Cincinnati Reds Must Address Biggest Need in Free Agency

The Cincinnati Reds had a mediocre offense in 2025. For a team that prioritizes contact hitting and putting together good at-bats over home runs, they were not very good overall, offensively.

The Reds ranked 19th in batting average at .245 and 21st in slugging percentage, slugging just .391 as a team. Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer were the only two players with a slugging percentage over .400. They also finished 21st in home runs, hitting just 167 as a team, and only De La Cruz and Steer hit more than 20. A line-drive approach is fine if you're driving in runners, but they also ranked just 14th in runs scored and 15th in RBIs. Many of their offensive shortcomings were with the bases loaded and in extra innings, where you are gifted a runner in scoring position.

In extra innings, the Reds are 6-23 since 2024, finishing 3-12 in 2025 and were 0-6 on the road. Their lack of success with runners in scoring position was highlighted in the Reds’ playoff series versus the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. The Reds were 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners, including eight men over the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings in Game Two. 

"I just told our guys, we need to do some things better, myself included," Reds manager Terry Francona said. "I would never ask them to try to get better and I'm just going to sit at home. I'm going to look in the mirror, too. That's what we're supposed to do.”

This offseason started out with a lot of optimism for Reds fans. They were rumored to be heavily involved in the Kyle Schwarber sweepstakes, reportedly matching the Phillies’ offer of five years, $150 million, but that is where the optimism stopped. Nick Krall has repeatedly remained steadfast that the budget will remain the same as in 2025 for 2026. 

“I think people look at every aspect where we can, "Nick Krall told Mark Sheldon. "Our ownership group puts everything back into the team every year. They try to figure out how to break even every year. That’s how we budget. We’re trying to figure out how to best utilize that budget for the big-league club.”

If the Reds can add a legit power bat, whether that is bringing back Miguel Andujar or trading for someone like Nick Castellanos, Jarren Duran, or Ketel Marte, they can easily become a legit contender for the NL Central in 2026 and beyond. Their pitching staff ranked in the top half of MLB in almost every category, leading baseball in shutouts with their ace missing more than two months, and Rhett Lowder did not pitch a single inning of baseball at the Major League level.

The Reds have Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene under team control through 2029. The time to put together a team around those two is now, while those two are still affordable. If not now, will they ever with the current ownership group?