Reds designate Ron Marinaccio for assignment, select Kent Emanuel from Triple-A

What happened

The Cincinnati Reds announced Monday that they have removed right-handed reliever Ron Marinaccio from the roster via designation for assignment and brought left-hander Kent Emanuel up from Triple-A Louisville. The club also named righty Zach McCambley as the 27th man for Monday's doubleheader against the Cardinals at Great American Ball Park.

The move ends what was Marinaccio's third roster stop of the 2026 season. He opened the year in San Diego's bullpen, moved to Pittsburgh via a trade that sent international bonus space back to the Padres, and then landed in Cincinnati after the Pirates designated him for assignment and the Reds claimed him off waivers — all of that within a single calendar year.

The Reds had claimed Marinaccio off waivers last week. The stay lasted about as long as a rain delay.

Why it matters

Marinaccio's departure is less a surprise than a bookkeeping inevitability. MLB Trade Rumors reported that he has no minor-league options remaining, which means Cincinnati could not send him to Louisville to work through whatever has ailed him over the past several weeks. The choice was binary: keep him on the active roster or designate him. The Reds chose the latter.

That option situation also shapes what comes next for Marinaccio. Under general league rules, a player designated for assignment must be traded, released, or placed on outright waivers within seven days. Because he is out of options, an outright assignment to the minors would require him to clear the 48-hour waiver wire first — and any other club could claim him before that happens. His career numbers, discussed below, suggest there may be interest.

For Cincinnati, the more immediate story is Emanuel, who is now the probable starter for the first game of Monday's twin bill against St. Louis. The Reds are also sending Rhett Lowder to the mound for the nightcap, with Andrew Abbott lined up for Tuesday.

The numbers

Before this season turned difficult, Marinaccio had built a genuinely useful big-league résumé. MLB Trade Rumors reported that from the start of his career through last season he delivered 125 1/3 innings of 3.02 ERA ball across stints with the Yankees and Padres, pairing a 28.3% strikeout rate with a 40.1% ground-ball rate — the latter described in the report as only a couple of points shy of league average. His 12.3% walk rate is noted in the report as a complicating factor in that profile, but a 3.02 ERA over that stretch is a number most bullpens would accept without negotiation.

The report describes the past couple of months as a tough stretch, and the broader arc of 2026 — three teams, two designations for assignment, one waiver claim — tells its own story without requiring elaboration.

Where the club stands

The Reds enter Monday's doubleheader at 69-74 (.483), sitting fifth in the NL Central, 19 games back in the division. The division race is already closed — Cincinnati has been eliminated. On the Wild Card side, the Reds rank eighth, 7.0 games relative to the cut line, which is the kind of number that turns roster decisions from "win-now" calculations into something closer to organizational inventory. They have, however, won their last two games, so the mood in the building is at least marginally better than the standings suggest.

A Monday doubleheader against St. Louis, with Emanuel making his first appearance as a called-up starter, is a reasonable place to evaluate what the back end of the 2026 roster looks like heading into September, when the active roster expands under general league rules. McCambley's presence as the 27th man for the twin bill adds another arm to a bullpen that has been shuffling pieces in and out with some regularity.

What we don't know yet

### Can Marinaccio clear waivers?

That is the central open question. MLB Trade Rumors does not indicate whether any club has expressed interest, and the seven-day designation clock has only just started. Given his track record from earlier in his career — 125 1/3 innings, 3.02 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate — it would be reasonable to expect attention, but the desk does not speculate on outcomes. What is clear is that the next step is not Cincinnati's to control once the waiver wire opens.

The report also does not detail what specifically drove the performance decline described over the past couple of months, nor does it indicate whether any injury has been reported in connection with the struggles. Those details, if they exist, have not been made available.

Kent Emanuel's role beyond Monday's doubleheader opener is similarly unspecified. The club selected his contract, which places him on the 40-man roster, but whether he remains in the rotation, shifts to the bullpen, or returns to Louisville after the doubleheader has not been addressed in the announcement.

What to watch

The immediate item is Emanuel on the mound for Game 1 against St. Louis, with Quinn Mathews as the opposing probable. Lowder and Andre Pallante are the Game 2 matchup, and Abbott faces Kyle Leahy on Tuesday. Three games against the Cardinals over two days gives the Reds a quick read on where this roster stands in the final weeks of a season that has already been mathematically simplified.

On the Marinaccio front, the seven-day window is the clock to watch. If he clears waivers unclaimed, the question becomes whether he accepts an outright assignment to the minors — which, given the absence of options, would be his choice to make. If a club claims him, he moves on to a fourth organization in a single season, which is its own kind of baseball footnote.

The broader bullpen picture in Cincinnati bears watching as September approaches and roster limits expand under general league rules. McCambley's doubleheader role as the 27th man is a one-day arrangement; what the Reds do with their relief corps once the calendar turns is a question the next few weeks may begin to answer.

For Marinaccio, the arithmetic is straightforward: a pitcher who posted a 3.02 ERA across more than 125 innings does not usually stay unemployed for long, even after a rough stretch. Whether that arithmetic holds in the next seven days is the question the waiver wire will answer.