The Reds made an unsuccessful effort at locking up Elly De La Cruz last spring. While details were sparse at the time, president of baseball operations Nick Krall revealed today the team made an official offer that would have topped their 10-year, $225MM franchise-record deal with Joey Votto.
“We made Elly an offer that would’ve made him the highest-paid Red ever,” Krall said (link via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic). “That’s not where he is and you respect that. It’s their career. You keep going and you keep working on what you can do today.” De La Cruz opted not to go into specifics, telling fans at Redsfest only that he leaves contractual matters to his agent, Scott Boras.
The offer came on the heels of De La Cruz’s first full season in the big leagues. He hit 25 home runs and led the majors with 67 stolen bases while batting .259/.339/.471 in a little under 700 plate appearances. A switch-hitting shortstop with a massive power-speed combination, De La Cruz was a top 10 MVP finisher in his age-22 season. He had arguably been MLB’s #1 prospect before his promotion. It was enough for the Reds to safely consider him the face of the franchise.
As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, any extension above Votto money would have been a record for a player with fewer than two years of service. Julio Rodríguez holds that mark on his extension with the Mariners. That technically comes with a $210MM guarantee but has a massive escalator/option structure that could push the value closer to half a billion dollars. The player’s earning ceiling climbs as they approach arbitration. Fernando Tatis Jr. (14 years, $340MM) and Bobby Witt Jr. (11 years, $288.78MM) each commanded much bigger guarantees when they signed extensions at exactly two years of service.
Krall didn’t specify where the offer to De La Cruz would have landed in comparison to those precedents. Witt is an MVP-caliber player now but had some similarities to De La Cruz at the time he signed his extension over the 2023-24 offseason. He was also a former #1 prospect with the tools to be a franchise shortstop. Witt had hit .276/.319/.495 with 30 homers and 49 steals in the season preceding his long-term deal. He was already a star but had yet to level up to the player who’d win a batting title with an OPS pushing 1.000. Witt’s deal also built in four opt-out chances that could get him to free agency as early as his age-31 season — a time when a decade-long contract could be in the cards.
Whatever the specifics, De La Cruz has thus far opted to bet on himself. That’s the usual path for Boras Corporation clients, especially those who have yet to qualify for arbitration. He played on a pre-arbitration salary last year and will do the same in 2026. De La Cruz will qualify for arbitration next offseason and is under club control for four seasons. He’s on track to hit free agency at age 28.
De La Cruz’s production backed up a little bit in his second full season. He hit .264/.336/.440 with 22 longballs and 37 stolen bases. His average and on-base percentage were essentially unchanged, but his power and baserunning each took slight steps back. It’s unlikely to change much about how the Reds view him. De La Cruz started all but one game as the Reds battled for the National League’s final playoff spot. Krall said earlier in the offseason that De La Cruz played through a strained left quad. The injury and potential fatigue wore on him in the second half, as he hit .236/.303/.363 after the All-Star Break. He had carried a .284/.359/.495 slash with 25 steals into the Midsummer Classic.
Cincinnati will probably take another run at extension talks this spring, though it’d be a surprise if they get anything done. He’ll remain the team’s most important position player in either case. Krall made clear they’re committed to De La Cruz at shortstop, where he has a cannon arm but has led MLB in errors in consecutive seasons. He should lead the way offensively if he’s fully healthy, with his physical gifts giving him one of the highest ceilings in the league.
… and another exciting spectacular superstar will shortly leave a small market team which tried to keep him, for one of the big markets.
Baseball is broken.
To be fair his agent is Scott boras who never accepts extensions that cover would-be free agent years
Altuve, Bogaerts, Andrus, and Strasburg would challenge your use of the word “Never”.
Most of them got overpaid
Oppo – Bogaers and Strasburg were so overpaid with their first extensions that both opted out midway through them. Altuve is now on his 3rd multi-year deal with the team. Elvis put up 30 bWAR under his deal before being dealt towards the end.
The agent doesn’t decide. The player does.
Should be that way but his quote says he leaves contract matters to his agent. Unless something got lost in translation, he is doing what SB tells him is best.
I’d say with risk of injury and just life changing they money is, it would be hard for me to tell a young man in that situation to walk away from that pile of generations changing money.
