The Front Office of Cincinnati Reds does not know what their budget is for the 2026 season. They will sort it out in the coming weeks if they go to the free desk to the World Series.
The Reds have many boys on their way to a free desk. With that, the salary will come with the players. Pitchers Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagan, Zack Littell and Wade Miley are free agents. Only one position player is a free agent – Trade Deadline Acquisition Miguel Andujar. Outfielder Austin Hays has a mutual option and can be a free agent if both parties refuse their half. Pitchers Brent Ster and Scott Barlow have team options.
In theory, all those boys could become free agents and it would release around $ 38,000,000 salary from the books from 2025. But a good part of it will not be available to bring in new players.
Arbitration increases are due to many boys. 14 players get increases when the Reds decide to keep them all. They will probably not do that, but for information purposes we let them pretend to do that. MLB commercial rumors released Their projected arbitration -numbers for 2026. Below we have mentioned the 14 players, their 2025 salary, their 2026 projected salary and the rises.
| Player | 2025 Salary | 2026 Salary | Increase |
| Brady singer | $ 8,750,000 | $ 11,900,000 | $ 3,150,000 |
| Tyler Stephenson | $ 4,925,000 | $ 6,400,000 | $ 1,475,000 |
| Gavin Lux | $ 3,325,000 | $ 5,000,000 | $ 1,675,000 |
| TJ Friedl | $ 750,000 | $ 4,900,000 | $ 4,150,000 |
| Send Spencer | $ 750,000 | $ 4,500,000 | $ 3,750,000 |
| Nick Lodolo | $ 1,975,000 | $ 4,300,000 | $ 2,325,000 |
| Santiago Espinal | $ 2,400,000 | $ 2,900,000 | $ 500,000 |
| Matt McLin | $ 742,500 | $ 2,600,000 | $ 1,857,500 |
| Tony Santillan | $ 702,500 | $ 2,400,000 | $ 1,697,500 |
| Will Benson | $ 750,000 | $ 1,700,000 | $ 950,000 |
| Ian born | $ 760,000 | $ 1,500,000 | $ 740,000 |
| Graham Ashcraft | $ 750,000 | $ 1,400,000 | $ 650,000 |
| Sam Moll | $ 1.007,500 | $ 1,200,000 | $ 192,500 |
| Brandon Williamson | $ 742,500 | $ 800,000 | $ 57,500 |
| $ 28,330,000 | $ 51,500,000 | $ 23,170,000 |
It is worth mentioning that those figures are not exactly, but ballparked. Boys such as Will Benson, Ian Gibaut and Sam Moll only made that proportional salary of 2025 in the large competitions. When they were in the minors, their salary was not entirely the same. It is not a big difference in the large schedule of things, but it is worth mentioning.
All the whole told, however, the increases because of those 14 players are just over $ 23,000,000. That is 64% of the free agent salary that leaves.
However, as it was noted above, it is unlikely that the team will return all these boys, especially in these salaries.
The team held Sam Moll for a large part of the year in the small competitions. When September rolled around, they had him in Triple-A. He will be 34 years old next season and had an ERA of 6.38 in 23 games in the big competitions in 2025. Is that a man you will give $ 1,200,000 in arbitration or is that a man who gives you a non-schedule spring training?
Ian Gibaut threw in two games in 2024. In 2025 he also spent a lot of time on the injured list. He threw 25.1 innings with Cincinnati and had a 4.62 ERA. But for the last time he threw the Reds on 28 June and then made two Rehab performances in Triple-A at the beginning of August before he was closed again. He will be 32 years old next month. He had a good season in his main class career and he has tackled injuries in the past two years that have loved him a lot of the hill. Is that the profile of a man with whom you guarantee $ 1500,000 in arbitration or is that a man in which you may offer half of it whether she even offers non-tent and a minor League deal with an invitation for spring training?
Santiago Espinal got a lot of playing time with the Reds this season. He started firmly on the plate, but his bat fell after his .746 Ops in April. Once the Reds took over Ke’bryan Hayes at the Trade Deadline, the playing time for Espinal dried up when he played in just 19 games for the rest of the season and only had 28 battles from 1 August until the end of the season. While you always roll the dice with “Will everyone be healthy?” If they are, Espinal 3rd is on the depth card or worse in every position he plays. Is that a man that you will pay $ 2,900,000?
People seem to be very divided on Will Benson. His actual production has not been good in the last two years. He has a .274 on-base percentage since the beginning of 2024. The Reds have sent him to Triple-A several times. His OPS+ is 81 at the time, although it was 88 in 2025. He is a much under average batter when you look at his overall production. But he can be seductive because he has some power, the underlying hit statistics make it look like he could hit better than he with a little more happiness/less bad luck. However, he is still a platoon player, who has a bad production on the field for each of the last two seasons. And he will be 28 years old next year, so the line “maybe he will sort it out”, really starts to hold less water with every day that passes by. Is that a man you give $ 1,700,000 to?
If the Reds dropped all those guys, this would save some money. It is a saving of $ 7,300,000 of their projected 2026 arbitration numbers.
The Reds are due on signed contracts to Hunter Greene and Jose Trevino. They also have options on Austin Hays, Scott Barlow and Brent Ster in which they owe a total of $ 2,250,000 if they refuse the options on all three. Greene and Trevino get an increase of $ 2,000,000 and $ 1,825,000.
All in all, if the ownership of Cincinnati does not increase the team budget, there is probably somewhere around $ 15,000,000-20,000,000 to spend in a free agency for the 2026 season, depending on how they deal with that arbitration, team options and non-tenders.
The turnout had risen in 2025, with a further 150,000 fans who enter the margin. That is not a major increase, but depending on how much you think that every extra fan is worth in the ballpark – and some estimates state that at $ 100 – that is probably at least $ 10,000,000 in extra income that the team had for the 2024 season. Perhaps that enables them to pick up the payroll, where it was in 2025 and also gives them a little more to work with.
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