The Cincinnati Reds have already lost a bit of pitching depth this offseason.
Randy Wynne has elected free agency rather than pursuing a new contract tender with the Reds.
Major league players don't become free agents until five days after the World Series, but minor leaguers can already choose to become free agents now.
To elect free agency, Wynne had to have been outrighted off the 40-man roster during the 2025 season and not brought back (which he was), and he additionally qualified to elect free agency by having been outrighted off the 40-man roster multiple times in his career.
What this means is that Wynne can immediately begin negotiating with any team to sign a new contract.
It doesn't exclude the Reds from bringing him back if they want.
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Wynne is a 32-year old right-handed pitcher.
He has made two appearances for the Reds, one in 2023 (2.1 innings, 1 run) and one in 2025 (3.0 innings, 1 run).
Wynne has traveled a remarkable journey just to get to the major leagues at all. He played three seasons of independent ball after a college career split between Grossmont College and Missouri Baptist University.
The Reds signed him before the 2019 season after he pitched for Evansville in the Frontier League the season before.
In the minors, Wynne has a career 4.85 ERA as mostly a starting pitcher, with 364 strikeouts in 516.1 innings pitched.
He's mostly a depth pitcher, but his cool story of resilience is worth some organization keeping around to inspire his teammates.
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