5 Reds on the 40-man roster who won't survive the 2024 season

3. Buck Farmer could be a surprising release from the team if they make more improvements

The 2024 Cincinnati Reds will have a ton of talent. Maybe too much talent than they'll know what to do with. But there's never a real such thing as having too much talent, is there?

One of the more notable places where the Reds will have more talent than roster spots will be in the bullpen. But let's break this down a bit more and see how many bullpen spots are going to be up for grabs and who could fill them.

The Reds will likely use eight relief pitchers to begin the 2024 season, unless they opt for a six-man starting rotation, in which case they will only use seven relievers. In this instance, let's pretend it's eight relievers.

Alexis Diaz is one of the best young relievers in baseball, so his spot is safe. Nick Martinez, Brent Suter and Emilio Pagan were all signed from free agency this season, meaning they'll likely be safe. Sam Moll is an excellent lefty specialist and Lucas Sims has been a high-leverage guy for years in Cincinnati. That leaves two spots left for Ian Gibaut, Alex Young and Buck Farmer.

Of these three, the easy move would be to option Young as he's the only one with an option left, but this isn't sustainable for the season, especially with young arms like Lyon Richardson and Connor Phillips pounding on the door of the big league roster. The odd man out would likely be Farmer, as Gibaut was significantly better than him in 2023.