Joey Votto spent Sunday night back in a familiar place, only this time he was there in a different role. NBC had him working as an on-field correspondent for the Sunday Night Baseball matchup between the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs, and while he was seated in the Reds’ dugout, he delivered a line that landed with plenty of bite.
Talking with fellow commentator Anthony Rizzo about Elly De La Cruz, Votto didn’t dance around the money question.
"Unfortunately, we can't afford him. He's going cost roughly the GDP of a small country," Votto said during the Reds' 7-5 over the Cubs on Sunday night.
That joke hit because it sounds like a punchline, but it also points straight at the reality Reds fans have been staring at. Cincinnati missed its best chance to lock De La Cruz in for the long haul, and now the fanbase is left hoping the next three years are enough before free agency arrives after the 2029 season.
De La Cruz is headed for a major pay jump soon. He’ll be arbitration eligible for the first time this offseason after spending the last three-plus seasons on the league minimum. The price tag starts climbing fast from there, with 2027 shaping up as the first real squeeze point for the Reds.
For a rough idea of what that kind of jump can look like, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson made $8.5 million in his first year of arbitration eligibility this past winter. Henderson’s resume is stronger than De La Cruz’s, but the Reds star is still expected to land well above the $4.2 million deal Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams settled for last offseason.
The timing matters for Cincinnati. De La Cruz’s 2027 season will arrive after what the article describes as the Reds essentially wasting his first three seasons, with the team backing into the playoffs once since 2023 and then bowing out after two games. By then, the club will also already have Hunter Greene and Ke'Bryan Hayes on the books for next season, a total that comes to about $23 million in sunk costs.
If the Reds don’t make noise next season, the spotlight will only grow brighter on the front office the following winter. De La Cruz would still be under team control for two more seasons after 2027, but that could also be the point where Cincinnati has to think seriously about moving him while his value remains at its peak.
The harshest part for Reds fans is that this storyline has been building ever since De La Cruz turned down the team’s offer to become the highest paid player in franchise history. That mark still belongs to Votto, whose 10-year, $225 million deal is now not nearly enough to keep pace with what De La Cruz would command. According to the source, Cincinnati would need to double that number before he would even consider staying in the Queen City for most of a decade.
Unless small-market teams get some kind of financial help that lets them outbid everyone else, Votto’s joke may be the truest line of the night. The Reds can’t afford him.
In Other News...
Elly De La Cruz Exit Just Raised The Stakes For The Reds
Elly De La Cruzs night ended early against the Chicago Cubs after he left with tightness in his left quad, a development the Reds did not need in the middle of a game that already carried plenty of attention. Ivan Johnson took over for him in the seventh inning, giving Cincinnati an immediate look at how it would handle the rest of the matchup without one of its most dynamic players on the field.
Terry Francona is expected to have more to say after the game, and for the Reds, the real concern now is whether this is just a short-term hiccup or something that lingers. De La Cruz has become too central to what Cincinnati does to treat any lower-body issue lightly, so even a precautionary exit will be watched closely once the postgame update arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Elly De La Cruz Just Put Cincinnatis Stretch Run In Doubt
Elly De La Cruz leaving Tuesdays game against the Cubs with an apparent left quad injury was the kind of development the Reds could not afford at this point in the season. The team confirmed the injury on social media, and it comes with the September schedule tightening around them and a run of playoff-contending opponents looming.
For Cincinnati, the concern is bigger than one night out of the lineup. De La Cruz has now dealt with the same quad issue in back-to-back seasons, and he has already missed time this year with a hamstring injury, so every new setback adds another layer of uncertainty to the stretch run. The Reds have been trying to keep pace in a crowded race, and losing their most dynamic player would make an already difficult closing month even more complicated. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Deadline Fallout Just Took Another Brutal Turn
The Reds trade deadline shuffle already looked like a mixed bag, and it has only gotten messier in the days since. Cincinnati moved Nathaniel Lowe to the Guardians and Caleb Ferguson to the Cardinals, hoping to reshape the roster for the stretch run, but the early returns have not done the club many favors.
Fergusons rough stay in St. Louis ended with his release, underscoring how quickly a deadline move can turn from useful depth to a dead end. Around the same time, Carson Spiers began a rehab assignment as he works his way back from injury, while former draft pick Hunter Hollan was released from the organization, adding another reminder that the Reds are still sorting through the fallout of a deadline built on uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]