The Cincinnati Reds are at a point where every offseason move matters, and that makes the Brady Singer decision a dangerous one. For a small-market club trying to get its footing, there isn’t much room for a costly misfire, especially when the roster already feels thin beyond a few core pieces.
Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, and Chase Burns give the Reds some real building blocks, but the rest of the big-league group remains far less certain. That’s why this winter has to be clean. The franchise needs to hit on its choices and avoid handing out money where it doesn’t belong.
Singer was once a player the Reds could have talked themselves into keeping with the qualifying offer, especially with Hunter Greene expected to miss all of next season after elbow surgery. But that window closed fast. The qualifying offer sat at around $23 million this offseason, and Singer’s finish to the year made that price look far too steep.
He turned in the first negative WAR season of his career and finished with a 5.85 ERA in 31 starts. The second half was even rougher, with a 7.35 ERA and 55 earned runs allowed in 67 1/3 innings over 13 starts. That kind of production simply doesn’t work for Cincinnati.
The slide got worse in September, when Singer gave up five or more runs in each of his four starts. He also allowed three or more runs in his final 12 starts of the season. Command was an issue, and that’s a problem when a pitcher doesn’t bring overpowering velocity or elite stuff to cover it up.
For a team that already operates with one of the lowest payrolls in the league and doesn’t carry many large contracts, committing more than $20 million to Singer next year would be a major mistake.
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