The non-tender deadline is (update) 5pm ET on Friday afternoon. So what exactly does it mean to non-tender someone? Players on the 40-man roster are technically under contract for next season. Their salary, though, may not yet be set. Pre-arbitration players will make the league minimum. Players who are arbitration eligible will either head to arbitration and argue their case against the team for their salary or will come to a “new contract” and avoid going to an arbitration case.
To non-tender someone, though, would be to say that we do not want this player on our team next year. So they non-tender the player rather than tender them that 2026 contract. This is almost always about money. Usually players get non-tendered who are arbitration eligible because the team believes the system will require them to pay more for that player than the team either wants to pay them or believes that they are worth. If a player is non-tendered they become a free agent.
MLB Trade Rumors published their list of non-tender candidates around MLB. They had three Cincinnati Reds players among their list: Infielder Gavin Lux, outfielder Will Benson, and reliever Sam Moll. Last year the Reds only non-tendered one player – Ian Gibaut. They would eventually re-sign him to a minor league deal in February.
Gavin Lux is projected to make $5,000,000 next season in arbitration if the team keeps him around. Will Benson is projected to get a raise to $1,700,000 for 2026 through arbitration. And Sam Moll is projected to get a raise to $1,200,000 if he’s kept around and heads to arbitration.
Cincinnati would potentially save $5,560,000 if the projected arbitration numbers are spot on perfect and they were to non-tender these three and also replace them on the roster with players making the league minimum (which is $780,000 in 2026).
With these specific players the question is about how they have performed, how they should be expected to perform, and can the team replace them and get better production and or value from someone else.
Gavin Lux was a below-replacement level player in 2025 according to the Baseball Reference version of WAR (-0.2 WAR), and slightly better than a replacement level player according to the Fangraphs version of WAR (0.3 WAR). Lux was roughly a league average hitter who has a good average and on-base percentage, but showed very little power. The big detractor in his value is that both places agreed that he was a terrible defensive player in 2025. While he’s never been regarded as a good defensive player he was nearly seven times worse in value in 2025 than he was in his previous worse season. That kind of change does make you question just how valid it was in 2025 and if it’s something you should expect to happen again.
Will Benson is kind of a highly debated kind of player within certain Reds fan circles. His “hit metrics” look good. He hits the ball hard and the highly questionable but often cited “expected” stats on those batted balls say he should be finding success at the plate. But when you look at what he’s actually done at the plate, it’s not great. In 2025 he hit .226 and had a .273 on-base percentage while mostly facing right-handed pitchers. The year before he struggled, too, hitting .187 with a .274 on-base percentage.
And then there’s Sam Moll. He pitched well in both 2023 and 2024 with Cincinnati. But in 2025 he struggled. He made the team out of spring training, but gave up four runs in 2.0 innings to start the season and was sent to the injured list. A week later he began a rehab assignment with Louisville and spent the full 30 days with them he was allowed, then he was optioned there and remained with the Bats for the next five weeks. He returned to the Reds in July and then stayed with them for two months, but on September 2nd he was sent back to Triple-A where he remained for the rest of the season.
With the Reds his ERA was 6.38 on the year while throwing 18.1 innings. In Triple-A his ERA was 5.00 while throwing 27.0 innings. Moll will also be 34-years-old next season. The team didn’t trust him in a playoff run in September. The writing may very well be on the wall here, but stranger things have happened than retaining him and hoping he can get back to where he was two and three seasons ago.
Moll would be a guy you’d pick up sometime during the winter for chump change, but I think there are better options. I like Benson more for the fun of it, and does Lux have bad defensive numbers because of LF or 2B, or both?
Lux grades decent at 2B, but terrible everywhere else. There are several teams looking for help at second, but his lack of offense hurts his trade value significantly. I look for him to be non-tendered.
Benson is an enigma. He shows flashes of good offense, but they are too often just short bursts. He plays well in the field and because he is an OF the Reds should probably, at least for now, keep him in the fold.
