Emilio Pagán glad to be back with Cincinnati with $20 million, 2-year deal

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Emilio Pagán wanted to remain with the Cincinnati Reds, even as he was exploring his options in free agency.

However, Pagán will be back with the club as its closer after finalizing a $20 million, two-year contract on Thursday. He has the right to opt out after the 2026 season.

“It was a pretty easy choice to come back. I like everything that we've got going on here,” Pagán said. “At the end of the day, I wasn’t going to make a decision based on who was giving me the most money. I wanted to go somewhere where I felt comfortable, where I felt like I had a chance to win games and be around a special group of people, and Cincinnati checks all three of those boxes.”

The 34-year-old right-hander became the Reds’ closer early last season and went 2-4 with a 2.88 ERA and a career-high 32 saves in 38 chances. He ranked second in the National League in saves and tied for fifth in the majors.

Pagán said the one area where he is looking to improve is using his split-finger fastball more. He felt like he established pretty good command of the pitch late last season.

Pagan is primarily a four-seam fastball pitcher with the splitter and cutter used nearly equally as his secondary pitch.

“There was times during the year where even though the results on it were good, the movement pattern on it was a little bit inconsistent. And so I finally felt like I got to a point where I know what the action on the pitch is going to be. And if you know which way the ball’s going to move, it’s a lot easier to throw it where you want to,” he said. “The splitter has, in my opinion, changed the way that I can attack both left-handed and right-handed hitters. And so for me, it’s just diving into being more consistent with that pitch.”

Pagán, who is 28-27 with a 3.66 ERA and 65 saves in nine major league seasons with Seattle, Oakland, Tampa Bay, San Diego, Minnesota and Cincinnati, will be one of the elder statesmen of a pitching staff that has a young starting rotation. Right-hander Hunter Greene is the staff ace followed by the lefty duo of Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo.

Cincinnati also has plenty of momentum this offseason after reaching the postseason in Terry Francona's first year at the helm. The Reds finished 83-79 and beat out the New York Mets for the National League's final wild-card spot.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb