Emilio Pagan Exercises Player Option With Reds

The Reds announced that right-hander Emilio Pagan has exercised his $8MM player option for the 2025 season. Pagan inked a two-year, $16MM contract with Cincinnati last winter that included an opt-out clause after the first season, and the reliever has chosen to forego a $250K buyout and a return trip to free agency.

There wasn't much suspense in Pagan's decision, as he missed just short of three months of the 2024 season due to a lat strain. The injury limited to Pagan to 38 innings in as many appearances, marking the lowest career total in either category for Pagan during any of his seven regulation-length MLB seasons (Pagan tossed 22 innings in 22 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign).

Pagan's first season in Cincinnati saw him post a 4.50 ERA, but a much more impressive 3.19 SIERA. An inflated .351 BABIP undermined some solidly above-average strikeout (28.1%) and walk (7%) rates, though Pagan did allow a lot of hard contact. Even with this favorable set of advanced metrics, it makes a lot of sense that the 33-year-old Pagan would prefer to lock in $7.75MM of extra guaranteed salary rather than test the market on the heels of what he surely views as a middling platform year.

Pagan's bottom-line results haven't always been consistent, though he isn't far removed from a strong 2023 campaign (with the Twins) that helped him land that $16MM deal in the first place. It isn't a coincidence that Pagan's 2023 season included by far the lowest home run rate (5.3%) of his career, as the righty has long had difficulty in keeping the ball in the park. Those issues returned with a 12.5% homer rate in 2024, just slightly bettering his 12.8% career mark.