Moll, to me, is a no brainer…he is the only LH’ed option you have right now, assuming they don’t bring Suter back (which I think they should). Moll has performed very well in the past and his salary is right for this team, so keep him.
Lux had the second best OBP of any regular player on the Reds–.350, so he lacked power but not offense. Having guys on base is still a valuable commodity.
From where I sit Lux’s defense sucked everywhere. He averaged 1 fielding error every 7 games played at 2B. That comes to 23 over the course of a season. Elly (who everyone claims makes far too many errors averaged 1 fielding error every 14 games. That is half as bad as Lux. Lux sucks defensively everywhere.
Your Elly numbers don’t look right, Stock.
In 2025, Elly had 26 errors in 158 games at SS. That’s just about 1 error every 6 games.
Maybe he just counted fielding and excluded throwing errors.
I’d say Benson is most likely let go. Tito likes Lux so MAYBE he stays. Moll is a lefty and has pitched well in the past. If he bounces back $1.2 M is not much. Having said all this I wouldn’t be surprised if all three are gone. We’ll see. It wouldn’t be a big loss it that happened.
Yeah every year people get excited about Benson and then he turns back into a pumpkin. He isn’t getting any younger and I personally would like to go with Hinds or somebody younger. Give them a try and let’s see how they do. Just because Moll is a lefty doesn’t give him a pass with that ERA. Sign some lefty Free Agents instead. Lux I like for his OBP but he stinks in the field and I would want somebody with power at DH. Lux is perfect for the Pirates or white Sox.
I’d probably non-tender Lux and Moll. At the moment I’d probably keep Benson as the expense isn’t great for a 4th OF’er. Though I wouldn’t be upset if Benson is cut as well, because Dunn can probably do just as well as 4th OF’er type.
I would drop Lux and Moll as well. I think we keep Benson
Same. Save $5 million by letting Lux go which can/could be used for more offense or bullpen. For the money, Benson and Moll are the kind of guys Krall would pick up from other team non-tenders, so why not stay in-house?
I like Benson, but his batting average justifies him being cut. Lux and Moll should also be cut too, in order to free up money to pay Schwarber.
Forget Schwarber, put him on your fantasy team, but the Reds are not going to outbid the big market teams. And he is really a one-dimensional DH. Strikes out a lot and is due for age-related regression. Think Joey Votto. Great guy and a great career, but the last few years were no where near peak. For the price of Schwarber the Reds could possibly net several needed players. Bull pen and maybe a power hitter.
He just put up the highest WAR (.928 ops) of his career. The last few years have been the peak.
I don’t want Benson and Lux as fulltime starters. I would only keep them as bench players. The problem is we wouldn’t want two bench outfielders that can’t hit lefty pitching.
I give the edge to keeping Benson. He’s younger, cheaper, and currently our only backup CF.
The fact that there is conversation on cutting Lux points to how terrible this trade was. Sirota is a top 100 prospect and the 1st round pick they gave up would also be in Doug’s top 15 prospects.
I’d non tenor them , have better minor leaguer, that are better, possibly Keep Moll because we need lefty pitchers, but someone could step up.
Agree – TERRIBLE trade.
Stock , Agree it upsets me every time I think about it. We should be trying to acquire draft picks if anything. That trade was very bad maybe even a ( somebody gets fired ) type trade . Doug consistently writes good articles here for us followed by the comment section I always look forward to your comments thanks
The sad thing is both Benson and Lux are probably in our top 9 hitters as the team is currently constructed.
The tragic thing is we are actually worried about the effects of a $1.8M, and a $5M salary on our budget.
That being said I’d probably move on from both, and more to make room for a real difference maker.
We are full of mediocre hitters, we need some thump in the middle of our lineup. Fill in your favorite 30+ HR guy, and lets figure out how to get him, and which below average players we need to move to make room for him.
Lux is a poor defender in LF with no power and is a platoon player. He doesn’t add value to the team in LF, actually he would add negative value given that he would probably block an acquisition upgrade, and he’s not worth $5M to sit on the bench.
