Nick Krall met with some media today in Vegas as GM Meetings are going on. He was asked a plethora of questions, one of which drew an interesting answer in regards to their outfield. It sure sounds like Austin Hays won’t be coming back to Cincinnati, and he’ll hit the open market again. Subscribe to our Newsletter by using the popup or the form below!
Austin Hays Cincinnati Reds Tenure
Austin Hays was arguably the biggest free agent signing of 2025’s offseason, as laughable as that is. It was a typical Reds under Krall move – opportunistic, wouldn’t move the needle…low cost. He spent a lot of the year battling injuries, per usual with Hays, and ultimately ended up a decent but not great pickup. Hays did murder LHP, so I’m a bit surprised about Krall’s comments he made today.
Anyways, Krall essentially told Charlie Goldsmith word for word this: “We need to replace Hays production in LF,” that, to me, reads like he is an afterthought and won’t even be considered to be brought back. I’m not so sure I agree with that assessment, I feel like Hays was a good lockerroom guy and well worth it on the deal he was playing with.
Austin Hays 2025 Season
Hays was a mediocre add from the get go, and the Reds had him batting cleanup the whole time he was healthy… absolutely ludicrous. He hit 15 homers, did drive in 64 runs in 103 games, and had a .266/.315/.453 slash line but overall it didn’t move any needles as the Reds offense was relatively stagnant much of the year.
Austin Hays made $5,100,000 with the Reds. $4,000,000 actively, and $1,000,000 through the buyout that was owed due to the Reds declining his $12,000,000 club option for 2026. Hays was not worth anything near $12,000,000 and I think he’ll learn that on the open market, too.
Bring Hays Back
I fully support bringing Austin Hays back. I think he provides more than what he gets credit for. I would never in a million years pay him $12,000,000 annually, however. In fact, my offer to him would be heavily incentive based and I’d commit $12,000,000 in total guaranteed over a 3 year span. He isn’t worth more than $5M AAV, but if you can snag him at that price, excellent. I think the Reds like Miguel Andujar a little bit more than they like Hays and Krall’s comments mimic that take. We’ll see how the Reds move forward, but it sure sounds like it’ll be without Austin Hays in the clubhouse.
