{"id":326105,"date":"2025-12-04T00:54:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326105\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T00:54:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:54:07","slug":"veteran-reliever-emilio-pagan-returns-to-reds-on-two-year-20m-deal-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326105\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran reliever Emilio Pag\u00e1n returns to Reds on two-year, $20M deal: Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

The market for late-inning relievers remained active on Wednesday, with free-agent right-hander Emilio Pag\u00e1n agreeing to return to the Cincinnati Reds on a two-year, $20 million contract, a person briefed on the terms told The Athletic.<\/p>\n

The deal, which includes an opt out after the first year, is pending a physical. It is the first step by the Reds toward reconstructing their bullpen as they also continue their pursuit of free-agent designated hitter Kyle Schwarber.<\/p>\n

The Reds declined club options on relievers Scott Barlow and Brent Suter after the season ended, and Pag\u00e1n, Nick Martinez and Taylor Rogers became free agents.<\/p>\n

Pag\u00e1n, who turns 35 in May and is the No. 49-ranked player on The Athletic\u2019s Big Board<\/a>, is coming off his best season since 2019 and arguably the best of his nine-year career, considering that he served as the Reds\u2019 primary closer. Making a career-high 70 appearances, he finished with a 2.88 ERA, 32 saves in 38 opportunities and a strikeout rate that ranked in the top 11 percent of the league.<\/p>\n

Pag\u00e1n\u2019s 32 saves in 2025 were tied for the second-most in the National League behind the San Diego Padres\u2019 Robert Suarez (30). The 34-year-old Pag\u00e1n inherited the Reds\u2019 closer role when incumbent Alexis D\u00edaz started the season on the injured list and Ian Gibaut blew a save on Opening Day against the San Francisco Giants.<\/p>\n

Pag\u00e1n got his first chance to close for the Reds in the team\u2019s second game, retiring the Giants in order to secure the victory. By the time D\u00edaz returned from the injured list, Pag\u00e1n had established himself as manager Terry Francona\u2019s most trusted bullpen arm. D\u00edaz\u2019s spring struggles continued with the Reds, and he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in May.<\/p>\n

Pag\u00e1n made his biggest impact at the end of the season in Cincinnati with four scoreless appearances in four days, including saves in each of the Reds\u2019 last three victories to secure their first playoff appearance in a full season since 2013.<\/p>\n

The 2026 season will be Pag\u00e1n\u2019s third straight with the Reds. Previously, he pitched for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners, who made him their 10th-round pick in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The market for late-inning relievers remained active on Wednesday, with free-agent right-hander Emilio Pag\u00e1n agreeing to return to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5257,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-326105","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cincinnati-reds","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}