Newest Cincinnati Reds free agent on team's spending: "That means they really want it."

Get a load of the team that’s outspending everybody else this winter in either of baseball’s Central divisions – at levels more than two-fold the free agent spending by the Detroit Tigers and infinity-fold the spending of the Chicago Cubs.

Whether the likes of bounce-back candidate Frankie Montas and swingman Nick Martinez provide the answers the Cincinnati Reds seek for their 2024 rotation, the Reds are announcing their presence with authority ahead of a season of heightened expectations – exceeding $105 million in free agent commitments with the signing of their $16 million deal with Montas this week.

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“(The Cubs) are shocked by what’s going on in Cincinnati,” one baseball insider said of the mega-revenue rivals from Chicago, who have yet to acquire a big-league player in free agency or trade since finishing one game short of the playoff field in 2023 – and then losing All-Star veterans Marcus Stroman and Cody Bellinger to free agency.

Winning offseason is no guarantee

History is full of baseball teams that won offseasons and then face-planted once the games started. And the Reds aren’t taking any victory laps in January – nor are the Cubs planning to stand pat.

But the top of the spending standings  in the National League Central two months into the offseason are at least eye-opening, and catching the attention of free agents such as Montas.

“When you see a team like that going out there and getting players and spending money, there’s only one thing that comes to your head: They want to win,” said Montas, who signed a one-year deal after spending most of last season rehabbing from shoulder surgery.

“Why would I not be a part of that?”

The deal, which includes additional $100,000 bonus clauses for workload thresholds starting at 18 starts, makes the Reds the big spenders of their division, so far, on the heels of their surprising run into contention last summer.

It might say more about how little they spent and how much they shed the past two years than any kind of suddenly aggressive spending posture.

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But don’t tell some of the free agents, like Montas.

“They’re going out there and getting players, spending money. That’s exciting. That means they really want it,” said Montas, who also said the New York Yankees – who traded for him at the 2022 deadline – talked to him about returning after he became a free agent this winter.

Reds top spender in NL Central

A quick glance at the NL Central spending so far this winter (big-league free agents and big-league commitments for trade acquisitions):

• Cincinnati Reds: $105.25 million

• St. Louis Cardinals: $99 million

• Pittsburgh Pirates: $16.2 million

• Milwaukee Brewers: $15 million

• Chicago Cubs: Zip.

Reds president Nick Krall downplayed the idea that anyone should read any kind of messaging from ownership or unusual aggressiveness into this winter’s outlay.

“We ended up not having any guaranteed contracts besides Greene on our books moving into the off-season,” Krall said of young ace Hunter Greene, who makes $3 million this year as part of the six-year, $53 million deal he signed early last season.

“And we had some payroll flexibility, and this is where we landed,” Krall said.

Part of that flexibility was created by the decision to buy out Joey Votto’s $20 million contract option for $7 million. Votto made $25 million in 2023.

After the Montas signing, Krall said the Reds are likely done with “major moves” this winter.

They announced a minor-league deal Wednesday for former Dodgers and Rockies left-hander Justin Bruihl, 26, for bullpen depth – the kind of moves the team expects to spend the rest of the offseason evaluating.

For now, the $105-million done-deal winter for the Reds puts them in the unfamiliar territory of top spenders in the division as they chase the playoff berth they fell two games short of reaching last season.

It’s not like there’s a Shohei Ohtani or Cody Bellinger in that list of Reds newcomers — although they finished essentially second to the Cardinals for $75 million free agent and former Reds starting pitcher Sonny Gray.

“Our goal was to add pitching to our club; it was to add offensive depth to our club,” Krall said. “Other teams are going to do whatever they’re going to do, and we can’t worry about that.”

Reds filled real needs in free agency

But the team filled targeted needs with the likes of switch-hitting corner infielder Jeimer Candelario (three years, $45 million) and reliever Emilio Pagán (two years, $16 million), along with Martinez (two years/$26 million) and Montas for the rotation.

They also brought back workhorse reliever Buck Farmer from last year’s unsung-hero bullpen on a one-year, $2.25 million free agent deal.

“It’s great to have starting pitching depth,” Krall said. “You can never have too much starting pitching depth. With that said, we’re going to let a lot of this play out into the season. Where guys are coming into spring training, there’s going to be some jobs to win, and we’ll have to figure out where everyone fits as we work through spring.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Cincinnati Reds big-spending winter might reshape team, division.