The Reds are heading toward a trade deadline that could force some hard choices, but two names should be off the table no matter how aggressive the market gets: Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene.
Cincinnati’s slide over the last two months has pushed the club to the bottom of the National League Central, a far cry from the early-season buzz that had them looking like a postseason team again after last year’s surge. That kind of collapse usually brings sell-off talk, and the Reds have plenty of pieces they could move if they choose that path. Nathaniel Lowe, Brady Singer, Tyler Stephenson, Spencer Steer, Brock Burke and others could all be in play.
De La Cruz, though, should not be one of them. Reds fans have been floating trade ideas around the superstar shortstop since he first arrived in Cincinnati, with some even imagining him ending up with the Los Angeles Dodgers or the New York Yankees.
But the case for moving him never really holds up. He has three more years of team control after this season, and he keeps getting better every year in the majors.
Right now, he’s putting together what looks like his most complete season as a Red. Yes, he would bring back a massive return.
The problem is that Cincinnati would be giving up a superstar in the hope of maybe landing one someday. That doesn’t add up when he’s already in place and still under control.
Greene belongs in that same untouchable category. His name has been kicked around in trade rumors for the past year, but the logic behind moving him is thin.
When he’s healthy, Greene is one of the best pitchers in baseball, and this season he’s back on a big league mound looking as sharp as ever after dealing with injuries in recent years. He also has three years of team control beyond this season, which only strengthens the argument for keeping him.
The Reds should be building around Greene and Chase Burns in the rotation, not breaking that up. Two potential Cy Young candidates on the same staff gives Cincinnati a chance to matter in any three-game series. Trading Greene in the middle of his prime while he’s still under control would be a brutal decision.
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This time, the subject was momentum, and Votto drew a sharp contrast between Cincinnatis years with him in the lineup and the kind of surge Boston is riding now. He said he never experienced anything quite like a true comeback wave during his Reds tenure, which is the kind of reflection that inevitably sends Cincinnati fans back through the what-ifs of that era and the gap between good seasons and something bigger. [Read more 🡒]