With the offseason beginning to gain traction, the Cincinnati Reds have one area of their roster that they will have to improve for 2026. Their bullpen as a whole was solid throughout the year, but they had a need for left-handed relievers that was never filled. More specifically, they had a severe lack of left-handed relievers who can miss bats.
Let’s take a look at how the few lefties in their bullpen performed in 2025, and some options in the free agency market for 2026.
Reds Need Better Left-Handed Relievers Next Season
Brent Suter’s 2025
The Reds had just two left-handed relievers who made routine appearances in 2025: Brent Suter and Sam Moll.
The 35-year-old Suter was anything but a high-leverage guy, as he appeared most in mop-up duty in blowouts. He threw 67 2/3 innings in 48 appearances, with three of them being starts. He was reliable and consistent, providing the team with a 4.52 ERA, which is just about all you can ask for out of a veteran innings-eater in the bullpen.
Suter excelled in his role and has a throwback style of pitching. His velocity and stuff aren’t great, meaning he allowed a fair amount of contact:
-2 Breaking Ball Run Value: 30th percentile
-5 Offspeed Run Value: 9th percentile
87.9 MPH Fastball Velocity: 1st percentile
25.6 Chase %: 19th percentile
21.3 Whiff%: 18th percentile
18.2 K%: 18th percentile
Despite the clear below-average stuff and velocity, the quality of contact he gave up was extremely good (from his end).
85.8 Avg Exit Velocity: 99th percentile
7.8 Barrel%: 60th percentile
32.9 Hard-Hit%: 96th percentile
Additionally, Suter limited walks well (6.2 BB% — 82nd percentile) and generated a fair amount of ground balls (45.4 GB% — 67th percentile).
He is currently a free agent, and at 36 years old, will likely receive a one-year contract. It would not be a bad idea to re-sign him and bring him back into the mop-up duty role once again, but he cannot be the only reliable lefty in the bullpen again.
Brent Suter. Athlete. pic.twitter.com/m6l7zepJVM
— Reds Daily (@RedsDaily4) September 2, 2025
Sam Moll’s 2025
The second and final lefty in the 2025 Reds bullpen was 33-year-old Sam Moll. While he was the second most frequent lefty used out of the Reds bullpen, he still threw just 18 1/3 innings. This speaks volumes to just how much the team lacked in lefty relievers.
As for those 18 1/3 innings over 23 appearances (all in relief), Moll got roughed up to the tune of a 6.38 ERA. He, too, was not much of a high-leverage reliever, meaning the Reds had exactly zero lefty options down the stretch in games.
He does bring in some value, since unlike Suter, Moll has the ability to garner swings and misses. His 33.1 Whiff% and 27.2 K% were some of the best in the league thanks to his wipeout breaking ball. However, he allowed far too much loud contact to be effective.
Moll is still a part of the Reds roster going into 2026, but will start the season in Triple-A.
The Cincinnati Reds have avoided arbitration with Sam Moll. They agree to a 1-year, $875k deal with incentives according to @JonHeyman.
MLB Trade Rumors projected Moll to get $1.2 million. pic.twitter.com/ckqQvTxvm6
— Chatterbox Sports (@CBoxSports) November 21, 2025
This means that as of now, the Reds have exactly zero left-handed relievers currently slated to be on the roster in 2026. Even if both lefties listed above find their way onto the roster in 2026, they will need much more help in order to be an effective bullpen.
Let’s look at a couple of options in free agency that the Reds can look into.
Danny Coulombe
The 36-year-old lefty Danny Coulombe has had the same season for about five straight seasons now: Consistent workload out of the bullpen with a low ERA. In 2025, Coulombe posted a 2.30 ERA in 43 innings.
His stuff isn’t exciting, as he averages just 90.3 MPH on his fastball (6th percentile), but it is as effective as it gets.
Metrics in 2025:
87.5 MPH Avg Exit Velocity
36.2 Chase%
27.7 Whiff%
24.4 K%
5.2 Barrel%
38.3 Hard-Hit%
While he did not pitch enough to qualify for percentile rankings, these metrics were all well above league average.
Gregory Soto
At 30 years old, Gregory Soto has always flashed great stuff from the left side, but hasn’t exactly gotten the best results. In the past three seasons, Soto has posted ERAs of 4.62, 4.42, and 4.18. Not bad, but also not top reliever kind of production.
His 96.9 mph fastball, paired with a deadly breaking ball, creates difficulty for hitters.
31.5 Chase%: 83rd percentile
29.9 Whiff%: 82nd percentile
25.1 K%: 70th percentile
4.0 Barrel%: 97th percentile
A weakness of Soto, however, is his command, and he had an 8.6 BB% in 2025 (38th percentile). Every baserunner late in the game is important, and it is imperative for relievers to limit baserunners as best as possible.
If anything, the Reds can use him as more of a specialist during specific lanes late in games where there are important lefties in the opposing lineup, as he held lefties to a .192 average in 2025.
Main Photo Credit: © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
The post The Reds Have a Major Hole to Fill for 2026 appeared first on Last Word On Baseball.