Emilio Pagán Declines Player Option

Reliever Emilio Pagán has declined his $10MM player option with the Reds for 2027, Francys Romero of BeisbolFR reports. Unless he signs a new deal with the Reds by 4 p.m. CT on Nov. 2, the right-hander will head to the open market.

The 35-year-old Pagán, who has pitched for six teams since he debuted with the Mariners in 2017, spent the past three seasons in Cincinnati. He originally joined the club on a two-year, $16MM guarantee in December 2023, but the first season of the contract didn’t go particularly well. Pagán had separate stints on the injured list with triceps and lat issues, and he only delivered 38 innings of 4.50 ERA ball when healthy.

The past two years went far better for Pagán, who took over as the Reds’ closer in 2025. That year, he converted 32 of 38 save opportunities and recorded a stingy 2.88 ERA with quality strikeout and walk rates of 30.0% and 8.1%, respectively, over 68 2/3 frames. He was able to keep runs off the board despite inducing ground balls just 28.7% of the time. Pagán has walked that tightrope throughout his career, having logged a 29.3% ground-ball rate over 549 1/3 innings in the majors.

Pagán’s results in 2026 were similar, though he got off to a slow start and then went on the IL with a hamstring strain on May 6. He spent almost two months on the shelf and returned on July 1 looking to improve on a 6.43 ERA. Not only did Pagán do that, but he excelled over the last three months of the season. He finished with 25 saves in 28 chances, including 19 in a row after he came back from the IL, and a 3.38 ERA across 42 2/3 frames. The second-lowest walk rate of his career (6.8%) helped offset a lack of ground balls (25.7%) and a significant drop in strikeouts. His K rate fell to 25.9%, 2.2 points lower than his lifetime mark, and he benefited from a .243 batting average on balls in play and an 83.8% strand rate. Pagán has only given up a .252 BABIP in his career, but he has typically left runners on base at a 77% clip.

There are red flags with Pagán, who has put up an ERA well over 4.00 in five seasons, but he will nonetheless leave good money on the table with the Reds and seek a third straight multiyear pact. The deal he is opting out of was worth $20MM over two years. Even if Pagán doesn’t do that well this time around, he should approach or exceed the $10MM player option that he turned down. With that in mind, there doesn’t seem to be much downside in rejecting the option.