The Reds roster appears to be in a holding pattern due to off-field reasons. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that the club has interest in players like infielder Eugenio Suárez and outfielder Austin Hays but the club is waiting for more clarity on their broadcast situation before proceeding.
Cincinnati was one of nine teams who terminated a contract with Main Street Sports earlier this month. The company has been flailing for years and was in bankruptcy for most of 2023 and 2024, back when it was known as Diamond Sports Group. The company previously ran broadcasts under the Bally Sports moniker. After emerging from bankruptcy, they changed the company name and also signed a new naming rights deal, so the channel has had the FanDuel Sports Network label more recently.
Though the company did emerge from bankruptcy, they haven’t escaped trouble. They recently missed payments to a few clubs, which is what prompted the terminations. The regional sports network (RSN) model has been eroding for years due to cord cutting and streaming.
This puts some clubs in an awkward spot. The RSN model has been a good source of revenue in the past but it has been declining. Some teams have pivoted to having MLB running their broadcasts. This allows them to offer customers a direct-to-customer streaming option with no blackouts, increasing viewership. However, that model generally leads to revenues which are not only lesser but also not guaranteed, as they are contingent on how many people sign up.
Going back to Diamond/Main Street is another option but that usually involves the club taking in less money from rights fees than before. Going into 2025, the Reds looked around for different options but ended up working out a new deal with the company in mid-January.
At the start of the current offseason, president of baseball operations Nick Krall said that the Reds would likely have a similar payroll in 2026 to what they had in 2025, though that was before the Main Street situation cropped up.
Their winter has been fairly quiet, all things considered. They re-signed Emilio Pagán to a two-year, $20MM deal, a small raise over the two-year, $16MM deal which had just expired. They also gave one-year deals worth less than $7MM each to Pierce Johnson, Caleb Ferguson, JJ Bleday and Keegan Thompson, though Thompson was lost to the Rockies via waivers.
The Bleday signing perhaps made Gavin Lux expendable, as the Reds including him in a three-team trade a few weeks later to get lefty Brock Burke. That deal saved Cincinnati a few million, as Lux is going to make $5.525MM this year compared to Burke’s $2.325MM.
RosterResource currently projects the club for a payroll of $112MM. Cot’s Baseball Contracts put them at that same number at the start of 2025. It appears nudging this year’s number up a bit won’t happen without more clarity on the TV situation. Trading Brady Singer would free up some space, as he will make $12.75MM this year, but he has stayed on the roster despite trade rumors this winter.
Suárez would appear to be the less likely of the two potential pursuits. He is coming off a 49-homer campaign and MLBTR predicted him for a three-year, $63MM contract at the beginning of the offseason. Since he has lingered unsigned this long, perhaps it’s more like he ends up with a two-year deal, but it would still be with a decent average annual value.
The Reds have Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base but Suárez is not a great defender and is 34 years old, so he could be slotted into the first base and designated hitter mix, where the Reds have Sal Stewart and Spencer Steer. Stewart had a nice debut in 2025 but only has 58 big league plate appearances under his belt. Steer is coming off a couple of average seasons with the bat and could move into the outfield mix.
Hays should be more viable. The Reds signed him last year with a $5MM guarantee on a one-year deal. He had a solid season but his earning power shouldn’t be too much higher than it was then. He made for a nice complement to their outfield with his righty bat, pairing with lefties TJ Friedl and Lux. He could serve a similar role in 2026, but with Bleday swapped in for Lux.
That would be contingent on him staying unsigned while the Reds sort out their broadcast situation. Hays has also received reported interest from the Royals, Yankees, Mets and Cardinals this winter, though most of those clubs have made other outfield moves since those reports came out.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
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