In fact, it could be that not much has changed on the pitching front since October, when president of baseball operations Nick Krall said he “wouldn’t say no” to the idea of trading out of the rotation. However, as Krall added: “if you exchange jars, you have to (re)fill them somehow. We all know how it works: if you run out of innings at some point in the season, guys get hurt and things happen..”
A few weeks later, both Krall and manager Terry Francona further downplayed the idea Hunter Greene in particular would be available at the right price, with Krall noting “That’s hard to actually say, ‘Hey, we’re going to trade the guy who has a chance to be the top of your staff and the best guy in the rotation going into the postseason.’ We’re trying to figure out how we can get better, but right now that’s not on the table.”
Rosenthal continues that thread, writing that “rival clubs doubt whether their big arms are really available,” referring to Greene: Nick LodoloAnd Andrew Abbott. Greene has signed an extension through at least the 2028 season, Lodolo has two years of arbitration control remaining, and Abbott is controlled through 2029 and is still a year away from reaching arbitration eligibility. Brady singer has been more widely mentioned as a potential trade chip since he’s a free agent next season, but Rosenthal thinks the Reds want both an MLB-ready starter and a bat for Singer’s services, which seems like a tall order.
As good as Cincinnati’s rotation was in 2025, the group has left a few arms behind since then. Nick Martinez And Zack Littell are free agents. Chase Burns is one of the best pitchers in baseball and has been tabbed for the fifth starting role for 2026, and another top-100 prospect in Chase Petty is in the mix. Beyond these top six starters, however, the Reds have more young depth, but plenty of injury-related question marks. Forearm and oblique problems limited Rhett Lowder to 9 1/3 minor league innings and no time in the majors last year, and Julian Aguiar And Brandon Williamson missed all of 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgeries.
As Krall suggested, the “you can never have enough pitching” mantra alone could be enough to make the Reds wary of trading away their starters and depleting the team’s obvious strength. On the other hand, moving a starter (even one of the top three arms) for a premium return would allow Cincinnati to address multiple holes on the roster, especially within the team’s lineup.
The Reds haven’t done much to improve their offense from average at best, as the team has added JJ Bleday And Dan Myers while trading Gavin Lux. Cincinnati’s pursuit of Kyle Schwarber was an outlier based on Schwarber’s status as a local product, so the team’s limited payroll will likely rule out any more major spending unless other money is taken off the books (i.e. Singer’s $12.75 million salary for 2026). For now, the Reds are relying mainly on internal improvements for lineup help, which is a risky endeavor in an NL Central that is increasingly competitive.
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