The Cincinnati Reds are bringing back right-handed pitcher Carson Spiers. On Friday afternoon the club non-tendered him. That dropped him off of the 40-man roster and automatically made him a free agent. The two sides didn’t waste much time to get back together as they agreed to a minor league deal for the 2026 season that includes an invitation to big league spring training.
In 2025 the season was a tough one for Carson Spiers. He spent most of the season on the injured list with multiple injuries. Spiers made the team out of spring training and started two games in the first week of April for the Reds. He was then optioned to Triple-A where he made one start before returning to Cincinnati’s bullpen for one game on April 19th.
Following that outing in Baltimore he was placed on the injured list with shoulder impingement. He would miss all of May and June before heading out on a rehab assignment in early July. Spiers made one appearance in Arizona before moving up to Triple-A Louisville to continue his rehab. After three outings there he was recalled from that assignment and remained on the injured list. This time, though, it was due to his elbow and the injury was bad enough that it warranted surgery in late July. It was never specified as to whether he had a full Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure. The expectation, though, is that he’s likely to miss much of if not all of the 2026 season.
Even in the best of recoveries, he will only be seven months out from the surgery when spring training begins. The odds of him pitching in the spring are next to none. So if you’re wondering why he got an invite to big league camp, it’s likely just due to his asking for it to be included as during the spring you get additional things/benefits in big league camp that you don’t get in minor league camp.
It would seem that the Reds are hoping two things with this kind of signing. One would be that Spiers can recover quickly and possibly be ready to pitch at some point in the second half of the season/late in the year. Or two, that bringing him back in 2026 so he can rehab with the team at their facilities and all of that, even if he can’t return to the mound in the season, that it could buy them a little bit of good will if they want to bring him back in 2027.
Good move. Doesn’t signing him now make him eligible for Rule V Draft?
I doubt if a fella coming off TJ surgery and likely to sit out much of the year ahead is much of a risk for losing to the Rule V draft.
The last time I chased it down, there was a limit to how much IL time could count toward fulfilling the Rule 5 requirements for keeping a player. The player had to be on the active MLB roster for 90 days during the season to be free of the Rule 5 return provisions.
If a season ended prior to the guy getting in 90 days at MLB because he was on the IL too long, he was rolled over to the following season (and thus burning a 40 man roster spot over the off season). If he reached the required 90 days of active roster MLB Service Time during that next season, he was then eligible to be optioned or outrighted without being offered back to his original team.
Okay, it’s something. Not much, but something.
It would be nice if they tried to improve the team at some point.
No teams are really making any moves yet. Naylor re-signed with the Mariners, and the Mets and Rangers traded aging players. That’s about it. It will be after Thanksgiving before things start to shake out, just like it does every year.
This is a pretty ordinary long-term move; it just shows that Spiers and the team are comfortable with each other. Maybe he makes it back. Maybe he doesn’t. Not much to see, other than that.
Understood. I am just not very high on Carson Spiers. He wasn’t that good before the injury.
@OBE>>> We have seen some player reaction to the anticipated lockout following 2026.
Four guys took the QO. Some other guys expected to choose free agency have instead rolled over player options, guaranteeing a large single-season payout in 2026 but less AAV than they figured to make as an FA in a multi-year deal. Other players with less attractive 2026 options have bailed to go for single-season, larger payouts.
Now I am waiting to see what the teams do. My guess is that for most free agent players, teams may go higher to coax single-season deals but try to avoid obligations extending beyond the shutdown date.
An interesting project for someone with more spare energy than I have at my point in life would be to find out how many players have contracts that extend beyond the 2026 season that the team cannot option its way clear of at the end of the 2026 season. And of course, who are the guys with these contracts, and what is the guaranteed amount involved with them?
Spotrac and Cot’s might be a good starting point.
I see a lot of transactions in the real world, just not the Reds’ world. I’ve seen some articles predicting the Reds’ lineup will be little changed on opening day, with Stewart instead of Hays. Yeah, no one really knows anything at this point. Unfortunately, it’s all too believable with Krall at the helm and a lock out pending. I doubt they’ll even make a move to extend EDLC.
How much money did the Reds save non-tendering Spiers and now re-signing him in a minor league deal? Maybe they are thinking Spiers being a pitching-practice guy thing he already has done in the big leagues at times last two years…
There are several hundred thousand dollars in difference between the major league minimum and the minor league salary. If he’s on the 60-day IL, he would have earned the major league minimum. Also, it opened up a 40-man spot for the offseason.
