The Cincinnati Reds announced a number of roster changes on Monday, including the outright assignment of five pitchers who were assigned last week. Three of those pitchers are no longer with them due to free agency. Brett Kennedy, Alan Busenitz, and Justin Dunn all decided not to take their outright to Triple-A and instead become free agents.

Justin Dunn would rather forget his time spent in the Reds organization. In the transaction that sent Eugenio Suarez and Jesse Winker to Seattle and brought back Dunn, Jake Fraley, Brandon Williamson, and Connor Phillips, Cincinnati acquired him in March of 2022. He was suffering with a shoulder injury he had sustained playing for the Mariners the previous summer when he came.

Before making his Reds debut in August of 2022, he missed the first half of that year. It took him five weeks to pitch before his shoulder started acting up again. His shoulder was still giving him trouble when he got to spring training. He didn’t pitch until the middle of August, when he started a rehab assignment with the complex league minor league squad in Arizona. After pitching in two games there, on August 22nd, Dunn joined Triple-A Louisville. That evening, he tossed one inning against Toledo. He pitched for the last time because something felt off with his shoulder. It was revealed a little over a week later that he will be having shoulder surgery.

Brett Kennedy could have slightly more pleasant memories of his time spent with the Reds. First off, he was healthy when he left Cincinnati. Second, though, after signing him away from the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks in May, the team provided him with a chance to make his first trip back to the majors since 2018. He pitched in five games with Cincinnati between July and September, finishing with a 6.50 ERA in 18.0 innings pitched, while spending the majority of his season in Triple-A with Louisville.

Having pitched in Japan for Rakuten for the previous three seasons, Alan Busenitz was a very successful pitcher. He was assigned to Triple-A following the conclusion of spring training after being signed by Cincinnati in January as a free agency. He didn’t have to wait long to join the Reds. Before being optioned back to the minor leagues in May, he appeared in four games for the team. Busenitz pitched in one game in August, his first since his return. He returned for the Reds’ penultimate game of the season, and he finished with two perfect innings. Throughout the season, he pitched 7.0 innings for Cincinnati and gave up just two runs.