Why Reds Latest Signing Could Have Significant Impact

The Cincinnati Reds signed right-handed pitcher Pierce Johnson on Sunday and if all this move ends up being is insurance for Tony Santillan, then it is a good move.

Johnson has seen a bit of decline in recent years and will be 35 years old this season. The Atlanta Braves declined a $7 million team option on Johnson this offseason to make him a free agent, as they believed his career had entered the decline phase.

Johnson has seen his strikeout rate plummet from 32.5% in 2023 to 24.8% in 2025. He’s also seen his xFIP increase from 3.27 in 2023 to 4.03 in 2025. That is a good indicator of his future ERA climbing.

One of the things that has really kept him relevant in Atlanta has been an uptick in usage for his curveball. That will likely remain his focus under Derek Johnson.

He has been a workhorse, though, and even with those numbers declining, Johnson is still a good option out of the bullpen for Terry Francona. His baseline could very well be “Santillan insurance,” and that’s okay. 

Santillan pitched A TON in 2025. If you thought it felt like he pitched every other day, that’s because he missed pitching half the season BY ONE GAME. He was immensely important to the success of the bullpen in 2025, but expecting that he’d just run it back again in 2026 after tossing 80 games last year would have been shortsighted.

There is a long history of pitchers who pitched in a comparable amount of games enduring a stretch of tough performances the following year. Especially if it the first time in their career that they threw that much. 

If the only reason Johnson is a Cincinnati Red is to make sure they have a good option to turn to if Santillan fails to subvert the mountain of evidence against him, then Nick Krall still made a good move on Sunday.

Now, he needs to make a move to improve the lineup.