The Reds’ 40-man roster is already getting stripped down, and Friday brought the move that felt most final: Will Benson chose free agency.
Benson had already been designated for assignment earlier in the season, then cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Louisville. Now he’s officially headed to the open market, joining a list of players whose time in Cincinnati is clearly over. That includes TJ Friedl, who is also understood to be done with the organization, and injured slugger Michael Toglia, who won’t be back in 2027 after being claimed by the Seattle Mariners.
Earlier in the week, the Reds opened another roster spot when infielder Ivan Johnson was outrighted and sent to Louisville on Thursday. It’s another sign that Cincinnati is moving quickly to clean house after the 2026 season.
The broader picture is what really stands out. Johnson, Toglia, Benson and Friedl are among the players who occupied too much space on the 40-man roster, and the club’s decision-making has only become more glaring with time. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who was pre-arbitration eligible and still had minor league options, was designated for assignment and has since become a capable starter for the Baltimore Orioles.
As for the on-field numbers, Johnson appeared in 16 games, Toglia in 10, Benson in 51 and Friedl in 91. Add in Will Banfield, P.J. Higgins and Rece Hinds, and those seven players combined for 522 plate appearances, which is close to 9% of the team total.
That’s not a massive share on its own, but it helps explain how Cincinnati wound up where it did. The Reds got very little production from that group, and when you fold in the struggles of Ke'Bryan Hayes, Noelvi Marte, Edwin Arroyo and Matt McLain, the offense’s issues in 2026 become much easier to see.
Nick Krall and Brad Meador have plenty to sort through this offseason, and the work goes beyond the position-player side. The pitching staff needs attention, too. Cincinnati has a lot to fix and a short window to get it done, with the Collective Bargaining Agreement set to expire on December 1.
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Jake Bauers, Nathaniel Lowe and Ryan Vilade are part of that larger pattern, and the frustration for Cincinnati is less about identification than follow-through. The club has landed enough intriguing players to believe the scouting is there, yet too many of those pieces have either been moved on quickly or left before their upside was fully unlocked, leaving player development as the obvious hurdle if the Reds want to keep pace with the best small-market teams. [Read more 🡒]