Of course, if he stays healthy and continues his success, there will be another chance. Taking the deal now changes his life financially and eliminates those ifs and still gives him a chance at another payday down the road.
Different perspectives on the same situation. Cannot get to right or wrong for years down the road when it plays out
I completely agree with your opinion..
Dodgers offer is 4/320.
D99,
Dodgers have a shortstop.
@ADF first of all, no they don’t. They have an aging OF pretending to be a SS, but that won’t last.
Second of all, Ely is also an OF pretending to be a SS and that won’t last either.
He’s also a 300 bowler, multiple gold glove outfielder, guitar player, and a gold glove finalist at SS in 2025, his first full year at the position.
His “pretending” is better than most people trying. Including your teams shortstop. Go figure.
Guess who was tied with Taylor Walls for the major league lead for shortstops with +17 DRS?
That aging outfielder pretending to be a shortstop, Mookie Lynn Betts.
I mean.. I guess nothing lasts forever, but to insinuate that Mookie isn’t a good shortstop is absurd at the very least.
And he can cook you a gourmet meal after he changes out your Mercedes engine before he does the bypass surgery on your dad.
Warn,
As long as it’s not Mercedes electrical. Everyone knows that’s sorcery.
LordD – in 3 years they trade a haul to get him and then extend him for a lot more than that – mostly deferred of course unless that is changed in CBA.
Long time,
Only if he ends up being good enough to improve the team.
It’s not quit crying. You’re a fan of laundry not the player.
“spectacular superstar” who can’t field a ball to save his life.
And strikes out 200 times a year
That you’d love to have on your team
Nope, my team has too many K machines in their lineup already.
Stick with Volpe then
his strike out percentage has gone down every so far, and his first an last year were under 200!!
Yep. Labeling this guy a “spectacular superstar” is laughable at best. Then again, any player with above league average stats and stands out from a crowd is considered a superstar these days.
Boras is a damn cancer to the game, the man is arguably the primary reason small market teams can’t retain talent.
NC
“Boras is a damn cancer to the game, the man is arguably the primary reason small market teams can’t retain talent.”
They just have to pay money
Richest win the auctions they want to win…
Most of them are willing to put up the money but if the offer is idk 300M, Boras will say no because I can get NY and LA into a bidding war and get you 310M.
Boras will say no to life-changing money because he always wants that few percentage points more.
NC
Why do you think that Boras makes the decision and not the player?
Correct. When a player retains Boras, they’re signing up for the Boras-way. We saw it play out with Bregman, we’re seeing it again with Bellinger. I’m reasonably sure Bellinger’s “preference” is to return to the Yankees, but when he retained Boras, he basically said get me the most you can and I will move to just about any team. The Blue Jays or Mets or Phillies can swoop in right now and top the Yankees offer. Bellinger could stop that by accepting the current deal. Bellinger is the one in full control, not Boras.
Nonsense. You have two people at a table. Both want the best deal. It’s the American way.
Definitely, difference between highest and lowest payrolls heading into next season is $360MM.
We need a floor that corresponds to the luxury tax soft cap. Escalating penalties on both ends. The smaller markets want no part of that. They want a soft cap, but they don’t want to play that game on the other side. That would increase player salaries, but equally important, it will push out cheaper owners who don’t want to pay.
Broken ??? How can you say that when the Dodgers payroll for 2026 is still UNDER $415 million ???
I mean if his intent is to win ASAP i kind of get it. But imo he is not gonna enough for that offer even, he better nor have done it hoping for a better one…
If Cincinnati ever wants to trade this kid please call the Yankees immediately.
Good for the Reds for trying
And, good for Elly, I guess, for doing what he wants to do
When do the trade to the Dodgers rumors start???
They have.
Just typed it in a reply before I made it down to you!
Longtime, it happens to me all the time. Not many scroll completely before responding. We relate to a posting and we respond.
I’ll quit watching the Dodgers if they bring this bum over.
Best thing that ever happened to the Reds. Let someone else waste money on him. He’s not a Red, and wants out as quick as he can. TRADE HIM while you can find someone silly enough to give you something.
Chasing: Dodgers are silly as hell.
Can he play the outfield? Because the Dodgers have a shortstop lol.
Don’t worry, he’ll be gone in year five for whatever they can get, along with most of his teammates. It’s what they do.
