Even before Emilio Pagán was brought back into the fold, the Cincinnati Reds had a host of late-inning, high-leverage options. Tony Santillan, for example, could easily have stepped into the closer role (and still may do so in future seasons), and Pagán himself has praised Connor Phillips as a future shutdown reliever. It’s safe to say that the competition at the back of the bullpen will be hot. As for long relief, that’s a different story.
The projected roster doesn’t really have a long relief option. FanGraphs’ depth chart features Sam Moll in the role, but he’s more of a lefty specialist and has never averaged more than one inning per game during his big-league career.