Reds face painful setback after Braves and Orioles shift the reliever market

Though many Cincinnati Reds fans have their hearts set on finding a middle-of-the-order bat this offseason, the front office can't afford to neglect the bullpen.

While the Reds ranked 21st in both home runs and slugging last season, after watching Emilio Pagán, Brent Suter, Nick Martinez, and Scott Barlow enter the free agent market, Nick Krall and the front office must find a way to cover 200-plus innings.

Unfortunately, both the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles have made that task rather difficult. The Braves recently agreed to a new contract with former Reds closer Raisel Iglesias and the Orioles just inked former St. Louis Cardinals reliever Ryan Helsley to a two-year deal.

Braves and Orioles may have crushed Reds' hopes to re-sign Emilio Pagán

While taking Iggy and Helsley off the market certainly shrunk the talent pool, the more concerning aspect of these signings is the price tag. Iglesias signed a one-year, $16 million pact with Atlanta and Helsley's deal with Baltimore is worth $28 million. If those are the prices being handed out this offseason, Reds fans better get used to Cincinnati shopping at the bargain bin.

To put it into perspective, Pagán took home $8 million last season, and the Braves just signed Iglesias to double that salary. A side-by-side comparison from last season would show that Pagán outperformed Iglesias by a wide margin. Both players appeared in 70 games, but Pagán had more saves, a lower ERA, and recorded more strikeouts. Pagán is also a year younger than Iglesias. The disparity between Pagán and Helsley is even greater.

With Iglesias landing a one-year deal worth $16 million and Helsley's AAV sitting at $14 million, it's difficult to see a scenario in which Pagán isn't able to secure a two-year deal worth somewhere between $25-$30 million. That number is likely to be well outside the Reds comfort zone given their limited offseason budget.

While the Reds were never going to play at the top of the reliever market (Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, etc.), it now appears that even mid-tier free agents options will be out of their price range. Krall and Co. may now have to reset their board and take a look at the likes of Danny Coulombe, Kyle Finnegan, and Steven Matz in order to backfill the bullpen this offseason.