No way Vora$ would let him sign an extension with large market dollars in his eyes.
Like Tigers with Skubal, ride it out. If EDLC is a key reason Cincy keeps at least earning WC spot to make a run at WS once in…..enjoy having a super motivated player eyeing the big $$.
OTOH if he plays well but team is likely out, put a crazy price out as soon as this trade deadline in a Cleveland kind of way where it’s on the fly compete driven/not rebuild.
Can’t blame a team for trying to lowball a guy and lock him up for below market value and can’t blame a player for not wanting to commit when he’s seeing the money that’s out there if you can make it to or near free agency.
Low balling? Some players might see taking an early extension as an insurance policy. It’s guaranteed money in case you have a career ending injury or your ceiling isn’t as high as you thought it was. Even with today’s inflation Witt and Tatis are doing quite well.
Witt and Tatis did their teams a huge favor but you’re right, depends on the player.
The Reds may well have dodged a cannonball. The dropoff in 2025 is consistent with teams figuring out how to exploit his 31.3% K-rate in 2024.
They gave him nothing to hit, and his SLG declined meaningfully.
Elly also had an unsustainable BABIP in 2024.
He played in a bandbox for three years which concealed an OPS+ that’s not even 10% better than the league average hitter’s.
Career, he’s worse than useless against LHPing, with a .609 OPS.
Defense fell through the floor in 2025.
Is that really a $250 million-plus player?
That’s because he was playing injured. It’s no secret that he was suffering from a partially torn quad for much of last season.
There was time when $225MM over ten years seemed like a huge contract.
Given the current state of the market and the crazy contracts that were handed out in the last 24 hours, De La Cruz can probably get $225MM over 3-4 years in 2028. The days of good young players taking team-friendly extensions might be over.
By the time he’s eligible for free agency, the system probably will be different. No one knows what it will look like as the players and their agents will object to any significant changes without the owners truly opening their books. Let’s enjoy 26 because memories could be what we have for a long time before there is again MLB action. I don’t mean to be political but our president wrote a book on negotiations thirty years ago. While he’s occupied presently, he has plenty of time to get involved if he cares at all about the league including owners and players (never mind us fans).
*paid someone to write a book
Elly’s defense is not very good but I’d love to see him in a Giants uniform. He has a presence about him that screams athleticism. If he puts in the work on defense his value will be high. I do think he should have taken the Reds offer though.
Hey man, I’ll take that bet!😁
Based on his career performance I will happily take that bet.. Your exuberance is unrealistic, players get paid for actual performance, not on the occasional spectacular play.
Boras messing with these mid market billionaires. You just hate to see it.
Billionaires? The Reds owner has a value of $400 million.
And most of that is tied up in the team
He only has about 20% stake in the team. What are the other 80% minority stakeholders worth?
EDLC is not a billionaire yet.
He might regret that… doesn’t seem to project long term at SS defensively. High strike outs. Thoughts?
He’s young so it’s hard to predict, I’d say McLain is regretting turning down the extension after last year though
No regrets unless a accident or medical problem happens. Doesn’t seem like a SS at least a good one. He could steal more bases hit more hrs. But if he doesn’t he is young enough he will still beat that offer. He’s tall. Hits throws ball hard. Marketable guy.
He reduced his strikeout percentage from 31.3% to 25.9% last year, which is not that much worse than league average (22.5%). That happened in his age 23 season. Based on that he probably can improve even more as he matures.
The year wasn’t amazing but that fact gives me a ton of confidence he won’t go down the same path as O’Neil Cruz.
He reduced the K-rate at the same time the league reduced his wRC+ to 109.
Slugging .440 in a bandbox with a -3 OAA in 2025, and can’t hit lefties at all.
A very incomplete players.
Who – I was thinking the same thing. His overall #’s (offense and defense) across the board went down. His splits show a 2nd half regression each year which lends to your point of viability at that position long term. And if I’m the opposing team, I make him bat right handed as much a possible.
I can see him going to the Dodgers.
God I hope not. His defense is questionable and his hit tools while solid are very streaky. Is say most Dodger fans don’t want him. At least not right away. They want well rounded players. Not good here, bad there guys.
