The Cincinnati Reds are bringing back left-handed reliever Reiver Sanmartin for the 2025 season on a minor league deal. The lefty last pitched in the big leagues with the Reds in 2023 when he got out to a tough start, posting a 7.07 ERA in 14 games between April and May before he wound up on the injured list. At first he was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his elbow, but two months later he would undergo Tommy John surgery. He would become a free agent following the 2023 season, but he re-signed the next day to continue his rehab with the Reds.
Sanmartin would miss a full year before returning to the mound in July of 2024 in the minor leagues where he made some rehab appearances in Arizona before joining Dayton briefly to continue his rehab process there. In the final week of July he joined Triple-A Louisville and spent the next two months there until the season came to an end.
He had some struggles with the Bats out of their bullpen, but it was mostly just that he’d have one poor, multi-run outing every few weeks and it ballooned his ERA to 7.36 in his 18.1 innings where he walked seven and struck out 18 of the 90 hitters he faced.
You can see the career stats for Reiver Sanmartin here.
Mike Napoli joins the Reds
Rob Bradford of WEEI is reporting that Mike Napoli has joined the Cincinnati Reds. What isn’t being reported at this time is what his role will be. Napoli has been with the Chicago Cubs over the past five years in various roles, and was their first base coach last season. He was not retained following the 2024 season.
With the Reds having already announced their 2025 coaching staff it will be interesting to see if Napoli is being added to it, or if he will join the club in some other front-office like role.
