Photo: Doug Gray
The Cincinnati Reds have non-tendered catcher Will Banfield, right-handed pitcher Roddery Munoz, and right-handed pitcher Carson Spiers. The team also reached a new contract with left-handed reliever Sam Moll.
Let’s start with Roddery Munoz. If you are wondering who that is, you probably aren’t alone. He never pitched a game in the Reds organization. Cincinnati picked him up on waivers two weeks ago from the St. Louis Cardinals. Now he’s been non-tendered and is a free agent. It’s tough to figure out what the plan here was. He was not arbitration eligible, so offering him a contract for less than he was projected to make doesn’t seem possible as he’d be getting the league minimum.
The move with Carson Spiers follows up a move where he was designated for assignment. Another move that’s tough to make sense of given that if he cleared waivers he could have been outrighted to Triple-A, and if he didn’t clear waivers then someone else is taking him. This move simply makes him a free agent. Spiers is coming off of elbow surgery and it’s possible he would miss all of 2026, but again – if he clears waivers you can outright him to the minors which severely limits how much money he would be making.
Will Banfield being non-tendered felt like something that everyone saw coming once the team picked up Ben Rortvedt on waivers last week. Banfield was the emergency 3rd catcher on the 40-man roster before that, but with Rortvedt taking over that spot the writing was on the wall for Banfield. He only played in seven games with Cincinnati last season and went 1-10 with six strikeouts. In Triple-A he played in 79 games for Louisville and hit .214/.270/.292.
The deal with Sam Moll saw Jon Heyman of the New York Post first report that the two sides had a deal for $875,000 with another $150,000 worth of unnamed incentives for the 2026 season. It was a tough season for Moll in 2025 as he dealt with a shoulder impingement early in the season and then just struggled to find any consistency with both Triple-A Louisville and in the big leagues with the Reds, posting an ERA of 5.00 with Louisville and 6.38 in MLB during the year. The team is likely hoping to see him rebound and perform more like he did in 2023 (0-73 ERA in 24.2 innings) or 2024 (3.35 ERA in 37.2 innings).
These moves leave the Reds with 38 players on the 40-man roster.
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