’s love for the city.
Insiders say he has at least 10 teams already showing interest in signing him as a free agent, a healthy enough market that the right-hander who made $8 million each of the last two seasons should command far north of that by the time guys like Edwin Diaz and Robert Suarez help establish the closer market.
The Reds have had some early offseason talks with Pagán, but a reunion is anything but imminent.
“I don’t want to say yes or no. I don’t know,” Krall said. “I loved Emilio. He was great for our club. I would absolutely be open to bringing him back. It just depends on how everything fits together.”
Devin Williams anyone?
One potential value buy on the closer market this winter could be the Brewers’ former All-Star closer, Devin Williams, who struggled after a trade to the Yankees last winter and eventually was demoted out of the role.
Among all those meetings the Reds had this week was one with Williams’ agents, after which one source said the Reds are definitely one of the teams interested in the right-hander.
Williams made $8.6 million in his final year before hitting free agency but might be in the market for a short-term, value-builder deal.
“I’m not going to comment on anybody, but we have to rebuild our bullpen and bring guys in,” Krall said. “So there’s interest in a lot of different guys.”
Whatever happened to Brent Suter?
In the process of rebuilding that bullpen, Krall said he’s left open the line of communication with free agent left-hander Suter, the Moeller grad who still lives in Cincinnati.
The Reds declined the 2026 option on Suter’s contract, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see a reunion, depending on how the versatile and wily 36-year-old’s market plays out.
“We’re going to keep an open mind on that throughout the offseason,” Krall said.
Ben Rortvedt completes one Reds position-area need
If you can’t beat ‘em, make ‘em join you?
Something like that. The Reds claimed catcher Ben Rortvedt off waivers from the Dodgers before they got out of Vegas, essentially filling their position-area need for big-league, strong-defensive depth behind Tyler Stephenson and Jose Trevino.
Rortvedt, who started against the Reds in the playoffs, struggled early in the season with Tampa Bay, which traded him to the Dodgers near the trade deadline in a sequence of moves that included the Reds landing Rays starter Zack Littell.
He’s caught parts of four big-league seasons for four different teams.
“He’s a guy that provides depth at the catching position that’s really hard to find,” Krall said. “We felt that was a good opportunity to add another catcher.”
Pete Alonso? Justin Turner? Everything in between?
The Reds met with slugger Pete Alonso’s agent on the third day of the meetings, about which Krall said, “We met with just about everybody.”
The Reds are clear about wanting to add slug to their lineup if possible, and about their willingness to making it fit on the roster even if it means moving Gold Glove finalist Spencer Steer off first base as opposed to ideally adding an outfielder.
Alonso is an exceptional power fit but also like trying to fit a Harley into a moped budget.
On the other hand – and other end of the spectrum – veteran Justin Turner, the World Series champ with 87 postseason games, was in Las Vegas for a golf tournament and stopped just long enough to say he’s looking for a job and chat briefly about the Reds (who originally drafted him).
“I’ve always wanted to play for Terry Francona,” said Turner, a one-time roommate of hitting coach Chris Valaika and pal of Reds infielders Gavin Lux and Matt McLain.
He’s also 41 and coming off a tough season with the Cubs.
But Turner has been one of the most valued clubhouse presences in the game during his career, a significant part of the Dodgers securing his services for a nine-year run in Los Angeles and a big part of the 2025 transformation of young Pete Crow-Armstrong into an All-Star in 2025.
If he’s a fit it’s probably another question for late in the offseason.
“I don’t want to rule anything out,” Krall said.