Ty France, Nick Martini become free agents as Cincinnati Reds continue roster purge

The Reds made a myriad, not a flurry, of roster moves.

The Seattle Mariners tried desperately to upgrade their offense at the 2024 trade deadline as it lagged woefully behind the production of their brilliant starting rotation. They swung a big deal to land Randy Arozarena from Tampa while also bringing in veteran hitter Justin Turner.

Part of that roster improvement moving on from 3B Ty France, who was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in a somewhat overlooked deal for minor league catcher Andrew Saucedo. The consensus at the time was that the Mariners had not only wanted to upgrade from France’s 2024 production, but probably viewed him as a non-tender candidate at season’s end based on how his once-promising bat had cratered over the last year and a half.

The Reds needed infield help desperately and took a flier on him, and for a time it looked like a keen addition to their injured mix. France posted a very respectable .798 OPS across his first 29 games with the club, but he finished with a miserable 13 for 77 stretch over his final 21 games (.432 OPS in 81 PA) to make the longer-term cratering look more like the rule than the exception.

Despite his powerful past, his estimated arbitration salary of some $8.6 million for 2025 seemed like it would be far too rich for the Reds blood given their cheaper infield alternatives. Rather than hold on to him until the non-tender deadline, however, the Reds opted to outright him to AAA Louisville today as part of a much larger series of roster moves, and given his service time he was able to refuse that assignment and become a free agent.

Nick Martini took a similar path to free agency in this plethora of transactions, while Christian Roa was claimed off waivers by the Miami Marlins. Tejay Antone, meanwhile, will remain in the organization as he rehabs from his third Tommy John surgery, though he’ll do so off the 40-man roster.

These moves come on the heels of the Reds beginning their roster transformation by designating both Brandon Leibrandt and Amed Rosario earlier in the week to return Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to the 40-man roster from the 60-day IL.

The one tea-leave read I might put into this furor of moves is that Santiago Espinal might well be in the longer-term plans after all. He’s projected to earn some $4 million for 2025 during his penultimate trip through the arbitration process, and the Reds do, in theory, have a throng of younger, cheaper infield options - however, he hit well down the stretch, provides some versatile defense that’s more well regarded than that of France, and could be the quintessential infield utility guy should the Reds end up moving McLain and Jonathan India into the outfield mix.

(Or they’ll just keep him around for a little bit longer as depth as the explore trades from their infield depth. Either or!)

All told, the 40-man roster now sits at 39, with pending option decisions still looming with Nick Martinez, Jakob Junis, and Luke Maile coming within days.