Reds make nine roster moves, pick up reliever from St. Louis

It was a busy afternoon for the Cincinnati Reds. With free agency set to begin officially on Friday teams have started to furiously get their 40-man rosters in order. Cincinnati kicked that off by reinstating five players who were on the 60-day injured list to the active roster. During the season players can be put on the 60-day injured list and don’t count towards the 40-man roster, but that doesn’t exist “after” the season is over. The Reds also made two new additions to the 40-man roster, and lost left-handed reliever Reiver Sanmartin to the San Francisco Giants on waivers after he was apparently designated for assignment at some point recently. Right-handed pitcher Sam Benschoter was outrighted to Triple-A and is no longer on the 40-man roster.

Let’s start with the two new additions to the 40-man roster. Cincinnati added right-handed pitcher Jose Franco this afternoon. This happened because had they not added him he would have become a minor league free agent. After he went 10-4 with a 3.11 ERA this season while throwing 110.0 innings between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville, the Reds adding him to the 40-man roster keeps him in the organization rather than allowing him to become a free agent. The soon to be 25-year-old has spent his entire minor league career with Cincinnati, beginning back in 2019 when he pitched for the Dominican Summer League Reds and has worked his way up the ladder since.

The other addition to the 40-man roster was right-handed pitcher Roddery Munoz. Cincinnati picked him up on waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals. Munoz has pitched in 27 games since the start of 2024 for the Miami Marlins (all in 2024) and Cardinals. He hasn’t found much success in his big league time, posting a 6.73 ERA in 93.2 innings while giving up 30 home runs and walking 51 batters. Munoz did pitch well in Triple-A this past year where he had a 3.28 ERA as a reliever and gave up just four home runs in 57.2 innings.

His big league numbers aren’t good. And even in Triple-A he had some control problems this season, but he did make improvements from 2024 to 2025. Munoz throws hard, averaging 96.3 MPH on his fastball this season between Triple-A and MLB. He leans on his slider a lot, but also mixes in a cutter and a change up.

Reiver Sanmartin has been pitching well in 2025. He spent all but one game in Triple-A this year where he went 7-2 with a 2.67 ERA for the Bats. In the left-handed reliever’s 67.1 innings he gave up five home runs, walked 18, and he struck out 55. He pitched in one game for the Reds and gave up one unearned run in 1.2 innings. Sanmartin is pitching in the Dominican Winter League right now and has thrown 6.1 shutout innings for Licey.

The following players were moved from the 60-day injured list to the active roster:

All of these moves leave Cincinnati’s 40-man roster at 37 players.

Brandon WilliamsonCarson SpiersJose FrancoJulian AguiarReiver SanmartinRhett LowderRoddery MunozSam BenschoterTyler Callihan

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