Notes from Nick Krall at Day 2 of the winter meetings

DALLAS — As the Reds’ front office looks to bolster their starting lineup, the team is more active in the trade market than the free agent market.

“We’ve probably had more discussions on trades than free agents at this point,” Krall said.

As the trade market takes shape, the Reds are learning that almost every team is looking to execute big leaguer-for-big leaguer type swaps.

“You’ll find it’s a lot of major league for major league (players in talks),” Krall said. “If you fill one hole, you’ve got to figure out how to backfill this one. It’s been a lot of conversations.”

The White Sox and the Marlins stand out as teams that are truly rebuilding and are very actively pursuing prospects in trade talks. Because so few teams are aggressively working on those styles of trades, the White Sox in particular have had high asking prices for players like All-Star center fielder Luis Robert.

With most of the league, Krall and the Reds’ front office have been working on big leaguer-for-big-leaguer “baseball trades,” like the one they executed with the Royals as they dealt Jonathan India and Joey Wiemer for Brady Singer.

“If you trade a guy off the big league roster, you’re also having to backfill for that player,” Krall said. “It’s not easy as one-for-one. It’s one-for-one plus you’ve got to figure out how to fill the hole you’ve just created.”

The Reds are “backfilling” India by preparing to give Santiago Espinal a bigger role. They already had a lot of infield depth, and they’ll lean further into that depth after losing India.

Going forward, the Reds have more than five big league-caliber starting pitchers. They also have a handful of extra outfielders — some guys who could be platoon players and some guys with a bit more upside.

The trade market seems to have a stronger group of position players that would fit the Reds than the free agent market.

“You’ve got to fit on the team both financially and positionally,” Krall said. “Just trying to figure out who the best fit is. If it’s a trade, you’re also having to give something up. We’re trying to make trades.”

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Japanese free agent pitcher Roki Sasaki, a 23-year-old frontline starter whose contract value will be limited by MLB’s international free agent system, officially hit the market this week.

He has a case as the most valuable free agent pitcher, and Sasaki will only receive international bonus-pool money, plus a rookie salary. Every team can basically only offer him the same amount of money, which makes this process a lot like old-school college recruiting in the pre-NIL era.

“I’d love to be able to have a conversation with them,” Krall said. “We’ll try to do our best. He’s a good player that we scouted in Japan. We’ll see what happens.”

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During the final week of the regular season, Krall, Brad Meador and Freddie Benavides had a sit down conversation with Noelvi Marte.

“We had a direct conversation with him about where his year went sideways, what he needed to do and where he needed to grow to become a big league third baseman on a regular basis,” Krall said. “It’s something he understood. He understood where he was. He’ll have to make those adjustments and come into spring training to win a job.”

Coming off a PED suspension that cost him the first 80 games of the season, Marte hit .210 and posted a -1.8 WAR.

“The suspension was obviously the start of it,” Krall said. “The season then got away from him. It’s hard.”

At this point last year, Marte was expected to be the Reds’ Opening Day third baseman. This spring, he’ll have to win a spot on the 26-man roster.

A big task ahead of Terry Francona and the new coaching staff will be unlocking Marte’s upside. He’s the only Red with the potential to be a good two-way third baseman.

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Marte, Jeimer Candelario, Spencer Steer and Santiago Espinal are all in the mix to be the Reds’ Opening Day third baseman. The fact that Candelario and Steer can both play third base opens up the possibility that the Reds could add a first baseman or a true DH in free agency or trade talks.

The versatility of guys like Steer gives the Reds a bigger group of players to evaluate.

“Whether it’s DH or first base and this guy goes to DH and that guy goes to left field or this guy can play third base or this guy might be a platoon guy,” Krall said. “You have to look at everybody and how they can upgrade your club offensively and defensively.”

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Tyler Stephenson is the only catcher on the Reds’ 40-man roster, and they don’t have any prospects who will compete for the backup spot next spring.

The team signed Alex Jackson, the Rays’ backup for most of last season, to a minor league contract. He hit .122 in 58 games with Tampa Bay in 2024 before getting released.

“That’s the only other person we’ve got competing for a spot at this point,” Krall said.

That could change before the start of the season through a trade or free agent addition. Krall also didn’t rule out the possibility of having solely a group of minor league free agents competing for the backup catcher spot like the Reds did in 2022.

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On Tuesday, Reds special assistant to the GM Chris Buckley was honored as the East Coast Scout of the Year. Krall will introduce Buckley at the awards ceremony on Tuesday night.

“This is a big achievement award in scouting,” Krall said. “It’s a huge honor.”

“It’s (about) being organized, understanding players and understanding the makeup of players,” Krall said. “The background of players. Doing the homework.”

“It’s the all encompassing of what they do and how they do their jobs. Work ethic is a huge part of it, and trying to get tidbits of information is a huge part of it.”

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There will be minor changes to the Reds’ big league support staff (advance scouting, medical, game planning, etc)., but no big direction changes in those departments heading into 2025.