Emilio Pagán Returns to Cincinnati

It’s been a busy December at no cost agent relievers. Ryan Helsley and Devin Williams, two of probably the most fascinating names in the marketplace, every signed with new golf equipment, and so they every acquired multi-year ensures regardless of shaky 2025 outcomes. The following shoe to drop wasn’t fairly as heralded of an choice, however he too acquired a number of years and beat market consensus. The signing in query: Emilio Pagán and the Reds agreed to a two-year, $20 million deal, with an choose out after the primary 12 months.

Pagán was a much more efficient reliever in 2025 than both of the 2 splashier names forward of him. He had top-of-the-line seasons of his profession at age 34, in actual fact: 68 2/3 innings pitched, a 2.88 ERA and three.72 FIP in hitter-friendly Cincinnati, and 32 saves in his first full-time closing job since 2019. He bounced again from an injury-interrupted 2024 with higher fastball velocity and higher pitch form throughout the board, and acquired richly rewarded for it with a 30% strikeout fee. Is he homer-prone? You guess, because of a 0.51 GB/FB ratio. However a .200 BABIP and a strong HR/FB% (10.8%) meant that he really allowed fewer homers per 9 innings (1.31) than his profession mark (1.51), and never by a small quantity, regardless of pitching in a launching pad.

When issues are going effectively for him, Pagán makes everybody assume they will hit a house run, then pulls the rug out. He runs his four-seamer excessive and spots a heavy splitter off of it, a basic fly ball pitcher combine. It’s a type of methods that appears terrible when it isn’t working, and but appears to return by way of more often than not anyway. Extra particularly, Pagán went by way of a three-year stretch of horrible kind from 2020-2022, posting a 4.61 ERA and 4.71 FIP. Then he broke out in 2023 and has been strong since. The weirdest a part of all of it? His stuff and command metrics barely budged between these two wildly totally different stretches.

Reversals like that go a good distance towards explaining why reliever efficiency is so troublesome to foretell. When Pagán has it, he’s a worthy late-inning reliever. His ERA- was fortieth amongst relievers final 12 months, and it’s sixtieth over the previous three years, even along with his ineffective 2024 within the combine. He’s pitched such as you’d count on a better or setup man to, in different phrases. His FIP tells a broadly comparable story, and I’m prepared to imagine that pitchers along with his excessive tendencies outperform their FIP in the long term. For those who get good Pagán, he’s a really helpful bullpen piece, the type any crew would like to have within the bullpen and plenty of fringe contenders would like to have as a better.

That’s the calculus from the Reds’ perspective. They’ve managed their payroll tightly within the early years of Elly De La Cruz’s crew management window, hovering across the $100 million mark with wiggle room in both course. With that funds constraint in thoughts, the highest 5 or so relievers on this free company class had been presumably off the board. The following tier down is a mix of fascinating pop-up arms, growing older closers, and reclamation tasks. Would you fairly have Kenley Jansen or Pagán? Seranthony Domínguez? Kyle Finnegan? Phil Maton? Perhaps Drew Pomeranz? I believe I’d take Pagán or Jansen over the sector – I ranked them that method in my High 50 Free Brokers checklist – and as an added bonus, he’s already aware of Cincinnati. I’d take Raisel Iglesias over him – rankings, once more – however he signed for one 12 months and $16 million, in all probability outdoors of this crew’s worth vary. The Reds in all probability might’ve gotten some strong lefty specialists for the $10 million or so annual wage that they gave Pagán, however that’s not what they had been out there for this winter. They wanted a bankable nearer, and within the aisle they had been buying in, there weren’t that many choices.

This crew actually does want aid arms. The Reds didn’t should cowl many bullpen innings in 2025, however even then they struggled to piece all of it collectively. Pagán, Tony Santillan, and Graham Ashcraft fashioned an efficient three-headed monster on the high, however the remainder of the pen was ineffective even in restricted time. With a bandbox for a house stadium, it’s laborious to count on a equally restricted want for aid pitching in 2026. This was the trail of least resistance for a crew that basically does must do one thing to problem for the NL Central title in 2026 and construct on its stunning 2025 Wild Card berth.

Now, the dangers? They’re actual. It was solely a 12 months in the past, after his down 2024 efficiency, that Cincinnati followers had been lamenting Pagán’s resolution to select up his participant choice for 2025. Extra innings and a .200 BABIP turned that frown the wrong way up, however it’s not prefer it’s not possible to think about an ineffective Pagán. Would you be shocked if he had an uneven, homer-prone 55 innings in 2026 after which picked up his choice? I definitely wouldn’t be. We simply noticed that!

That leaves me within the scenario of liking this deal extra for Pagán than for the Reds, and but I’d make this supply if I had been of their sneakers anyway. Determining which relievers can be good in a 12 months’s time is extremely troublesome. If it had been straightforward to unravel, the Dodgers wouldn’t have signed Tanner Scott and Blake Treinen final winter after which spent this complete October hiding them. Regardless of that issue, relievers are integral to a contending membership. For those who aren’t profitable the shut video games, it’s laborious to make the playoffs. The Reds probably wouldn’t have finished that final 12 months if not for Pagán.

With that backdrop, what had been the Reds speculated to do? Signal a special, comparable man for barely much less? Signal two reclamation tasks on one-year, $5 million offers? It’s not even just like the second 12 months is that a lot of a catastrophe; in a 12 months’s time, they’re going to be contending with a core constructed round De La Cruz and on the lookout for relievers, and I don’t assume the market fee is more likely to plummet within the meantime or something. Positive, you would possibly get dangerous Pagán in 2026 after which have him choose in, however the inherent volatility of relievers signifies that even that isn’t a tragedy. It labored out final time!

There’s some likelihood that Cincinnati might have waited longer, negotiated extra stingily, and reached a barely extra team-friendly cope with him. To this point, Pagán is the early signing whose market has most outstripped my projections. However who cares? What had been the Reds going to do, save one million {dollars} or two? From their perspective, the dangers had been higher, as a result of in the event that they dragged their toes in negotiating with Pagán and he signed elsewhere, they’d out of the blue be sifting by way of a wide range of relievers they’re presumably much less excited about with a powerful must discover a deal. I’d choose to overpay barely for a man I’m comfy with than hunt for unknown bargains to fill a vital position, and it appears the Cincinnati entrance workplace thinks equally.

I’m not satisfied that this can be a nice long-term technique to run a crew. It definitely wouldn’t be my choice in a vacuum; I’m a Rays/Dodgers/Brewers-style bullpen man at coronary heart. I really like reclamation tasks and throwing plenty of relievers on the wall to see what sticks. I really like betting on guys with elite stuff and seeing if they will work out learn how to throw strikes, or betting on guys with elite command and seeing if they will work out learn how to throw more durable.

I’m additionally not operating the Reds, gazing two superstars in De La Cruz and Hunter Greene and attempting to make the playoffs once more after a miracle run. Positive, it could be nice to construct an unimaginable pitching growth system from the bottom up. However it’s December, and the season begins in 4 months, and that’s not sufficient time to overtake a complete group, not even shut. The Reds wanted a reliever. They acquired a man they’re comfy with at a fee that gained’t pressure them to chop again elsewhere. Perhaps it’s a slight overpay, and perhaps he’s extra risky than his 2025 outcomes would recommend, however for the Reds? He’s simply what they wanted.