3:10 p.m.: It’s a one-year deal, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
3:01 p.m.: Reds reach deal with left-handed reliever Caleb Fergusonreports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Signing is still pending a physical exam.
Ferguson adds a needed left-handed option to Terry Francona’s bullpen. The Reds bought out Brent Suter at the start of the offseason. This left them Sam Moll as their only left-handed reliever. He’s been up and down since Triple-A this year and has allowed 16 runs in 18 1/3 MLB innings. Moll gets a decent number of whiffs and ground balls and has been a solid middle reliever between 2022 and 2024, but the Reds couldn’t enter the season counting on him as their best option.
Ferguson, 29, is coming off a solid season split between the Pirates and Mariners. He made a career-high 70 appearances and posted a 3.58 ERA in 65 1/3 innings. He recorded 14 takes while dropping five tracks. Ferguson had a lot of weak contact, but he benefited from an unsustainable home run rate and batting average on balls in play. This will likely increase in 2026, although it’s possible he compensates by missing more at-bats than last season.
Ferguson just posted an 18.9% strikeout rate, by far the worst mark of his career. He had struck out at least a quarter of opposing batters in each of his first six seasons. This would be even more worrying if this were accompanied by a decline in its raw materials. Ferguson’s average fastball velocity of 94 MPH was consistent with previous years. He reduced the four-seam fastball to use a sinker more frequently against left-handed hitters. The result, as might be expected, was a decrease in smells but an increase in ground balls. Ferguson also did a much better job throwing strikes against lefties, whom he held to a .184/.261/.204 line with zero home runs in 115 plate appearances.
More to come.
