CINCINNATI (WXIX) – LAS VEGAS — Elly De La Cruz will be the Reds’ shortstop again in 2026, according to sources.
While he led the league in errors last season and while there has been speculation that he could move to center field, De La Cruz won’t be changing positions.
The 23-year-old was pretty solid on defense during the first half of last season. During the second half of the year, he battled injuries, wore down and struggled more offensively and defensively.
The plan for 2026 is to give De La Cruz more off days and DH days to help keep him fresh. That should help him stay more consistent defensively next season.
Terry Francona has also raved about bench coach Freddie Benavides, who works with the infielders. Benavides and De La Cruz will be working in spring training and all season on ways to take the next step.
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The Hunter Greene trade rumors have always been overblown.
Nick Krall has never gone out and announced that he wouldn’t be trading a specific player. But where would the Reds find a better value for an All-Star caliber player than Greene? He’s under contract through 2029.
The Reds’ starting pitching depth isn’t as strong as it seems. Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott and Brady Singer give the Reds a strong top four. Chase Burns will only be in his second pro year. Julian Aguiar and Brandon Williamson didn’t pitch in 2025.
It’s not like the Reds have this abundance of starting pitching.
In 2021, 2023 and 2024, the season ended for the Reds when they ran out of starting pitching. They made the playoffs in 2025 because they didn’t run out of pitching. Greene missed about half of the season, but he returned and carried the Reds to a few wins down the stretch. He also had a poor postseason performance in LA, allowing five runs in three innings in Game 1.
There are more internal conversations right now about ways to keep Greene healthy and continue his development than there are about trading him.
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Nick Krall said last week that the Reds’ payroll in 2026 would be around the same as the payroll from 2025.
That gives him about $20 million to work with this winter as the Reds also lose eight free agents (Austin Hays, Emilio Pagán, Nick Martinez, Miguel Andujar, Brent Suter, Scott Barlow and Wade Miley, and they also cut Santiago Espinal).
A big part of this offseason will be about the Reds establishing, developing and building more depth.
Look at last year as an example. They signed Austin Hays in January as the free agent market settled out and signed Scott Barlow after spring training had started. Both ended up being value deals for the Reds.
This offseason will probably look more like that than the Reds’ offseason leading into 2024 as they made quick splurges for Emilio Pagán, Nick Martinez, Jeimer Candelario and Frankie Montas.
There’s solid outfield depth on this year’s free agent market where the Reds could try to find the next Hays. That could be Hays. Other options on the market include Harrison Bader, Willi Castro, Cedric Mullins, Starling Marte, Mike Yastrzemski, Lane Thomas and Rob Refsnyder.
It doesn’t look like the Reds will be adding a huge bat with the limited payroll they’re working with. Over the last few years, they’ve also been very averse to dealing top prospects.
The Reds did deal Low-A shortstop Sammy Stafura last summer to the Pirates for Ke’Bryan Hayes, but Hayes also had six years of control.
It would be a shock to see the Reds deal a top prospect for a player who didn’t have multiple years left on his contract.
The 2026 Reds could look a lot like the 2025 Reds with Tyler Stephenson, Jose Trevino, Spencer Steer, Matt McLain, Elly De La Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Gavin Lux, TJ Friedl, Noelvi Marte and Will Benson filling similar roles.
The Reds do need more center field depth after they leaned on Friedl a ton last season. They also don’t have a backup middle infielder on the big league roster right now unless they commit to playing Lux, Stewart or Steer more at second next year as McLain’s backup.
Ideally, Edwin Arroyo has a strong offseason and is ready to be a role player on the 2026 Reds.
Further along may be outfielder Hector Rodriguez. He’s a name to know. He’s an aggressive, dynamic outfielder who hits the ball really hard. He has worked to shrink his strike zone and focused a lot on defense as well, which have been two weaker areas in his game. He has a chance to make a big impact on the 2026 Reds.
Blake Dunn, Rece Hinds, CES and Leo Balcazar are young pieces who represent some other options as “internal depth” with a chance to play their ways into bigger roles. The Reds could also just add a player ahead of them to serve as backups to their primary position players. There are at least two open bench spots right now, factoring in Benson and Trevino.
Looking at the Reds’ $20 million or so, a significant chunk will have to go to the bullpen as they lose Martinez, Pagán, Barlow and Suter.
Is Santillan ready to close, or do they need to add an experienced closer like Kirby Yates, Pete Fairbacks, Kyle Finnegan, Liam Hendricks or another bigger name relief free agent? The best bet is that they see how the market develops.
They also really need a left-handed specialist in their bullpen. They didn’t have that for most of last year, and it showed.
What they need to add to the bullpen to fill out their roster will also make it tougher to add that perfect bat into the middle of the lineup.
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