To me this is our lineup today
1 Friedl (CF), 2 Steer (LF), 3 EDLC (SS)
4 Marte (RF), 5 Lux (DH), 6 Steph (C)
7 Stewart (1B), 8 KBH (3B), 9 McLain (2B)
Trevino (C), Urbaez (INF)
Callihan (INF/OF) Benson (OF)
Out of those 13, to me Lux, Steph, and Benson are at risk of being moved to make room on the payroll for a better player.
“That being said I’d probably move on from both, and more to make room for a real difference maker.”
I’m just saying in the meantime they are still among our best 9 hitters. If budget wasn’t a concern I’d likely keep Stephenson, Benson, and Lux, with the last two being 2 of members of my bench.
I agree Lux could still be a useful bench player for the Reds, just not at $5M.
So it is not the effect of $5M added to the payroll, and more about “is the player worth $5M?” It’s the same question every other team will ask when and if the Reds non-tender him and other teams get a chance to claim him.
Non-tendered players do not have to clear waivers. They immediately become free agents. That’s one of the unique aspects of this particular day on the baseball calendar.
Yep, you’re right about that. Thanks for the clarification. It’s not a DFA.
They can be traded beforehand though, to teams that wish to tender the player.
Another way to look at it is how each of these players fit into Francona’s plan, which uses Valaika’s higher contact/lower power emphasis.
If one of last year’s issues was not having enough of the right type of hitters for this approach, this off season means getting more of those players. This is where i see Lux and his OBP possibly sticking.
The problem with Lux is where to play him, however. McLain is the 2B until he isn’t, Lux the back up. As for LF, Lux isn’t proficient. As a DH, he isn’t sufficient. And, with the arrivals of Stewart and Hayes, combined with Steer, there is a logjam at 1B/DH and possibility of needing Steer to play LF. It’s a continued roster construction from hell (even writing the above gives me headache).
Lux as hitter can stick. Lux as defender is part of the ongoing, agonizing redundancy problem. Is that enough not to stick? To be or not to be?
“The tragic thing is we are actually worried about the effects of a $1.8M, and a $5M salary on our budget”.
Agreed 100%. The new CBA can not get here fast enough for me.
Lux at DH makes me cringe. Lux is a prototypical 2 hole hitter. Decent at setting the table, but the first time I asked for a bunt and he failed………
He has to be a guy who can do the little things well. If he cannot do that then he has no real value.
The high payroll teams wouldn’t blink twice about keeping a player like Lux for the bench but here we are. Probably a roll of the dice that you believe one of Hinds, Dunn, or HRod can replace the production of Benson. The bar is low so it’s a risk I would take.
It’s not that Lux is a viable bench piece or not. It’s that he’s not worth paying $5M as a bench piece.
Those 3 at a minimum should be non-tendered. A few others as well. Keegan Thompson for one. One of the 4 catchers unless they are trading Stephenson. Probably a couple of others. Krall needs to develop a sense of urgency and quit waiting for another cheap deal that he can tout to the owners. Get someone that he can brag about the fanbase.
Agree on catcher – probably Banfield.
They just signed Thompson, so I don’t know if non-tendering him applies; they could just release him, I suppose, but they may as well see in spring training what they have in him.
I don’t mind bargain hunting for relievers, who are notoriously fickle. They’ve gotten a few pieces like Fernando Cruz that way, and every other team is doing the same thing. You pretty much never know what you can find, at very low risk. Ditto on the Rule 5 draft. The Red Sox got Garrett Whitlock that way.
And I have no objection to Thompson generally. I just think 40-man slots could be better utilitzed
Not yet, though. The roster is still pretty fluid. They are going to sign a free agent or two, and they may yet trade a guy on the 40-man. Plus, Moll and Banfield are on the edge of the roster.
