The Cincinnati Reds further bolstered their bullpen on Wednesday with the signing of lefty Caleb Ferguson, who comes to the Queen City fresh off a 2025 season split between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners.
He fired 65.1 IP of 3.58 ERA, 3.26 FIP ball with a new and improved arsenal on the mound, and for his efforts he was rewarded with a 1-year, $4.5 million deal by the Reds. That was confirmed by The Enquirer’s Gordon Wittenmyer on Thursday.
The addition of Ferguson helps alleviate the threadbare nature of the team’s bullpen, which waved goodbye to the likes of Ian Gibaut, Brent Suter, Scott Barlow, and Nick Martinez this winter (in addition to Emilio Pagan, who has since re-signed with the club). Together, Pagan and Ferguson will earn some $14.5 million for the 2026 season.
That $14.5 million falls into the pool of guaranteed money already on Cincinnati’s books for next year alongside the salaries of Ke’Bryan Hayes ($7 million), Hunter Greene ($8.33 million), and Jose Trevino ($5.25 million) for a total of $35.58 million that’s already in ink. That’s in addition to the estimated ~$48.5 million they’ll owe to their large class of a baker’s dozen arbitration-eligible players, headlined by Brady Singer (who’s estimated to get almost $12 million in his final year before free agency).
So, that’s a little over $84 million that’s already tied up for just 18 players on the active roster. If you were to simply fill out the remaining 8 spots on the active roster with pre-arb players making league minimum – that’s $780,000 – that’s an additional $6.24 million, bringing the total to $90.24 million.
You can’t forget Jeimer Candelario’s albatross of a deal, though. Despite being cast off last year, he’s still owed $13 million for the 2026 season (with a $3 million buyout for 2027), meaning the initial $13 million there is likely still accounted for on the 2026 Reds payroll. So, they’re at something around $103.24 million for the upcoming season.
Over a month ago Nick Krall intimated to the media that ‘our 2026 payroll will be around the same as our payroll from 2025,’ as Mark Sheldon of MLB.com relayed at the time. That was just shy of $112 million on Opening Day and $116 million by season’s end after the July 31st trade deadline moves, per Cot’s Contracts. Over at The Athletic, C. Trent Rosecrans cited figures from USA Today that pegged the Reds payroll between $3-5 million higher for both Opening Day and season’s end, so there could be slightly more wiggle room left.
Still, you’re looking at something in the range of $9-15 million remaining for the 2026 Reds to spend, assuming those earlier figures aren’t impacted by a trade that pulls someone currently on-roster off of it.
There’s the issue of the offense still left to address, one that was not solved by simply signing Kyle Schwarber. A player in the realm of a Ryan O’Hearn would eat up a good chunk of what’s remaining, for example, as would a reunion with Austin Hays. There’s also still the void left by Barlow and Martinez, who ate up a combined 89 IP of relief last year while bringing more veteran presence (presents!) to the ‘pen than anyone they’ve got down there currently. That’s also failing to add any additional starting help and simply hoping they can mop-up the 200+ IP that Martinez, Zack Littell, and Wade Miley consumed as starters last year from within their current ranks.
There’s still time for additions and for Krall & Co. to get creative, but the arbitrary tightening of the payroll belt is already beginning.
