Watch out, National League, Elly is heating up! In Sunday’s 8-4 win over Detroit, capping a series victory over the Motor City Kitties, Elly De La Cruz homered, drove in three runs, and scored three times. That makes four consecutive games with a home run for Cincinnati’s shortstop, and during the recent road trip—when the good guys won four of six—Elly posted a tidy .462 average. That’ll get it done, friends and neighbors.
Of course, Elly didn’t make news just on the field. In an interview with MLB Network Radio, Reds President Nick Krall revealed that the Reds have approached him about a possible contract extension. Short version: It ain’t happenin’ right now.
“He’s obviously one of the best players in the league,” Krall said. “We made a run at it and obviously didn’t get anything done. We’ve had those conversations, and that’s not something that we’ve been able to obviously match up on. So hopefully maybe there’s something there, but as of right now there’s nothing, there’s no talks are currently happening.”
Krall’s comments were a reminder that second baseman Matt McLain gave the same polite “thanks, but no thanks” a few months ago (a decision McLain may be regretting at the moment, given his current .191/.284/.323 slash line). Two cornerstones of the next Great American Reds Revival are unwilling to plant roots before they have to. There’s an instructive lesson here.
Make no mistake: Locking up Elly is going to be expensive, period, end of sentence. Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s 14-year, $500-million pact with Toronto feels like the floor, and that deal didn’t have agent Scott Boras on the other side of the table. Of course, if you want superstars, you pay superstar prices. That’s the cost of doing business in professional sports, at least in the cities that take it seriously.
So (deep breath) we probably need to start bracing for the day Elly bolts. When the moment comes, plenty of fans will be upset at a kid who chose an extra Brinks truck of cash over our beloved wishbone “C.” But ask yourself: Why would any rational player commit to the Reds right now?
In that same radio interview, Krall also said this when asked about Cincinnati’s plans for the upcoming trade deadline:
“The one thing you can always have is extra pitching depth. I think everyone is looking for extra pitching depth. For us, it’s about getting guys back from injuries. It’s about getting Hunter Greene back, getting Austin Hays back, getting back Noelvi Marte. If we can get some guys back and some guys healthy, it’s going to add some thump to our lineup. As we go through the next couple of months and we get some guys back, it’s right now a wait and see on where we are and if there’s another injury or two down the road we have to patch. I think that’s what we’re looking at.”
Getting guys back from the IL is just like a trade! If you thought you entered into a time machine and were listening to Krall in the middle of the 2023 season, it would be understandable. Those comments sound suspiciously like the excuses given by the club around that year’s trade deadline. We’ve heard the song. We know the dance.
In 2023, the Reds sat atop the division and two months later they were watching October on TV. If the front office isn’t willing to reinforce a contender in July, why should a star believe they’ll surround him with championship talent in year eight of a mega-deal?
Elly also watched Joey Votto—a Hall of Fame-caliber Red if there ever was one—spend a decade carrying rosters that never got serious about a ring. If the front office couldn’t (or wouldn’t) build a winner around Votto, what faith should Elly have that they’ll do it for him?
Look, I’d sign tomorrow for half of whatever Elly’s eventual number is. So would you. We’re hopelessly biased. I would happily spurn higher offers from the Cardinals or the Yankees because I’m an irrational fan. Wearing the red and white of Cincinnati would mean more to me than a few extra bucks from another organization.
Even if the Reds were to offer a contract package that was competitive with every single other big league franchise—hard to imagine since we live in a world where the Los Angeles Dodgers exist, after all—why would Elly choose Cincinnati? He, alas, isn’t a lifelong Reds die-hard, and Scott Boras definitely isn’t. Their job is to maximize value, and a significant part of maximizing value includes playing under the bright lights of the World Series.
The Reds have now signaled, for the 12th consecutive season, that they aren’t serious about competing on the October playoff stage. That includes each of Elly’s first three years in the big leagues. Until the Reds prove—truly prove—that championships are their North Star, logic points elsewhere.
Signing young stars to early-career extensions is a fantastic strategy for most clubs in markets like this one: Buy out arbitration, tack on a couple of free-agent years, keep the core together, and pray the drafting pipeline keeps pumping. But given the state of things in Cincinnati, we can’t be upset when a young player says no.
If Elly and McLain and Greene (who already signed one short extension) and others decide not to sign another contract with the Reds, they aren’t villains. They’re realists. They’re acting rationally. As fans, we need to prepare ourselves for this eventuality.
Fortunately, the Reds have Elly under team control through 2029, so there is time for them to make something work. But the club is at another crossroads. Either they convince their brightest star (and the next one and the next) that Cincinnati is serious about winning, or we’ll watch this brilliant comet streak across our sky and disappear.
The choice, as always, belongs to the men cutting the checks. In the meantime, enjoy the fireworks while we’ve got them. Revel in every laser off Elly’s bat, every electrifying steal, every impossible throw.
Appreciate the show because, rational or not, it may not run forever on the banks of the Ohio.
Chad Dotson helms Reds coverage at Cincinnati Magazine and is co-author of “The Big 50: The Men and Moments That Made the Cincinnati Reds,” revised, updated, and available in bookstores now. His newsletter about Cincinnati sports can be found at chaddotson.com. Hear him guesting on the We Love Our Team podcast.
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