CINCINNATI \u2014 As soon as Pierce Johnson became a free agent, Emilio Pag\u00e1n, who was also a free agent at the time, pitched the pair as a package deal.<\/p>\n
Pag\u00e1n, whose 32 saves were the second-most in the National League last season, re-signed with Cincinnati in December. On Thursday, the 34-year-old Johnson officially became a Red, signing a one-year, $6.5 million deal with a mutual option for a second.<\/p>\n
Even before Pag\u00e1n knew where he was going, he started the hard sell on Johnson.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It was) probably 10 minutes after I told him my option was declined,\u201d Johnson said Thursday. \u201cHe and I talk every day. We\u2019re super close. It was literally, \u2018Hey man, where we trying to go?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson said Pag\u00e1n had told him he wanted to come back to Cincinnati, but as soon as Pag\u00e1n signed his two-year deal to return to the Reds, his pitch became more focused.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re coming here,\u201d Johnson recalled Pag\u00e1n telling him. \u201cWe\u2019re going to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, a month later, \u201chere we are and we got it done,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
The relief duo overlapped in San Diego during the 2020-21 seasons. There they\u00a0met and became best friends. The two talk nearly every day and their families are also close, with Pag\u00e1n offering the services of his wife, Jordyn, to help with his friend\u2019s newborn. The two families even went to Disney World together last month.<\/p>\n
The additions of Johnson, who had a 2.91 ERA in 147 games over the last three seasons with the Atlanta Braves, and lefty Caleb Ferguson last month solidify the Reds\u2019 bullpen, which lost Nick Martinez, Scott Barlow and Brent Suter from last year\u2019s group. The Reds could still add another lefty to go with Ferguson and Sam Moll, but the heavy lifting for rebuilding the bullpen is done.<\/p>\n
With the bullpen either settled or nearly settled, the search for offensive additions begins.<\/p>\n
Despite playing in homer-happy Great American Ball Park, the Reds finished the 2025 season 21st in the majors with 167 home runs, and their 716 total runs were four runs below the league average of 720 for the season.<\/p>\n
While the team did make a run at free-agent designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, the Middletown, Ohio, native rebuffed his hometown team\u2019s offer to return to the Philadelphia Phillies.<\/p>\n
After whiffing on Schwarber, the team\u2019s biggest move to date to help improve the offense has been the signing of 28-year-old outfielder JJ Bleday, who was non-tendered by the Athletics following a disappointing 2025 season.<\/p>\n
The Reds\u2019 infield, aside from first base, seems to be set with Elly De La Cruz at shortstop, Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes at third and Matt McLain and Gavin Lux at second base. Outfield seems to be the best chance for the team to upgrade offensively. TJ Friedl is the incumbent in center field, and Noelvi Marte, who switched to the outfield last July, appears set to be the team\u2019s everyday right fielder.<\/p>\n
The Reds also have outfielders Will Benson, Blake Dunn, Rece Hinds, Dane Myers and H\u00e9ctor Rodr\u00edguez on the 40-man roster ahead of the Feb. 14 reporting date for Reds position players.<\/p>\n
Johnson, who appeared in four games against the Reds last season and allowed just one hit over 11 batters, said he likes what he sees with the Reds, including their offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a talented group and somebody, every year, is going to step up and maybe it\u2019s someone you don\u2019t expect,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see because playing against them has always been a struggle \u2014\u00a0a lot of good at-bats and a lot of pesky hitters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson started his career with the Chicago Cubs, who drafted him with the 43rd pick in the 2012 draft. Current Reds pitching coach Derek Johnson took over as the Cubs\u2019 minor league pitching coordinator in 2013 and the pitcher has kept in touch with his coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve leaned on him for information and ideas throughout my entire career,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati will be Johnson\u2019s sixth MLB organization, having also pitched for the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies, as well as the Hanshin Tigers in Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s excited to play for us, which is always a good thing,\u201d Pag\u00e1n said. \u201cYou bring in somebody to a team who wants to be there, then you\u2019re going to get the best version of that player.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 As soon as Pierce Johnson became a free agent, Emilio Pag\u00e1n, who was also a free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2319,363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-409915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-cincinnati-reds","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}