The Reds felt like they made progress during the 2019 season, but they didn't meet their expectations with a 75-87 record and their sixth consecutive losing season.

Starting pitching became a strength. The bullpen performed well for most of the year. Their defense showed improvements. Eugenio Suárez had another stellar offensive year.

It turned into an eight-win improvement from the 2018 season.

"Nobody is content," said Dick Williams, the Reds' president of baseball operations. "Nobody is satisfied. Nobody is happy with that. We have to recognize there was improvement. There were a lot of good things that happened.

"If anything, it showed us more about where we can get to because we’re closer. You moved in the right direction. And in some areas, you moved in the right direction in a significant way."

The Milwaukee Brewers were the second wild-card team with 89 wins this year. The Reds will have to make up a lot of ground to return to the postseason for the first time since 2013.

That's why it'll be an important offseason for the Reds. They were one of the more active teams last winter, revamping their rotation with Sonny Gray, Tanner Roark and Alex Wood, though Wood was hurt for most of the year. The starting rotation, according to Fangraphs, produced a 14.9 WAR (wins above replacement) this year. The rotation had a combined 13.4 WAR from 2016-18.

The Reds tried to improve the lineup last offseason by adding Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp and Kyle Farmer via trade, plus signing José Iglesias and Derek Dietrich to minor league contracts.

Williams says the Reds could be one of the more active teams again this winter.

“I believe we can have that kind of offseason again this year, maybe even more impactful, because I believe we’ll have more financial resources at our disposal,” Williams said. “We’ll be looking high and low for the right mix of additions to make to the team to get us where we need to go.”

The Reds entered the 2019 season with a record payroll of around $130 million.

“We don’t comment on the specifics of payroll,” Williams said, “but directionally, we are going to continue to build and invest in this team and have more financial resources available for us. Our payroll will be bigger this year. There will be good opportunities to invest that payroll.”

The Reds have never made much of a splash through the free agent market. Zach Duke, a lefty reliever, was their only big-league free agent signing last offseason. They signed relievers Jared Hughes and David Hernandez to small deals before the 2018 season.

Their approach to free agency may change this offseason.

“To go out and sign an open-market free agent to a big dollar multi-year contract is not something we’ve done, but it isn’t something we will shy away from,” Williams said. “You have to define how big is big. Given our market size, we want to try to avoid deals that are too big to digest, but we understand how to compete for talent on the free agent (market), which is part of the strategy this year. We made some trades to get good players. We gave up young talent to do that. But we got guys like Trevor (Bauer) and Sonny in trades. Now, another part of the strategy is to compete in the free agent market.”

The Reds will look to upgrade their offense, which ranked 12th among 15 National League teams in runs (701) and on-base percentage (.315), and 10th in slugging percentage (.422). They are expected to explore external options in the outfield, catcher and middle infield, along with the bullpen.

Iglesias and Wood are the club's only free agents and they hold a $5.5 million team option on infielder Freddy Galvis.

“Obviously, we’d like to see our hitting improve like our pitching improved,” Williams said. “We had such a dramatic improvement year-over-year in pitching. That was a combination of making smart trades, smart signings, the staff we brought in, the advancement in technology. We think we can do a lot of that on the offensive side.

“We feel like on the hitting side, there is a case to be made that there will be internal improvement. We’re not banking on that being the only way to get better by any means. We’re going to add to the offensive side of the club.”

It's clear there is added pressure to make the playoffs next year. The front office is confident they've entered a window to contend.

"The goal for us now, all we’re talking about is the postseason," Williams said. "That’s what matters. That’s the goal next year. It’s not taking incremental steps in a rebuild. It’s about the postseason.

"Our players made it clear that they think it’s possible and they feel it. They want to make it happen. Our coaches are going to do everything they can to make it happen. Our front office staff is anxious for this offseason to get started because we believe in our ability to help from our chairs."