I don’t see any need to dispense with some of these guys just yet. They do need to make a call on Lux; $5 million is $5 million. Eating Benson’s contract if they keep him but DFA him in spring training isn’t a big hit.
Benson decent fielder with pop who can fill in admirably when called upon I like him can’t help myself. gives effort plays with joy.
At some point they have to clean up the roster.
There have been too many of the same players for the same role, ie Fraley, Lux, Benson, Hurtubise, Callihan.
There haven’t been enough of the right hitters for Francona and Valaika’s approach, ie high contact.
They’ve tried to use mix and match except the mix doesn’t match.
Benson is one who doesn’t match. Covers CF but so do Dunn, Hinds and others Non-tender.
Lux matches as hitter but not as a fielder or in cost. Toss up, leaning non tender.
Moll, LHR, relatively inexpensive, poor year. Toss up, leaning tender.
I think it’s past time to be moving on from Moll and Benson. Gavin Lux makes good contact and gives you a professional at bat, which is a rare occurrence in the Red’s line up.
The big question ,of course, is will the Reds improve their offense. If they don’t, none of this will matter anyway.
“The big question ,of course, is will the Reds improve their offense. If they don’t, none of this will matter anyway”.
Agreed 99% although I might add one word before improve, that would be “significantly”.
Moll may be the only one worth tendering simply given he’s LH and inexpensive – basically just paying to see if he can make it thru the spring.
Lux is competing with India for a roster spot – will either get $5M as a FA?
Isn’t Benson now competing with a few dozen similar types, not to mention Hinds and HRod?
These are 25th/26th roster spots. Save the money for the bullpen.
Moll is almost 34 and coming off a bad, injury-plagued season. I think he may be at the “minor league deal” stage of his career. I would definitely not tender him a contract. (And I say that as a big Moll fan, when he’s healthy!)
I love all 3 guys, but that doesn’t really matter for today’s decisions.
Lux had -0.2 WAR last year. His defense was THAT bad.
Moll is a soft(ish)-tossing lefty who is almost 34, and is coming off a bad, injury-plagued season.
Benson is an exit velocity beast who looks lost at times, and really can’t hit lefties. To his credit, Benson lowered his K rate from 39.5% (unplayable) to 26.5% (worse than average, but playable)…
Lux and Moll are easy decisions for me – to non-tender.
Benson, I’m not sure… he’s a tough call. I think I lean toward keeping Will on the roster, but I think either decision is defensible.
I frankly don’t see any reason to keep Sam Moll. Just because “he’s a left!!” is not good enough. His effectiveness has declined, and he is actually taking up space at AAA from a younger player.
Lux, despite his -0.2 WAR from 2025, does have some value, albeit limited. But I don’t think it is $5 Mil value. And a spot on the 26 man roster.
Again, Benson has real talent, but when will his talent arrive? Maybe….never? Someday, with some team, he will have a “big year” and everybody will say “I told you so!”, and he will get a big contract and coast on that for a couple of years. But at the ML level, he has just not shown the ability to really be consistent, to make consistent contact.
is he worth the money from arbitration, a 40 man and a 26 man roster spot?
The Reds as an organization and the fans, too, have to quit accepting mediocrity, and even sub-mediocrity (replacement level talent) on their team.
The teams carry 26 players, usually now 13 pitchers, which leave 13 position players.
A starting 8 on the field (plus the pitcher) and now a DH. A backup catcher.
That’s ten. So the next three players have to have real value, because they will have to play at some time. A backup infielder or two that can play all around the diamond (shortstop, too), and maybe play some outfield, and a true backup outfielder, that hopefully can also play Center field.
I’ll clarify my comments above about Moll –
1 – if they need a roster spot, easy – designate him, non-tender, whatever; but,
2 – as cheap as the Reds are, his and Benson’s contracts are minimal – even for the Reds – Moll simply has the position advantage – easier to find a “like Benson” than a “like Moll” – they’ll be offering MiLB deals to many LH RPs for the spring, but none to corner OFers. – just pay a bit more now to assure Moll is there;
3 – unless they’re convinced Moll is done, in which case, OK – non-tender.
