The bullpen the Cincinnati Reds leaned on heavily during the 2025 season was obviously headed for a complete overhaul this winter. Nick Martinez, Emilio Pagan, Scott Barlow, and Brent Suter were all headed for free agency, while the likes of Ian Gibaut also ended up out of the organization after some administrative decisions.
Pagan re-signed, which helped. Keegan Thompson was brought in initially, though he was lost again in a waiver claim before ever throwing a pitch for the club. On top of that, Chase Burns – who pitched admirably as a reliever down the stretch – is slated for a spot in the team’s starting rotation, and their overall pitching depth was further tested by Zack Littel hitting free agency after being acquired at the July trade deadline.
As roles continue to be redefined, lefty Caleb Ferguson was brought in to stabilize what the team does not have from the left side after Taylor Rogers’ brief stint with the club and Suter’s departure into free agency. Brandon Williamson and Juilian Aguiar will presumably provide depth in some form or fashion either at the AAA level as starting depth or, perhaps, in long relief, and Rhett Lowder is healthy again to pick up the slack in the rotation as it comes.
Still, the team needed another righty workhorse, one in the mold of recent seasons from Barlow and Buck Farmer. On Sunday, they addressed that in a big way, as MLB Network insider Jon Heyman relayed that they’ve reached an agreement with free agent righty Pierce Johnson, who became a free agent at season’s end when the Atlanta Braves bought out his option.
The former 1st rounder is heading into his age 35 season, and he’s settled in as a reliable leverage reliever after a pro career that bounced him all over the big leagues (and even sent him to Japan for a time). Since being scooped up by the Braves midway through the 2023 season, he established himself as a legit bullpen cog, firing a 2.91 ERA and 3.61 FIP across 147 appearances (139.0 IP).
In 2025 in particular, he fired 59.0 IP of 3.05 ERA/3.91 FIP ball, leaning heavily on a curveball that he threw a whopping 72.1% of the time. He mixes in a four-seam fastball that averages between 95-96 mph as well as a cutter, on occasion, though it remains to be seen if Derek Johnson has something else up his sleeve for the Denver, Colorado born righty.
Johnson earned $7 million in each of the 2024 and 2025 seasons, though Atlanta did buy him out for $250K this offseason to avoid paying him $7 million again in 2026. It remains to be seen just how much the Reds will be on the hook for in this deal, though I’m sure we’ll hear more specifics about it soon. It’s going to be a deal that eats up a lot of the minuscule budget that the Reds had remaining to spend, to be certain, so how they’ll pivot trying to address the offense after this is a question for all parties involved.
Regardless, their pitching staff is much, much better after this signing. Welcome to the fold, Pierce.