Elly

De La Cruz

The gold standard there is the 10-year, $225 million deal that Joey Votto signed 14 years ago. The proposal was somewhere in between there and the 11-year, $288.8 million contract that Bobby Witt Jr. signed with the Royals two years ago. Like Witt then, De La Cruz currently has two years of service time. He’s slated to be eligible for free agency after the 2029 season.

Krall clarified that the partial tear or strain was more of a nagging issue than something that should have knocked him out of the lineup. Which obviously had to be the case, since De La Cruz went on to play in every single game last season. It wasn’t any big secret that De La Cruz wasn’t 100 percent in the second half of the season, but it’s nice to have some kind of clarification into what was going on. De La Cruz should still very much be a first-round pick in 2026 drafts.

Krall told MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon that the organization has no plans to move De La Cruz off shortstop despite the dynamic 23-year-old leading the majors in errors during each of the past two seasons. Cincinnati has shortstop prospect Edwin Arroyo on the verge of ascending to the big leagues, but it sounds like the plan is to transition him to another spot eventually. The Reds are going to have another roster logjam on their hands at some point next year — barring an offseason overhaul — with top prospect Sal Stewart ready to join the big-league corner infield mix.

Stewart will get an opportunity in the heart of Cincinnati’s lineup to face Dodgers co-ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto after coming off the bench during the late stages of Tuesday’s series opener. The 21-year-old top prospect adds some serious thunder to the middle of the order in a win-or-go-home spot for the Reds after homering five times in 18 regular-season contests after being called up in early September. Here’s the full lineup: TJ Friedl (CF), Spencer Steer (LF), Gavin Lux (DH), Austin Hays (RF), Stewart (1B), Elly De La Cruz (SS), Tyler Stephenson (C), Ke’Bryan Hayes (3B) and Matt McLain (2B).

Hays missed seven consecutive games to close out the regular season due to back spasms. The 30-year-old corner outfielder is back in left field and batting cleanup against lefty Blake Snell on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Here’s the full lineup: TJ Friedl (CF), Noelvi Marte (RF), Miguel Andujar (DH), Hays (LF), Spencer Steer (1B), Elly De La Cruz (SS), Tyler Stephenson (C), Ke’Bryan Hayes (3B) and Matt McLain (2B).

The rest of the team combined to go 2-for-26. Still, it’s terrific for the Reds that De La Cruz seems to have turned things around. All three of his balls in play tonight were hit at least 102 mph, with the homer traveling 415 feet.

Spencer Steer and De La Cruz hit back-to-back homers in the sixth, with both collecting their 20th of the year. De La Cruz also walked twice, but he was picked off/caught stealing after one of those. That leaves him 35-for-43 stealing bases this year.

De La Cruz had started 148 games this season and hit third in all of them. Unfortunately, this seems like a necessary change with De La Cruz having hit .206/.243/.291 since the beginning of August. His last homer came on July 31. The Reds have platoon player Miguel Andujar batting third against a lefty tonight.

Elly had been hitless until the eighth inning when his single scored TJ Friedl to tie the game at one apiece. He would later steal second base and come around to score the eventual winning run on a single by Miguel Andujar. Elly has 34 steals and 82 RBI on the season to go along with a .266/.334/.440 slash line. He has taken a step back in power, with just 19 home runs this year, which could, along with his poor performance against left-handed pitching, be a minor deterrent in using a top-five pick on him next year, but he remains a solid first-round pick.

The triple is the fifth of the season; a solid total but one that feels “low” for a hitter who makes as much hard contact and runs as fast as EDLC does. The 23-year-old also singled to up his average to .274 with an OPS of .806.