A partial list of players who the Cincinnati Reds should sign this winter.
We discussed earlier this week how the Cincinnati Reds’ frugality habit has put them in a position to enter 2024 with a salary near the bottom of all Major League Baseball teams.
Do I believe they’ll go to the lowest end of the spectrum just to do it? No!
Do I believe they will aggressively seek to reduce costs even further than the deep, deep cuts they have already implemented? No!
Do I believe they’ll spend a billion dollars on free agents this winter because of their massive amount of freed-up salary relative to past windows? No!
Having said that, I believe they will invest a little bit here and there to eventually bolster the young, talented club they have assembled throughout this roster devastation and Phoenix-rising. Maybe it’ll be a right-handed outfield bat, a batter in the mold of Tommy Pham or Wil Myers who can actually hit for the Reds this time. Perhaps it will come in the shape of back-end relief aid, a lockdown bullpen arm to compliment Alexis Diaz, Tejay Antone, and others. Perhaps it will be a starting pitcher!
With that in mind, and Friday being the day we list around here, here’s an incomplete list of players I believe are both a) in the Reds’ spending wheelhouse and b) worthy of throwing a wad of cash at to be a Cincinnati Red in 2024 (and possibly beyond):
- the guy whose 0.39 HR/9 was the single best mark among the 127 MLB pitchers who threw at least 100 IP in 2023
- the guy whose 5.2% HR/FB rate was the single best mark among the 127 MLB pitchers who threw at least 100 IP in 2023
- the guy whose win/loss record was merely .500 so, when he signs, at least one or two old-school talking heads out there (and many Facebook comment-givers) can whine about how much of an overpay he was at the price for which he signs
- the guy whose 2.83 FIP was the single best mark among the 127 MLB pitchers who threw at least 100 IP in 2023
- the guy who logged both a complete game and a save while allowing just 4 dingers in 108.2 IP as a college sophomore, most of those innings being caught by Curt Casali, who may well end up on the Cincinnati Reds coaching staff in 2024
- the guy who, since the start of the 2019 MLB season, has accrued 16.3 fWAR in total, a mark bested only by the likes of Zack Wheeler, Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola, Kevin Gausman, Jacob deGrom, Shane Bieber, Luis Castillo, and Corbin Burnes (among whom only Nola is similarly a free agent this winter)
- Sonny Gray
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