GOODYEAR, Ariz. — With a pair of games on Saturday, the Reds are ramping up their preparation for March 27 at Great American Ball Park against San Francisco.
Manager Terry Francona will be in the visitor’s dugout in Maryvale as his split squad with Graham Ashcraft starting takes on Milwaukee. Freddie Benavides will be in Goodyear watching over Hunter Greene against Cleveland.
Francona, like every big league manager, will be trying to get a feel for his pitching staff and how to use them as the season approaches. Francona enters the season with a formidable rotation and versatile bullpen on paper. There figure to be five starters, as he has passed on the six-man rotation because it takes away from his bullpen options. He is likely to have eight relievers and 13 position players, including six infielders, two catchers and five outfielders.
But it’s the pitching that always require the most diligence during spring training. Greene is the ace. Nick Lodolo is the No. 2. Nick Martinez, Brady Singer and fifth starter among Graham Ashcraft, Rhett Lowder and Andrew Abbott will like fill out the five spots.
Thanks to late additions by president of baseball ops Nick Krall, Francona has plenty of options to consider when forming various parts of his pen. Alexis Diaz starts out spring as the closer. Tony Santillan, Emilio Pagan, Scott Barlow and Albert Abreu will battle for a spot in the eight-man pen. There are three projected lefties that are slotted into the relief corps to start spring: Brent Suter, Taylor Rogers and Sam Moll.
Francona will start to get a feel for which pitchers slot into various roles. As for the starters, the goal is the seventh or eighth inning. Short of that, he will plan accordingly.
“I feel an obligation to know what their numbers are,” Francona said. “When the bell rings and you go from spring training to the season, because the bell rang, I don’t think you can just forget that they’re three days removed from spring training. So once they’re built up enough, you’ll probably like when they look like they deserve it. You’re going to see them get a chance to do that because we want to see who can do it.
“I don’t just take a guy out because it’s the third time through the order, because if guys learn how to do that and maneuver their way through… it’s amazing where, if your starter stays out there through like six, you got a pretty damn good chance to win. You’re saving a guy in the bullpen. It goes a long way. And I know what the analysts are going to say and all that, but when you got 162 games, it really helps pitchers learn how to pitch. And hopefully guys take that and run with it, because it makes you better.”
Francona was hired in part because of his legendary reputation for developing a feel for the situation and the state of his team’s readiness for a particular situation. In other words, he knows where his team is at before each game so he can push the right buttons during the game. It’s a big part of what has served him so well as a manager entering his 24th big league season. It’s this feel he will use when manipulating his bullpen.
“It depends how we’re situated,” Francona told me. “Like you’ll see if we have a day off the next day, I might be quicker to the bullpen because we have a day off the next day. If our bullpen is tired, or … there’s a lot of things that come into play. Who’s available, who’s not available. Realistically, we got to get to a certain point in the game if we think we can win, and if we don’t realistically get there, there’s a reach. So just try to always remember that.”
“It’s something that I pay a lot of attention to. I think there’s a lot more decisions that go into using your bullpen, rather than just this guy pitches the sixth, seventh and eighth. Like, this guy’s been up two days in a row. There’s times where if I don’t want to pitch this guy, like, I’ll pitch him later than normal, because I don’t want us to cough up a lead after he pitches. And he pitched his third day in a row. It’s fun, and I love it, but I pay a lot of attention to it, because I think that’s the quickest, quickest way to derail your team.”
26-man roster projection 2.0:
This assumes Rhett Lowder (right shoulder) starts on injured list as a precaution. Fully healthy, Lowder is likely in the 5-man rotation. In the bullpen, Luis Mey, Albert Abreu, Zach Maxwell and Yosver Zulueta all figure to battle for depth spots in the pen, if not to start the season then as depth pieces at Triple-A Louisville. Wade Miley, coming off elbow surgery, is an interesting case. The 38-year-old lefty signed a minor league deal as a non-roster invitee. He offers a veteran presence for the rotation behind Abbott, Lowder and Ashcraft. Noelvi Marte will almost certainly start the season in the minors while Cooper Bowman is another curious case. As a Rule 5 selection, he either must start on the 26-man roster or the Reds forfeit the $100,000 they paid the A’s and he is placed on outright waivers. This would suggest he beats out Stuart Fairchild for the 26th and final spot on the roster to break camp.
Reds full squad Day 5:
The Reds and FanDuel Sports Network announced Friday their spring training coverage with flexible direct-to-consumer streaming options. FanDuel Sports Network Ohio also confirmed its 2025 broadcast team.
The network will produce three Reds Spring Training games as well as air and/or stream an additional two games produced by FanDuel Sports Network West. John Sadak, Jeff Brantley and Jim Day will call the action unless the telecast is produced by another FanDuel Sports Network.
WED 2/26/25 3:00 PM ET
@
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
FanDuel Sports Network West production
MON 3/3/25 8:00 PM ET
VS
MILWAUKEE BREWERS
FanDuel Sports Network Ohio production
SAT 3/8/25 3:00 PM ET
VS
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
FanDuel Sports Network Ohio production
SUN 3/9/25 4:00 PM ET
@
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Streaming only
FanDuel Sports Network West production
TUE 3/18/25 4:00 PM ET
VS
LOS ANGELES ANGELS
FanDuel Sports Network Ohio production
All games EST. Schedule subject to change.
REDS 2025 BROADCAST CREW
All the Reds TV talent are back for the 2025 season to cover the team on FanDuel Sports Network Ohio. Play-by-play announcer John Sadak along with analysts Barry Larkin, Jeff Brantley, and Chris Welsh will call the action with Jim Day reporting.
Sam LeCure and Brian Giesenschlag return to host Reds Live as does Annie Sabo, who will also work select games as a reporter.
WAYS TO WATCH
FanDuel Sports Network Ohio remains widely available on cable, satellite, and streaming providers. Visit www.getmyhometeams.com for options in your zip code.
Fans can stream FanDuel Sports Network’s Reds coverage on the FanDuel Sports Network app and www.FanDuelSportsNetwork.com by simply logging in to the app using their pay-TV subscription credentials. The FanDuel Sports Network app is available for download on most iOS devices, on most Android devices, and on most Windows PCs and tablets. It also available on several living-room/connected-device platforms.