Hex
“Dodger fans don’t want him”
I’ll take him
He can replace Muncy after next year. Then we can sign him for 15/$800 or whatever
3/500
Damn Juan,
What can he buy with $53 a year?
He has already said LA is his town on a road trip.
I like cheese
You only ‘like’ cheese?! Lactose-ist!! ~
Cheese is delicious.
Baseball has basically caught up with the NBA in terms of contract lengths and salaries. 3 years/$126zm or 4 years/$240M has been the norm in the NBA for over 15 years now. Only way he signs an extension at this point is if they blow him out of the water:
15 years/$660M w/ an opt out every season after the first four years; basically give him the option to enter free agency whenever he wants to and still gives him $110M guaranteed over 4 years, $50M of which would be the signing bonus.
Why would they give him the first opt-out when he’s originally scheduled to hit free agency, anyway? That would risk massively overpaying him (compared to going year-to-year) for the remaining 4 years that they already have him under team control and then getting nothing but a QO compensation pick afterwards.
Even before considering opt-outs, any extension should factor in that he’s still pre-arbitration for one more year and then merely arbitration-eligible for the next 3 years after that.
I am saying that the only way he’d sign now is if they offered him something insane like that where they’re stuck with the full bill of that size if he doesn’t pan out and they lose him anyway if he does pan out.
I am saying a mid-budget team like the Reds are in an unfair position.
The NBA teams have 15 players on the roster, not 26.
Cheese, aren’t early-career extensions supposed to come at a significant discount for the team? If he really wants more than that, then don’t allow any extension to start until his actual free agency years and don’t be afraid to let him walk after the 6 years that you do get to keep him.
Lan
That would be a significant discount
That’s the point! It’s supposed to be a significant discount when he’s already still under team control for 4 more years.
You were not born in Los Angeles and I hope you never wear a Dodgers jersey. Of the cross, my eye.
Does that mean you are racist to players not born or homegrown in LA
I don’t think a Los Angelican is a race.
@joe
Los Angelino is.
Another guy who hits well but is a liability with a glove.
Hope he doesn’t regret that.
Highest Red ever!!?? Higher than Joe Morgan and Ed Armbrister? What a generous offer
If he breaks an ankle, tears an achilles, an ACL, rotator cuff, hurts his neck, or maybe develops thoracic outlet syndrome does Mr. Horas breaks off some cash to help with expenses. Because if his advice is influencing a young man to turn down generational wealth then he should. It’s a really stupid play even if it turns out that he makes a half billion extra on his first big contract.Athletes are fragile people and often have no fallback careers.Horas (probably) should be ashamed of himself.
YD
Why do you think the player is too stupid to think of that?
Why do you think his agent didn’t advise him of that?
1: Greedy agent
2: Greedy, stupid player.
I thought that I made that clear. It must have gone over your head.
YD
Another “fan” who seems to hate baseball and just be a generally negative person
Muted
Yeah, I have watched baseball for fifty years because I hate the sport. And I don’t know anything about Life after owning and operating a very successful business for forty years, so I wouldn’t have any perspective about what happens to smug people when their certainties go sideways. Oh, but let’s not leave anything unclear to you and your limited experience. Let’s stick to baseball. A player has a chance of getting a contract which would ensure generational wealth (do you really understand what that is?), and still have the chance to make even more while still being young. But NO, IN YOUR MIND THAT ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH, BECAUSE MORE WOULD BE BETTER, AND YOU DESERVE MORE. RIGHT? Only maybe the next year you check your swing and the manage bone in your wrist breaks. So you have surgery, but when you come back something isn’t the same with your swing, the power is not quite the same. So are told to rest, but time is slipping and you start worrying about contracts. So you push yourself harder in your training only to develop tendonitis in your shoulder or elbow. Well be back in the spring, best shape of your life!. You start out smashing the ball, but on a cold April day you feel a twinge in your back, nothing major, but you don’t want to tell the trainer, you don’t want to be labeled as “injury prone”. Then another night and you swing a little harder at that high heater only now something really hurts in your back, the trainer and manager come walking quickly to the batter’s box. Torn oblique, and now you hope that you’ve got the best surgeon. Do I need to go on, genius? Have you never seen things like this happen? Frequently? Does the name ” Mike Trout” dimly ring a bell in your mind? Do you think that series of injuries don’t happen to young players? So, why in the world would you turn down a chance for GENERATIONAL WEALTH, guaranteed, because you are so greedy and narrow minded and want more? I can’t wait for your snappy comeback.
