{"id":419104,"date":"2026-01-17T12:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419104\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:46:10","slug":"elly-de-la-cruz-declined-225mm-offer-from-reds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419104\/","title":{"rendered":"Elly De La Cruz Declined $225MM+ Offer From Reds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Reds made an unsuccessful effort at locking up Elly De La Cruz<\/a> 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made Elly an offer that would\u2019ve made him the highest-paid Red ever,\u201d Krall said (link via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic<\/a>). \u201cThat\u2019s not where he is and you respect that. It\u2019s their career. You keep going and you keep working on what you can do today.\u201d De La Cruz opted not to go into specifics, telling fans at Redsfest only that he leaves contractual matters to his agent, Scott Boras.<\/p>\n

The offer came on the heels of De La Cruz\u2019s 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\u2019s #1 prospect before his promotion. It was enough for the Reds to safely consider him the face of the franchise.<\/p>\n

As shown on MLBTR\u2019s Contract Tracker<\/a>, any extension above Votto money would have been a record for a player with fewer than two years of service. Julio Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> 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\u2019s earning ceiling climbs as they approach arbitration. Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/a> (14 years, $340MM) and\u00a0Bobby Witt Jr.<\/a> (11 years, $288.78MM) each commanded much bigger guarantees when they signed extensions at exactly two years of service.<\/p>\n

Krall didn\u2019t 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\u2019d win a batting title with an OPS pushing 1.000. Witt\u2019s deal also built in four opt-out chances that could get him to free agency as early as his age-31 season \u2014 a time when a decade-long contract could be in the cards.<\/p>\n

Whatever the specifics, De La Cruz has thus far opted to bet on himself. That\u2019s 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\u2019s on track to hit free agency at age 28.<\/p>\n

De La Cruz\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati will probably take another run at extension talks this spring, though it\u2019d be a surprise if they get anything done. He\u2019ll remain the team\u2019s most important position player in either case. Krall made clear they\u2019re 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\u2019s fully healthy, with his physical gifts giving him one of the highest ceilings in the league.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Reds made an unsuccessful effort at locking up Elly De La Cruz last spring. While details were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,58084,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-419104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-elly-de-la-cruz","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}