CINCINNATI -- Free agents are eligible to sign with new teams beginning on Friday afternoon. Despite a managerial interview process that consumed much of the past month, the Reds' front office has been preparing and strategizing for free agency decisions simultaneously.
"We started that work a while back, preffing out our interests in pending free agents," Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams said. "We took a look at it by position, and who were the top guys and the guys we had interest in and who are the guys we can afford. We did a similar exercise for trade targets."
The Reds' top offseason priority is to add starting pitching. The biggest names on the market are Dallas Keuchel and Patrick Corbin, while Hyun-Jin Ryu, Giovany Gonzalez, Wade Miley, Lance Lynn and others could draw significant interest from clubs, including Cincinnati.
Following a season in which their rotation ranked 14th of 15 National League clubs with a 5.02 ERA and led the NL with 151 home runs allowed, few spots are locked up for 2019 other than Luis Castillo. Anthony DeSclafani will try to prove himself again after a rough end to his injury-abbreviated season. Others like Sal Romano, Cody Reed, Robert Stephenson and Tyler Mahle will be seeking a place in the starting five. But there is clearly room for one, possibly two, veteran starters if they can be added for the right price.

Williams and general manager Nick Krall are not limiting the checklist to fulfilling pitching needs.
"I would say other than pitching, it's anywhere we find a place to upgrade the club or get as much production for less money," Williams said. "Any way we can improve the situation."
The small-market Reds operated with a roughly $95 million payroll during the 2018 season. The baseball operations department has been given more wiggle room this winter to add players.
Payroll is expected to get a bump that Williams has considered significant. But he isn't divulging much about what the Reds can and would spend to add players, either on the open market or by taking on a contract via trade.
"We've got a pretty good idea of what it's going to be, but we have to see what the asking prices are and how we allocate it," he said.
The free agent signing period opens after the deadline for qualifying offers at 5 p.m. ET on Friday.
Cincinnati has one free agent of its own in starting pitcher Matt Harvey, who is not eligible to receive a qualifying offer since he was acquired in a May trade from the Mets for catcher Devin Mesoraco.

There is still interest in trying to re-sign Harvey, who rebuilt some of his lost value with the Reds as he went 7-7 with a 4.50 ERA in 24 starts after the trade. But the club is going to look at the rest of the market, and it's highly likely Harvey will do so, too.
"Everybody is on that list," Williams said. "We're trying to find out what the right threshold is, what we would be willing to do for each of those players, if there's interest. He's definitely a guy that would be considered at the right level."