JJ Bleday

Benson ended up at .226/.273/.435 in 253 plate appearances, but the drop in his strikeout rate from a career mark of 35.5% to 26.5% last season was encouraging, especially in combination with his career-best 54% hard-hit rate. The assumption is that the newly signed JJ Bleday will get the nod over Benson against right-handers initially, but the guess here is that Benson proves to be the better player of the two, potentially giving him some value in deeper formats.

Friedl and Spencer Steer are both eligible for arbitration for the first time, but Friedl is settling $200,000 less than Steer, even though he's coming of the better season and is at 8.1 career fWAR, versus 4.5 for Steer. Freidl hit .261/.364/.378 in 685 plate appearances as the Reds' starting center fielder and leadoff man last season. It looks like he'll carry both roles into 2026; there was some talk of bringing in a center fielder and moving him to left, but it seems the team considers him the better center field option than newcomer JJ Bleday.