Who stays? Who goes? Is anyone actually healthy?
A lengthy glance at the 40-man roster of the Cincinnati Reds over at Reds.com shows a whopping 48 names included at the moment.
That’s merely procedural for now, however. There are currently eight players still listed on the 60-day IL, an administrative move that ‘opens up’ an additional 40-man spot due to serious injury elsewhere during the season so a team wouldn’t be stuck operating with merely 32 rostered players in such circumstance.
Once the World Series ends and the baseball offseason points towards 2025, however, the administrative wheels begin resetting for the upcoming year. That means those 60-day IL players must be returned to the 40-man roster, so the Reds are going to need to free up roster spots in a hurry. (For the record, this includes guys who we already know will spend most of the 2025 season back on the 60-day IL like Brandon Williamson, who just had Tommy John surgery – that’ll happen when the Reds get roster flexibility back in the spring.)
Some of that will take care of itself on its own. Of the 48 players still listed on the roster, each of Buck Farmer, Justin Wilson, and Amed Rosario are set to be free agents, while Nick Martinez (and potentially Jakob Junis) could opt-out of their current deals and into being free agents as well. That would free up five spots, though there’s the procedural caveat that if Martinez opts-out, the Reds could extend him a Qualifying Offer to see if a) he’d accept and stay for another year at some $21 million or b) decline it and enter free agency with a chance the Reds could recoup some draft capital if he signs elsewhere.
Photo by Aaron Doster/Getty Images
So, the Reds are going to have to do some trading, reassigning, waiving, cutting, what have you to start their offseason. That could come down on several of the players who are already in that 60-day IL mix, as we’ve already seen the Reds designate Austin Wynns for assignment twice in 2024 already. Christian Roa, who has yet to debut for the Reds after being an 2nd round pick back in 2020, could end up getting bumped off the roster, while we’ll see just how dedicated the Reds are to Tejay Antone during his third recovery from Tommy John surgery at this juncture, too.
Stuart Fairchild and his sprained right thumb might well end up on the cutting block at this time, as the Reds need an outfield overhaul in the worst of ways and he’s precisely the kind of niche, roster-fringe player who may not be a concrete fit going forward.
On the roster already you’ll find a handful of players who may be nervous about their existing spots, too. Brandon Leibrandt and Casey Legumina have already experienced the whirlwind tour between Louisville and Cincinnati, and both profile as arms who the Reds would probably love to see pass through waivers and stay in the system somewhere (so long as it doesn’t eat up a 40-man spot). We’ll also see just how interested the Reds front office stays in Nick Martini, who will turn 35 years old during the 2025 season.
Jacob Hurtubise? Joey Wiemer? Are those guys they’d be willing to risk losing as depth pieces in AAA while knowing full well their overall outfield needs roster spots to improve from additions outside the organization? We’ll see!
There’s probably enough there to get the team back down to 40 total players for the 40-man during this first iteration of offseason roster culling. After that, though, comes the real meat of 2025 roster preparation for this club: the non-tender deadline.
As the fine folks at MLB Trade Rumors noted in their Projected Arbitration Estimates for the 2025 season, the Reds have a full 10 players who’ll be headed through the arb process, and not all of them project to be tendered contracts given their going rates. Ty France, for one, stands out as a pretty obvious non-tender candidate at $8.6 million despite the couple good things he could provide as depth, and the open spot on the 40-man that would come with such a decision means a ton, too. Those big, outside additions to make the 2025 season a winning one need 40-man spots, too!
What the Reds do during this first part of the roster sorting will help dicate just how impactful said non-tender deadline could be. One factor that goes into this that I haven’t mentioned just yet is the need to add players to the 40-man from the minors who are eligible for December’s Rule 5 Draft, but fortunately (or unfortunately?) that doesn’t include a who’s who of the top Reds prospects this time around. Still, if the Reds are merely going to keep most all of their in-house injured players around and make room for significant outside additions, there will need to be a little bit of house cleaning even before we discuss the prospect of making trades including players off the current roster.
All that’s left before we start finding out is for some non-Reds team out there to go win the World Series.
Cincinnati Reds currently on the 60-day IL
RHP Graham Ashcraft
RHP Christian Roa
RHP Tejay Antone
LHP Brandon Williamson
C Austin Wynns
IF Christian Encarnacion-Strand
IF Matt McLain
OF Stuart Fairchild