Hunter Greene Trade Rumors Downplayed by Reds President Amid MLB Free Agency

Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene has been a popular name in trade rumors this offseason, but he might be staying put.

Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall downplayed trade rumors surrounding Greene on Tuesday.

"Look, we're trying to do what's best for our team. I don't want to rule out anything," Krall told reporters when asked about Greene's availability. "But that's a hard one to actually say, 'Hey, we're going to trade the guy that has a chance to be the ace of your staff and top-of-the-rotation guy going into the postseason.'

"We're looking to figure out how to get better, but right now that's not on the table."

Greene, 26, is coming off a season in which he went 7-4 in 19 starts behind a 2.76 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP and 132 strikeouts across 107.2 innings. He has three years left on his six-year, $53 million contract through 2028, with a club option in 2029.

Greene has been one of the best pitchers in the majors when healthy, but injuries have derailed the start of his career. He's missed significant time over the past few seasons, including two months in 2025 because of a right groin strain.

Krall said ensuring the Reds have a deep rotation makes them more hesitant to trade a starter like Greene away.

"I think that's the hard thing, right?" Krall told reporters. "We've got five guys at the end of the season healthy in our rotation, and we have three guys that are coming back from full-season injuries. When you lose a starter, it's hard to replace that guy. We all go through it.

"We all know that every year we lose one or two starters throughout the year, and you have to make sure you have depth. So to go in and say, 'Hey, we're just going to trade a starter,' just because we have a handful of guys there right now doesn't mean you're going to have those guys at the end of Spring Training. I prefer not to trade from our starting rotation, because I think that's our strength right now. Hopefully, we can continue to build on top of it."

The Reds had one of the best rotations in the majors last year, with their starters posting a 3.85 ERA, which ranked ninth in baseball. That strong rotation helped Cincinnati reach the postseason for the first time since 2020, and it sounds like Krall doesn't want to make too many changes to the pitching staff this offseason.