Reds, Royals reportedly discussing swap of Jonathan India, Brady Singer

Hot stove season ramps up!

The Cincinnati Reds have a ton of potentially capable infielders. The Reds also have some serious voids in their pitching ranks, especially if Nick Martinez declines his Qualifying Offer and becomes a free agent.

The Reds also are walking the tightrope with their payroll situation, per usual, and are always more willing to move players with decently large salaries than their prized prospects under the current ownership/front office combination.

Preface prefaced, it appears the Reds and Kansas City Royals are having some preliminary talks about a deal that would send 2B Jonathan India to KC in exchange for RHP Brady Singer in a swap of players who were once teammates at the University of Florida. Ken Rosenthal and C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic were on the news, noting that while talks have begun a deal is nowhere close to being finalized.

Singer, 28, is controllable through arbitration for the 2025 season at an estimated $8.8 million, and has additional control through the 2026 season - his two years of team control are the same as India, who’ll make $5 million in 2025 in the second year of his two-year pact signed prior to 2024 before being eligible for the arb process again next winter. So, it would be an initial take-on of salary if it were a one-for-one swap (which we don’t know it is since, y’know, it’s not a finalized swap at all).

It’s worth pointing out that the combined estimated salaries of Singer and Martinez are, coincidentally, almost exactly the combined amount the Reds guaranteed to Martinez and Frankie Montas this time last year as their two rotation reinforcements.

Singer posted a solid 3.71 ERA/3.93 FIP in 179.2 IP for Kansas City last season, and he’s topped 150+ IP in each of the last trio of years. His 2022 campaign (3.23 ERA/3.58 FIP) was significantly better than his 2023 (5.52 ERA/4.29 FIP), though an almost 30 point spike in BABIP that year from his 2022 and 2024 seasons, respectively, may well have been part of that issue. On top of that, he switched from almost exclusively a sinker/slider guy in his four seasons prior to 2024 to a guy who worked in a four-seam fastball some 11% of the time, so clearly he evolved from his rough 2023 to attack hitters in a way different than he had before.

Again, there’s not anything tangible that a deal is imminent here. It could well be something the Reds are willing to do regardless of what decision Martinez makes this week. However, it could be something they’re looking to do on top of keeping Martinez around, something that would behoove them to do given the litany of injuries to would-be starting rotation options they’re dealing with at the moment.