CINCINNATI — As the Reds navigate through the offseason to make the moves needed to upgrade their daily lineup and retool their bullpen, it’s become even more clear than ever that they won’t play fast and loose with their biggest area of depth — starting pitching.
During the General Manager Meetings this week, president of baseball operations Nick Krall curbed speculation about whether the club would be willing to use its biggest and best trade chip in Greene to fill its other needs.
“Look, we’re going to try to do what’s best for our team. I don’t want to rule out anything,” Krall told reporters Tuesday at the meetings at Las Vegas, including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding. “But that’s a hard one to actually say, ‘Hey, we’re going to trade the guy who has a chance to be the ace of our staff and a top of the rotation guy going into the postseason.’
“So I’d say that we’re looking to figure out how to get better. But right now, that’s not on the table.”
Greene, 26, has three years and approximately $42 million left on his six-year, $53 million contract through 2028 — with a club option for ’29. Although frequent injuries during his four years — including missing more than two months of 2025 with a right groin strain — have prevented him from eclipsing 151 innings in a big league season, he is one of the game’s best pitchers when healthy.
“We just have to figure out how to be creative and figure out what makes sense on both the free-agent market and the trade market,” Krall said.
Besides Greene, the Reds’ rotation is one of the deepest in baseball with fellow All-Star Andrew Abbott along with Nick Lodolo, Brady Singer, Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder plus added depth with Brandon Williamson, Julian Aguiar and Chase Petty.
Even with that depth, Krall and the Reds’ front office remain reluctant to move a starter.
“I think that’s the hard thing, right?” Krall said. “We’ve got five guys at the end of the season healthy in our rotation, and we have three guys that are coming back from full-season injuries. When you lose a starter, it’s hard to replace that guy. We all go through it.
“We all know that every year we lose one or two starters throughout the year, and you have to make sure you have depth. So to go in and say, ‘Hey, we’re just going to trade a starter,’ just because we have a handful of guys there right now doesn’t mean you’re going to have those guys at the end of Spring Training. I prefer not to trade from our starting rotation, because I think that’s our strength right now. Hopefully, we can continue to build on top of it.”
Besides adding position players that can improve the offense and defense, the other major need for Cincinnati is relievers. Closer Emilio Pagán, swingman Nick Martinez, Scott Barlow, Brent Suter and Ian Gibaut all became free agents.
“We have to rebuild our bullpen,” Krall said.
The Reds have returning late-inning relievers Tony Santillan and Graham Ashcraft plus several young arms who appeared throughout 2025 including Zach Maxwell, Connor Phillips, Lyon Richardson and Luis Mey. Keegan Thompson, who was signed to a one-year contract last week, will also compete for a spot.
Of sorting through the bullpen needs, a top priority will be finding a closer.
“Yeah, the ninth inning is a different animal, so you want to make sure that you have a guy that can do that job,” Krall said. “I’d say we might give a shot to some guys that are in camp, but at the end of the day, you might go get something. I don’t know, I think it will play itself out as we move through the offseason.”
The Reds will also need a left-handed reliever or two. The one they currently have, Sam Moll, finished 2025 in the Minors amid a down year and is a non-tender candidate.
Krall pulled several trades last winter to bring in Singer plus hitters Gavin Lux and Jose Trevino. The club also signed Barlow and left fielder Austin Hays to one-year free agent contracts. So far, Krall didn’t commit to one way or another to fill needs for 2026.
“I think we’ve got to figure out who’s available and who’s not available, and then figure out what the prices are on free agents,” he said. “I don’t want to say that we’re only focused on one or the other. I think it’s overall, let’s figure out what the options are, and then how to go down those roads.”
