Reds Have Plenty of Options in Free Agency, Despite Sonny Gray Signing With Cardinals

Cincinnati can improve their pitching staff in lots of ways, even after St. Louis made a big splash on Monday.

Much to the dismay of Cincinnati Reds fans, Sonny Gray signed a three-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. 

If that news causes you to reach for an antacid, consider a few things.

First, the Reds were negotiating with Gray and "were close" to a deal before he chose the Cardinals according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. 

Their involvement in his free agency is an encouraging sign that the Reds are indeed targeting top talent on the market.

They will add a top pitcher this offseason. Sheldon is also reporting that the Reds are interested in Tampa Bay Rays ace Tyler Glasnow. He's under contract for one more season at $25 million. Cincinnati's interest in pitchers with a high price tag means no one is out of their range.

Knowing the fact the Reds are open to negotiate a big time deal is enhanced by the amount of options on the open market. Both free agent starting pitchers and ones available for trade give them plenty of ways to bolster their rotation. If the Reds are willing to acquire a pitcher making $25 million a year then no one is off their list.

St. Louis made three additions to their pitching staff in free agency, which has some Reds fans worried. 

Last season the Cardinals tried to bring up young pitching prospects like Matthew Liberatore and were uninspired by their performances. The moves they made had to happen for them to keep pace with the middle tier of the NL Central.

The Reds, on the other hand, have a strong base of young pitching talent to build with moving forward. As the health of the pitching staff improves heading into next season, so will their performance. Adding a top arm to the group will vault the Reds into bonafide playoff contenders. Nick Krall understands this.

Speaking of Krall, he has shown that he can build this team into a winner. Trading veterans like Eugenio Suarez, Jesse Winker, Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and others were hailed as salary dumps at the time. Instead, those deals have helped Cincinnati build a core for the future.

On top of all the reasons, the Reds have money to spend. Even with arbitration deals figured in, Cincinnati’s payroll will be close to $45 million in 2024. They’d have to spend almost $70 million just to bring the payroll to league average. 

They probably won't hit that number, but that means they could spend $50 million and still be one of the lower payrolls in the league. That’s plenty of cheddar with which to make roster improvements.

So don’t let Gray signing with the Cardinals ruin your day. The Reds still have plenty of ways to improve their roster this offseason. 

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