DENVER — The Cincinnati Reds may not fully classify themselves as sellers, but they’ve made it known they’re open for business for teams looking to buy, multiple league sources granted anonymity to speak candidly about sensitive front office strategy told The Athletic.
For now, league sources indicate the Reds are focusing their efforts on moving players with expiring contracts.
According to team sources, the Reds are open to adding major league talent at this year’s trade deadline to strengthen their roster for 2027 and beyond. The Reds have added established talent for the future even when they were technically sellers, adding future Hall of Famer Scott Rolen in 2009 and starter Trevor Bauer in 2019. Both times the Reds made the playoffs the next season, and Bauer won the franchise’s first Cy Young Award in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
The Reds hired veteran manager Terry Francona following a disappointing 2024 season, and he took the team to the playoffs last year. After starting the season 20-11, the Reds’ fortunes have taken a nosedive. Even after opening the second half with a win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night, they fell to 44-53 after Saturday’s 10-3 loss, 16 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central and 7 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL’s third wild-card spot.
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Right-hander Brady Singer may be the most valuable of the Reds’ rentals. Singer, who turns 30 the day after the trade deadline, is a free agent at the end of the season. He’s 4-9 with a 4.56 ERA in his second season with the Reds, but 2-4 with a 2.76 ERA in eight starts since the end of May, including a seven-inning performance against the Rockies on Friday in which he allowed two earned runs. Singer signed a one-year, $12.75 million deal last offseason to avoid arbitration.
Other players on expiring contracts the Reds could look to move include third baseman Eugenio Suárez, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and catcher Tyler Stephenson. Suárez and Lowe are on one-year deals; Stephenson is a free agent after the season. The team also has left-handed relievers Caleb Ferguson and Brock Burke on one-year deals.
The Reds have several players under team control beyond this season who could interest other teams, like outfielder JJ Bleday and infielder/outfielder Spencer Steer, but for now, at least, the team seems to be concentrating on moving rentals.
Saturday, the team finalized its seven-year, $105-million contract extension with All-Star right-hander Chase Burns. Burns’ contract runs through 2033, and the team already has fellow right-hander Hunter Greene under contract through 2028 with a team option for 2029. Shortstop Elly De La Cruz will be a free agent following the 2029 season. The Reds offered him a team-record contract before the 2025 season, but he turned it down.
“We love our core group, and we do think that they’ve got a lot of talent,” said Nick Krall, the team’s president of baseball operations. “We’ve tried to lock a few guys up over the years and were successful with Chase and Hunter.”
Krall said the team isn’t currently having extension talks with any of its other players.
