Cincinnati Reds Should Make Free Agent Splash This Offseason

The Cincinnati Reds lacked one key thing in the 2025 season. Power. With most of their pitching staff set to return, Cincinnati should be aggressive this offseason.

With Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso both on the free agent market, the Reds should be looking to make a splash by signing one of the two sluggers.

Schwarber could slide right into Cincinnati's lineup as the everyday designated hitter.

In 2025, the left-handed hitter played in all 162 games, slashing .240/.365/.563 and leading the National League with 56 home runs. To put his 56 home runs into perspective, Cincinnati's three leaders in home runs, Elly De La Cruz, Spencer Steer, and Austin Hays, combined to hit 58 home runs in the 2025 season.

"Among those we spoke to, the consensus is that Schwarber should land a deal of four or five years for at least $30 million per season," MLB.com's Mark Feinsand said.

He would fit perfectly and could be an instant impact bat at the top of the order, and would take a lot of pressure off of Elly De La Cruz.

If the Reds don't land Schwarber, they should go after Pete Alonso. Alonso provides more value since he can play in the field; however, he's been a below-average defensive first baseman.

Offensively, Alonso is coming off of a season where he appeared in all 162 games and slashed .272/.347/.524 with 80 extra-base hits.

"I think he'll beat the one-year, $24 million (that Alonso is opting out of), but I don't know if it's a slam dunk," one NL executive told Matt Sullivan of Yahoo Sports.

I certainly think Alonso had a big enough season that at least one team will offer him a big multi-year contract, but if he truly could be had for one year, $24 million, it's an absolute no-brainer for the Reds.

Pitchers are too good in today's game to rely on the small-ball approach that the Reds played with last season. With the way pitching and defense are now, it’s hard to win by stringing singles together.

“We want somebody who’s going to be able to add to this team,” Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall told Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard. “I don’t think there’s a specific style to where you need this or need that. Would you like more power? Sure. Would you like more defense? Sure. Are you going to get a guy who’s one dimensional and can’t do other things? You don’t want to do that. You want to get the best players you can get.”

As much as these two moves make perfect sense, both of these guys are probably too pricey for the Reds, and yeah, that sucks to say.

If the Reds are serious about improving on their 2025 season, they should open their checkbooks and be aggressive in free agency and the trade market. We are still talking about an organization that hasn't won a postseason series since 1995.

Signing Alonso or Schwarber would show they're serious, but I won't be getting my hopes up.