What will the Cincinnati Reds payroll look like after the MLB lockout?

With the MLB lockout in full effect, all transactions are paused. That means the Cincinnati Reds cannot sign any free agents, nor can the front office make any trades.

Essentially, the roster is locked in place, at least until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached.

What will the Reds payroll look like after the MLB lockout?

Prior to the MLB lockout, the Reds said goodbye to the battery of Tucker Barnhart and Wade Miley.

Cincinnati's longtime backstop, Barnhart was dealt to the Detroit Tigers.

In an odd move, the Reds decided to waive Miley. The left-hander was later picked up by the Chicago Cubs.

Those two moves saved the Redlegs $17.5M worth of payroll heading into next season.

Cincinnati is also off the hook for Nick Castellanos' $16M salary after the slugger opted out of the remaining two years of his contract.

Reds fans are hopeful that Castellanos re-signs with Cincinnati after the MLB lockout is over, but the outfielder is said to be after a seven or eight-year deal.

After releasing Brandon Bailey, who was later signed to a minor-league deal, the Cincinnati Reds roster stands at 38.

What will the team's payroll commitment be after the MLB lockout is over?

Which Reds have guaranteed contracts?

According to Spotrac, the Cincinnati Reds have six players who's contracts are guaranteed for the 2022 season.

Joey Votto ($25M), Mike Moustakas ($16M), Eugenio Suárez ($11.2M), Sonny Gray ($10.3M), Shogo Akiyama ($8M), and Justin Wilson ($2.3M) represent $72.8M worth of payroll next season.

The Cincinnati Reds also have 10 players who are eligible for arbitration this offseason.

Only Tyler Naquin will be going through the arbitration process for the final time this winter and is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to collect $3.6M in 2022.

This will be the second time through the process for Tyler Mahle, Luis Castillo, Jesse Winker, Luis Cessa, and Amir Garrett.

That quintet is expected to occupy $23.8M worth of Cincinnati's payroll in 2022.

Finally, Nick Senzel, Lucas Sims, Jeff Hoffman, and Kyle Farmer will be going through the process for the very first time. In total, that group is expected to take home $5.6M collectively.

In total, MLB Trade Rumors predicts that the Cincinnati Reds arbitration eligible players will account for $33M worth of the team's 2022 payroll.

Who else might be on the Reds 2022 Opening Day roster?

In addition to the aforementioned 16 players, Cincinnati will have to fill out the remaining 10 spots on the roster as well.

Players like Jonathan India, Tyler Stephenson, Vladimir Gutierrez, and Reiver Sanmartin will surely be on next year's roster.

You can probably count on players like Aristides Aquino, Tony Santillan, Dauri Moreta, and Art Warren as well.

And don't forget Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo, both of whom are expected to make their MLB debut next season.

Those 10 players are just an example of who could fill out Cincinnati's 26-man roster, but all would be expected to make the league minimum.

If all 10 players took home less than $600K each in 2022, Cincinnati's payroll commitment would be approximately $6M.

If you add up all those figures, the Cincinnati Reds payroll after the MLB lockout will be approximately $111.8M.

Cot's Baseball estimated Cincinnati's 2021 Opening Day payroll to be $122M.

Perhaps the Cincinnati Reds will spend more money on the other side of the MLB lockout, but I'm not holding my breath.