Is There Any Hope for the Cincinnati Reds? (Elly De La Cruz Turns Down Record Breaking Deal)

The Cincinnati Reds. The first ever franchise. The home of some of the greatest players of all time. The pride of Cincinnati. Most notably, the source of sadness and heartache. What was once considered a feared franchise throughout the 20th century is now a glorified farm team developing all-stars to later be bought out. To no one's surprise, the Reds' most recent superstar has refused a record setting contract hinting towards the inevitable departure to New York or LA.

Per @UnderdogMLB

The Cincinnati Reds made Elly De La Cruz a franchise-record extension last spring that would have surpassed Joey Votto's 10-year, $225 million pact from 2012 per Nick Krall (president of operations). I don't mean to be a Debby Downer, but this is not good for Cincinnati. Especially considering the lockout expected to happen later this year.

For those of you who are unaware, the MLB's Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires this year. The main issue to be addressed is the salary cap. More specifically, whether or not a salary cap will be implemented forcing organizations to pay players for much less. In theory, if agreed upon, this would allow small market teams, such as the Reds, to field a team good enough to compete for a championship without spending billions of dollars they don't have. This is essentially why we see the Dodgers winning every year. For context, the last time the CBA was negotiated the salary cap was 1994. The result? An entire season on strike ending in a cancelation of the postseason (first time since 1904). Buckle up.

List of cumulative salaries by teams for 2026 per @spotrac

We'll talk about this another time. The point I'm making is this looming lockout should motivate players like Elly who are potentially going to lose out on the generational wealth to sign asap. Elly turning down the (potential) only lottery ticket he'll get from the reds tells us he will literally do anything to not play for this franchise.

Need I not remind everyone this is exactly what Juan Soto did before signing that insane deal with the Yankees. Need I not remind everyone Elly has mentioned multiple times how he grew up a massive Yankee fan and loves playing in New York.

I think the reason why Elly didn't sign this extension is the same reason why the Reds haven't won a playoff series since 1990: Bob Castellini. The owner of the Cincinnati Reds who has gone on record bashing his own fan base:

Bob Castellini responds to criticism from fans with, "where are you gonna go" per @woooooTheReds

Bob Castellini purchased the Reds in 2006. Since then, the Reds have been to the playoffs 5 times in 20 years and winning 0 playoff series. Telling the world, "where are you going to go" while have a track record of making the playoffs 20% of the time and winning 0% of the time is very off-putting for Reds fans.

The reason this missed opportunity of extending Elly is frustrating for the Reds is because for the past two decades, Castellini usually passes up opportunities to re-sign superstars. The Reds are known for banking on their farm system to develop players until their rookie contract is up. Rarely do they extend players who have increased their value. Take Nick Castellanos for example. The Reds bought Castellanos at the right price. He quickly became the heart of the team and performed greatly. When it came time to resign him, the Reds didn't even reach out.

Nick Castellanos on how the Reds handled his free agency per WLWT

At the end of the day, Elly's contract with the Reds isn't up until 2029. The Reds' window to put together a team worth playing for can be viewed the same. The reality is, Reds fans are banking on something that has never happened: Bob Castellini doing his job. We will find out how important keeping Elly is within the next few years.