I think all 3 will have different uniforms this coming year. Benson showed a lot of heart and fire and perhaps a minor league deal keeps him in the organization but he deserves a chance to test the waters first.
I was a fan of the new uniforms that were pictured for this article. I never noticed them wearing them though for more than one game?
New uniforms??? Where did that money come from? Did they non tenders someone while I was not looking???
Devin Williams career stats at GABP: 2.16 ERA 33 K’s in 16.2 IP.
That’s largely because he was in a Brewers uniform, facing Reds hitters who have historically been allergic to hitting pitches thrown by guys in Brewers uniforms.
GABP got a reputation early on as a homer park, but it was overblown a bit because the opponents were facing Reds pitchers of the Elmer Dessens Era.
I believe Gavin Lux is not a great fit for the Reds, unless they move McLain/De La Cruz to CF. He does however have value, and is easily worth 5M for a team using him at 2B. He’s already put up 2 MLB seasons as solid MLB regular at 2B. A team looking to temporarily fill a hole at 2b could do a lot worse than dealing for Lux. It would be nice to see the Reds turn his value into a prospect or maybe a bullpen piece rather than non-tender him for no return. Even if the Reds tender Lux and keep his solid LH bat around until mid-season there is chance they could find a taker then for a deadline rental deal. I tender him and look for fit for a trade.
Benson is a fine 4th OF for now and 1.7M is not a bad price for that. Benson is the only other LH batter we have now, besides Lux, who has a reasonable chance of making the 2026 roster. He can play all 3 OF positions, and is a good PH, career.268/.319/.415/.734. I tender him as well.
Moll is entirely dependent on health for me and that’s a call only the Reds can make. His 1.2M projected salary is super cheap for a LH reliever. If the Reds feel he will be healthy in ST and resemble the Moll of the previous two years they should tender him as well. Moll and perhaps Williamson are the only two potential LH RP currently on the roster.
Agree with all this Tom, but the Benson comment shows the problem – he’s a 5th OFer on good teams, and very affordable at that – and even though he’s still affordable to the Reds, he’s still taking a roster spot, and isn’t it time to see if Dunn, Hinds, HRod are better fits for either the 4th, or 5th OF spot? I only add Dunn, since looking back at his 2025 numbers, he cleaned up a lot of stuff in AAA, and though older in age, given how much he missed early in his career he’s effectively the same playing age as Hinds.
Anyway, if they can (or likely could have already) get anything in a trade package with Benson, time to move on. He’s already shown pretty much everything he can in MLB, which is bench OFer on a good team, maybe a regular for a while on a bad team. Find the bad team and make the deal before the deadline.
I’m fine with dealing or DFA Benson, once we have improvements in place. I just don’t see where we have to clear that roster spot right now. Just because you tender him doesn’t mean you can’t move on from him if better players come along.
I’m not sure Lux ever fully recovered from the knee injury he got early in one season with the Dodgers. And until this past year, I hadn’t realized how bad he was defensively. I had a better arm in my long-lost heyday than Lux has in his prime. He is pretty much limited to second base, and LF in an absolute pinch.
Just for the halibut, i compared Lux’s 2024, his first year post surgery and his 2025 season.
2024
G: 139
Avg/OBP/Slg: .251/.320/.383
Doubles: 24
Triples: 2
HR’s: 10
RBI’s: 50
BB%: 9.0%
K%: 22.6%
EV: 88.3
Max EV: 108.4
LA: 9.0
Barrel%: 6.0*
2025:
G: 140
Avg/OBP/Slg: .269/.350/.374
Doubles: 28
Triples: 2
HR’s: 5
RBI’s: 53
BB%: 11.1%
K%: 22.7%
EV: 88.3
Max EV: 106.4
LA: 9.6
Barrel%: 3.6*
*Seems like the only major difference in the analytics type stuff.
