Joey Votto didn’t tiptoe around the question of what he’d do if he were running the Reds. He went straight to the biggest swing possible.
During an interview on Foul Territory, the former Cincinnati first baseman said the first move he’d make as general manager would be to shop Elly De La Cruz.
"I would trade Elly for as many prospects as possible," Votto said during his interview on Foul Territory. "Are you going to give up a half or a third of your payroll on one player? It doesn't make sense."
That answer is bound to hit a nerve in Cincinnati, especially with the Reds spending October on the sidelines after a season that never matched the optimism from March. At that point, plenty of fans had reason to believe the club could return to the postseason for a second straight year. Instead, the year slipped away in familiar fashion.
Votto didn’t stop with the hypothetical, either. He also talked about his own time with the franchise, saying he understood the business side well enough that he even thought the Reds should have traded him rather than giving him an extension.
The idea of moving De La Cruz is a rough one to process. He was clearly the best player on the roster this season, and that’s not likely to change the next time the Reds take the field. But Votto’s broader point lands because of the financial reality Cincinnati faces.
De La Cruz is the kind of player teams will pay up for, and the Reds will be in that market. The question is whether they’ll spend at the level of clubs like the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, or New York Yankees. With a looming lockout also hanging over the situation, that’s the real issue.
If the front office has any chance of keeping De La Cruz, it needs a plan in place now. And if the Reds can’t keep him, they can’t afford to let him leave empty-handed.
That concern isn’t limited to De La Cruz, either. Tyler Stephenson is another name the Reds may end up losing in free agency, even though the club could have explored trading him before the deadline this season.
So while the De La Cruz idea sounds harsh on its face, Votto’s logic is hard to ignore. If Cincinnati isn’t going to keep a player of that caliber, then it has to get value back.
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