I’d like to think he has a healthy insurance policy against a career-ending injury.
Well here is the situation there is no inside pitching anymore, fights aren’t allowed, you can’t get in the path of base lines. The position players are wrapped in bubble wrap. These guys no longer have to worry about career ending injury. Plus now you have insurance for career ending injuries too. Plus agents now get a cut of everything whether it’s the first contract they sign Plus any future earnings even if you fire the agent and go with another agency. Heck even coaches will have that in training them too. Its not like it use to be. Like Pete Inclavgia use to say ” If we as players sign a million dollar contract we only get $650,000 of it.
Had to read thru it a few times, now I get your point. It’s a softer game due to the money factor. Wonder how fans would feel if baseball went back to the rough and tumble days?⚾
Sorry about that was a couple beers in when I wrote it .
The thing is, players, every single year suffer career ending injuries. Others suffer injuries which turn star pitchers into last man in the bullpen. Starting players who go from sure HOFers into role players. Yeah, the rules protects players, and sports medicine has really come a long way. But Life is still as cruel as ever. I’m speaking as an avid fan of fifty years, the real world gets tough and cruel.
There will be no baseball in 2027…
Why the heck would Cruz accept a “”pittance”” like $225-$250 million with what Kyle Tucker just got?
You and many others are misreading the article. It said the offer TOPPED $225MM. Joey Votto got that much back in 2010 or something, they’re saying it was MORE than that.
De La Cruz is not just “betting on himself,” but hoping that the next CBA still enables this rapid rise of salaries. And that might be a bad risk.
This week’s signings will make the owners more determined to limit salaries. A hard cap is almost unavoidable. Implementing it in ‘28 or ‘29 — after a long shutdown of the game — will change everything.
Teams will be cutting players or forcing them to re-negotiate if they want to stay with their present clubs.
There is risk of course in injury and poor performance.
But there really isn’t a scenario that he won’t be able to command 225 million TCV.
There will be changes, maybe contract length, maybe mins and max’s, but good to great players will still make their money,, the PA is too strong for anything unfair
Exciting player, but unless he cuts down Ks and errors he won’t get an otherwise astronomic contract.
So dumb of him. I understand this crazy market but what has he truly shown us. That he has the potential to be a superstar? Sure. But has he remotely been that and been very underwhelming… 100%. Take the money
bf
What are people looking at to think that he has been underwhelming?
H’e’s put up 10.9 fWAR the last 2 seasons.
fangraphs.com/players/elly-de-la-cruz/26668/stats/…
No kidding. Elly has been 10th in fWAR over the past two years (as a 22 & 23 year old). He just saw the guy that has been 21st get 4/240m.
No way in hell he’s taking a similar guarantee spread out over 10-12 years.
I’d like to see them take a page out of the Royals playbook and offer him a Bobby-esq deal.
Wait. The take from all of this is……..life is full of choices.
He’s tall. And with a name like Elly, he could be in the WNBA.
I get it to a point. I don’t want the owners to have more money. I want them to distribute it more to the players and invest in their teams. I want players to be “paid what they are worth” though worth is a variable amount. Soto was “worth” the Nationals offer. De La Cruz honestly hasn’t performed enough to say if he is or is not “worth” this offer.
But it’s stuff like this where I can’t see a world where any small market team can compete unless things change. The arb market, if Skubal wins his case, will equally implode and these teams will lose whatever control they had on players and they also won’t have the ability to compete for large markets for high end FAs.
Between this, Tucker, and Skubal, baseball is really showing the cracks in its dam.
Of course he declined. That’s 25 million AAV.
I think that he could get something like 300 million.
By declining he’s making league minimum followed by 3 years of low but escalating arbitration salaries. Then he’ll decline a QO, and signing teams get penalized (under the current CBA). So it wouldn’t be comparable to the AAV for free agent contracts.
10/225 wasn’t the offer. The article clearly states that that was the offer Joey Votto accepted over 10 years ago, and the 2025 offer to EDLC was more than that.