The other difference being HR’s, as he actually hit more coming off knee surgery.
Otherwise, Lux seems very consistent, which assuming the club knew what they were getting when they traded for him means, to me, they’ll tender him.
If our 2026 big signing is going to be tendering Lux a contract, I think I may file a complaint.
I agree….i know the Reds are not going to sign a top tier free agent, but the comments Kyle Schwarber made yesterday couldn’t help to get my hopes up. It’s not everyday you have a player coming off a 56 Home Run season talking about how much he would love to play in Cincinnati.
I realize it’s a pipe dream, but for once, I just wish the Reds could some how get it done. .
I’ll believe a player’s comments about loving to play in Cincy when I see them match that with taking a contract that is friendly to the Reds budget. You can live a lifetime on what Schwarber has already made. But, he will be like all the others and love playing for someone else for money he can’t spend in a lifetime. He can prove me wrong, but he would be the first.
The Reds cannot afford to take the risk of a $30MM per year player who possibly gets injured, read Joey Votto, and can’t be replaced, thereby becoming a huge anchor that causes the team to not be able to make other moves before their pitching window starts to leak away.Especially true when the ‘player’ doesn’t even play baseball; he just is an expensive HRDerby gamble.
Ken Griffey Jr took far less money to come play for Cincinnati. So no, Schwarber would not be the first.
Larkin always took a discount to help the team afford more players too.
The Reds are paying Candelario half as much not to play. They paid Martinez $21 million last season. The fact is the Reds could pay Kyle Schwarber $30 Million dollars a year. If they wanted to.
The Reds are at a disadvantage when it comes to completing against large market teams. But, here is a player, Kyle Schwarber, who is saying he would like to spend more time near his home and play for his childhood team. Most free agents won’t even consider the Reds even if they outbid the large market teams.
It’s rare that a situation like this presents itself. Kyle Schwarber wants to play in Cincinnati. The Reds can afford him. He fills a need that that practically everyone agrees the Reds gave.
Well said V4L.
Schwarber wants to come here. He won’t be giving a discount, but if the Reds are competitive with the market it sure seems he would sign.
Just do it this time.
Sal, Schwarber & a healthy EDLC would sit nicely in the middle of the lineup.
He’s entertaining to watch play defense. Bet the “over” on games that he starts in LF.
I would non-tender Lux and Moll but would give the last chance to Benson only to play as platoon/bench guy.
CIN needs to decide if it is a contender or just an average team. With the starting pitching we have, I’d argue the former.
So if you are a contender, and you are a small market team, you realize you have a short window to go for it.
Now is the time. Go for it.
Get Schwarber. Get Devin Williams. Trade for a CF. Trade for a LHRP. Go for it.
MLBTR reporting Moll has been resigned:
“The Reds and left-hander Sam Moll have agreed at $875K, per Jon Heyman of The New York Post. He was projected for $1.2MM. His 2026 deal also has $150K in potential incentives.”
That’s minimum or very close to it, isn’t it? Wonder if it is a two way (split) deal?
Moll needs to get some years in, even at close to minimum wage. He’s headed into his age 34 season, 12 years out of college, who made paltry minor league wages until he was 30 years old. Another 2-3 more years puts him over the hump. He’s certainly not rooting for a long lockout.
MLB.com transactions showing Banfield, Spiers, and Munoz are now free agents.
40 man roster down to 38 now:
11/21/25 RHP Roddery Muñoz elected free agency.
11/21/25 RHP Carson Spiers elected free agency.
11/21/25 C Will Banfield elected free agency.
Banfield, Munoz and Spiers non tendered. Benson and Lux survived. Possible trade candidates later this offseason?
Hope they say goodbye to Gavin Lux. Like his BA and OBP but the rest of his game is meh. Not worth 5 mil.
Benson isn’t worth a contract either. It doesn’t make sense to claim Roddery Muniz only to not offer him a contract. Krall needs to get fired!
How did claiming Munoz hurt the Reds?