The Reds went into September with a chance to learn something useful about Brandon Williamson and Carson Spiers. Instead, they may have come away with more uncertainty.
That matters because Cincinnati already knows the shape of its rotation is going to need work. Looking ahead to 2027, only three starters feel set in stone: Chase Burns, Andrew Abbott, and Nick Lodolo.
Terry Francona appears to trust Rhett Lowder in that mix for the fourth spot, but even that job is not locked down. Hunter Greene won’t be there next year, and with Brady Singer headed for free agency, another opening is sitting there too.
So Williamson and Spiers had a real lane to make a case this month. Neither took full advantage.
Williamson entered the year with a shot to win a spot after a competitive spring training, helped along by Greene’s first elbow injury of the season and a blister on Lodolo’s left index finger. He made the Opening Day roster, but the run didn’t last.
By the end of April, he had a 6.11 ERA across six starts, and before that rough stretch could cost him his roster spot, a shoulder injury shut him down. For a left-hander already working back from Tommy John surgery, it was a brutal setback.
Spiers’ path has been even more complicated. There were real questions about whether he’d even be available to pitch in 2026, but he returned quicker than expected from Tommy John surgery and flashed something at Louisville with a 3.54 ERA in four starts. His September chance with the Reds, though, was brief and ugly: six innings over two appearances, five earned runs, and four home runs allowed.
Williamson’s late-season line didn’t offer much comfort either. He posted a 5.94 ERA in Louisville over five starts and 16⅔ innings, then came back to the majors and logged a 4.38 ERA over 24⅔ innings. Even that better big-league number came with some alarming baggage: five homers, 10 walks, and a 5.70 FIP.
These are still small samples, and both pitchers are working through injury recovery, so the numbers deserve some context. But the bigger concern is harder to ignore: both arms have long injury histories, and neither one used September to make the rotation picture any clearer.
The Reds still need another starter to compete for a job. Without one, the depth chart starts to look shaky fast.
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The Reds offensive issues in 2026 were deeper than a simple slump, and the numbers made that clear. Cincinnati finished 27th in runs scored even with a relatively high home run total, a sign the lineup could still leave the yard but often failed to string together the kind of production that actually turns power into innings and wins.
KeBryan Hayes became one of the clearest examples of how uneven the roster looked, turning in historically poor offensive numbers by modern standards. More broadly, the problem was one of construction as much as execution, with a collection of one-dimensional players who underwhelmed in different ways at the plate, in the field and on the bases, leaving the Reds with a lineup that never quite fit together. [Read more 🡒]
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For a team like the Reds, that kind of background can be enough to merit a closer look. A minor-league deal with a spring training invite would fit the usual low-risk, high-reward lane for a player trying to reboot his value, and Cincinnati has every reason to keep tabs on that sort of opportunity as it looks for depth without blocking its better long-term bets. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Fans Should Be Worried Which Coaching Problem Still Remains
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But the more unsettled issue may be on the other side of the ball, where the offense has struggled under Director of Hitting Chris Valaika. No official decision has been made on his future, and that lingering uncertainty matters because the Reds biggest concern has not been pitching depth so much as whether the lineup can hold up its end. With one coaching question already answered, the offense now looks like the one still hanging over the club. [Read more 🡒]