It’s hard not to think this was all discussed and arranged with Spiers before anything was set in motion.
Still wondering why SanMartin was jettisoned, though.
Sanmartin doesn’t have great stuff, so his margin for error is pretty low. I really doubt he ends getting a big league deal. Perhaps he returns on another minor league deal.
Sanmartin was claimed by the Giants and remains on their 40-man roster. So at least for now he’s got a big league deal (though he does have one option available to use).
Thanks, Doug!
Glad Spiers was able to remain with the club.
Tatsuya Imai – Lets go get him! Imai revealed he prefers joining a team that currently does not have a Japanese player, aiming to be fully immersed in the United States. The window is closing and c’mon its been 35 years since our last trophy. Our starting staff would be the best in the majors.
Good move. He’s an aggressive pitcher with a nice mix and knows how to use it. He’d be a nice fit as a bulk reliever. You had to feel bad for him when the Francona sacrificed him in Baltimore—4IP, 94 pitches, 4bb, 2 HRs. Anyone with eyes could see he didn’t have it. Irresponsible.
I’ve always been curious how a surgery like Spiers is covered for insurance purposes and how health insurance is handled for players – particularly for minor league players. I assume teams have health insurance plans.
There’s that, and the continuity of therapy and rehab, with the same people he has been working with on the Red’s staff. It was unlikely anybody was going to take him, and as was said above, this was all probably worked out ahead of time with Spiers and his agent, to open up a spot on the 40 man.
And, well, let’s see what the Reds actually do to improve the team over the next 30-60 days. At the minimum, they have to get some more arms for the bullpen. I saw a news blurb that said the Astros were “stocking up on arms”. Maybe they have some extra arms? Probably need a whole body, though.
Excellent question Michael B Green. I would think that maybe workers comp for injuries related to their work???
A player who spends a day on an active MLB roster is covered for life by whatever health insurance plan MLB uses for players. As a player accrues more MLB time, a spouse and other family members may also become eligible for the plan. This is aside from the team’s responsibility for the treatment and rehab following playing (work) related injury.
When I read about this several years ago, my first thought was, Wow, what a fringe benefit perk. Then I realized, it probably also heads off a lot of workers’ compensation claims and hassles for the teams.
Thanks, Jim.
Are minor leaguers SOL?
I do not know about minor leaguers who have never been on an active MLB roster.
Somewhere floating around in the cloud is a PowerPoint presentation where I got this information about salaries, perks, etc of MLB players. Someone did it as work for a graduate degree of some sort, then posted it on an open link.
I’ve probably got it saved somewhere that I can recall or no longer have access to, or I would post it. 😉
I see Boston has acquired Sonny Gray. Better them than us. I hope we can avoid a reunion with Geno as well. But, I get a feeling he is going to be our consolation prize when we don’t sign Schwarber.
V4L – this Reds ownership wouldn’t pay Suarez 11-12M$ for him to play 2021 thru 2025 for us. They surely aren’t going to pay him 20-22M$ on a shorter contract.
Think much cheaper – like 5-7M$ 1 year deal cheaper.
I think they are going to put most of their freed up money into the bullpen.
I read an article, don’t remember where, that has Geno going two years at $24 Million. Not sure how accurate that is but it would be in the Reds process range unfortunately.
I just don’t see Geno as a fit positionally, and imagine how bad it would look if they off loaded him once because of underperformance, only to sign him and see him repeat. I doubt they would take that risk.
I hope you are right ATH, and you usually are, it just seems like a half measure approach the Reds sometimes take. It’s like when they signed Candelario when they needed an outfielder. I could see them making Suarez the full time DH, moving Steer to LF and playing Stewart at1B. I get the feeling whichever team signs Geno, they are going to regret it.
Let’s hope they look elsewhere.
I share your sentiment on Geno. He has a tendency for good year/bad year and we know what last year was.
My problem with this trade is I was hoping Reds could trade a pitcher for one of their good outfielders. Boston seemed like a natural fit them needing pitching where we are strongest and us needed impact bat everyday outfielder which they have a surplus. We will see. Maybe Reds don’t trade pitching and we basically run back last years hitting. That would be really sad but we will see lots of off season left.
**the Sonny Gray trade**