Emilio Pagan wants to return to pitch for the Reds in 2026 – Redleg Nation

The offseason has technically begun for the Cincinnati Reds following their exit in the first round of the playoffs after being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Teams can’t really talk to free agents right now, but they can talk to players on their own team who will become free agents after the World Series ends. One player who will become a free agent is closer Emilio Pagan. He told it Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer said he “would love to be back and discuss it with them.”

But of course he’s going to say that. The Reds may not have as much money as some other baseball teams to spend on free agents, but they still have some money to spend. And their money is as good as anyone else’s if it’s the same amount, so for him to say he wouldn’t like to come back would be foolish.

The 2025 season was the second best of Pagan’s career. Only his 2019 season with Tampa Bay was better. This year with Cincinnati, he had a career-high 32 saves – almost half of his career total at this point (65). He appeared in 70 games and threw 68.2 innings to go along with his ERA of 2.88. Pagan gave up just 41 hits, walked 22 and struck out 81 on the season.

When the year started, the Reds didn’t have a closer in mind. On opening day, the team now infamously decided to go with Ian Gibaut as the closer, only to allow four runs and spoil the game in a 6-4 loss to the Giants. In the next game, Pagan picked up his first save of the year and from then on he didn’t really leave his role as the team’s closer on days when he was available to pitch.

Pagan will turn 35 at the beginning of May. He has only been closer once in recent history. And in today’s game, he doesn’t look like the typical closer who throws triple figures. But he also showed in 2025 that he can get the job done and be very good at it. His age and non-elite looking stuff will most likely keep him from getting both a long deal and an expensive, closer deal on the free agent market. But that doesn’t mean he gets a lot of change either.

He earned $8,000,000 each of the past two seasons with the Reds. That is not more money, but it is also much more than aid money. If Cincinnati wants to bring him back, they will likely have to at least match that $8,000,000 price tag and do so for several years.