Of course, he is a Bora$$ client. But honestly, don’t blame him. A 10 year deal buys out 5 of his free agent years and makes him a FA again at age 33 I believe where players are starting to decline and finding contracts harder to get. As it stands he’ll hit at age 28, a prime age for free agency. Unless baseball’s economics completely collapse he could very well see offers north of $400M at that time. Obvious risk there but his risk to take, not ours. Stay healthy my friend.
Encouraging the Reds put forth this franchise record offer to maintain their superstar in the making, but with the way these top FA keep getting these astronomical deals which keep rising year after year I can’t fault anyone betting on themselves for an even better deal….but let me be honest here this ridiculous nature of how baseball continues to allow the rich and poor to stay stagnant is a big problem why they are a large distance apart from the NFL…I love my Reds and MLB but unless it changes I have to bank on a hope and prayer for Cincinnati to win a championship
There’s always a risk turning down contracts, but realistically he’s worth the same next year as he is this year. A great year and he could demand even more. A worse year and I bet they’ll still offer the same amount. Really no reason to sign an extension when he’s not even arbitration eligible.
Im ok with teams playing by thr current financial rules. But Im seriously ok with a half decade lockout if thats what it takes to kill the current model as to how it effects the games brand. People very sincerely DON’T need baseball – not even close to as much as they did in 1994. It won’t be missed
Steinbrenner lol. Nice call. You can read as well as the assumptions you make. It’s Dock Elvis. Who is Dock Ellis? Shows what you know.
This guy is made out to be the second coming of Christ himself. Looking at his numbers, that contract the reds is an overpay! Everyone steals bases now and they’re an empty stat so don’t give me his stolen base numbers as an argument against it. Hes a .250-25-90 guy who strikes out a ton, doesn’t walk, and will prob not be a SS very much longer due to his size
Enjoy him while he’s a Red. Hopefully the Reds front office realizes that he’s not staying and trades him with at least one year of control to get some good prospects back.
As a commenter above said, they should keep him and offer a QO as long as long as they’re still in a competitive window. If they enter a rebuilding period while he’s still under team control, then trade him. Tough to keep a fan base happy if you’re constantly in a cycle of churning away today’s talent rather than using it to try to win.
Why would he want to sign long term for a team that is actively, almost intently; neglecting holes in the lineup? Why would anyone want to sign long term for any organization that can’t field a complete, competitive team?
To gauge market value, they could dangle him in a trade. Just my opinion, but after 2+ years, his very poor defense and far from super star offense, would likely prove that Boras and many of you fans, highly overrate EDLC.
Yet the Reds are going to arbitration over 250k with another player. They offer Schwarber 125M but cannot sign a quality outfielder and invite every has been or never was to spring training on minor league deals. No wonder the fans have no idea what they are doing.
Players like him (there aren’t very many) want the big bucks and the big stage to go with it. Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Mets and a few others. The Big Red Machine is ancient history. Today the only big red machine is China!
The Votto deal is pretty pedestrian at this point. This isn’t telling us much. 10 years and $250 is a joke for Elly
Where does the article state that the offer was 10/250? I don’t think the details were ever disclosed. Everybody seems to be reading into this something that isn’t necessarily there.
Front office knows exactly what they’re doing.
Notice how there’s no actual contract information other than “largest in franchise history”. They want to take as much heat off themselves as possible for when they inevitably lose Elly via trade or FA. They’ll then say “Oh, we tried to keep him; we offered him the largest contract in franchise history. But he CHOSE not to stay.” They’ll twist it in a way that makes Elly seem selfish and greedy and certain Reds fans will eat it up.
Same thing happened in Colorado with Arenado.
Major League Baseball is a broken embarrassing joke.
A extension now would have to be 10 years & $50mil per as a starting point with opt outs.
Greedy SOB
Elly de la Cruz loves L.A. He self proclaims the love for Los Angeles, and calls it “his city”. People cry and whine about the Dodgers signing star players, but don’t see how most athletes love the city of L.A. and are just salivating at the mouth waiting for the opportunity to sign here.
Fanning a team that needs an extra $300 million to compete, lol. Enjoy those lofty win rates while baseball keeps losing market share to all the other sports which added salary caps ages ago
No way they offered him a deal worth taking right now. Which would probably be 13/400 or 11/350