Elly De La Cruz is the kind of player who can turn an offseason rumor mill into a full-blown bidding war, and the Tigers have the kind of prospect depth that could at least get their foot in the door. But if Detroit really wanted to pry the Reds’ star shortstop loose, it would take far more than a flashy headliner or two.
Cincinnati is coming off a 75-87 finish and a last-place result in the NL Central, and former Reds GM Jim Bowden believes the club would “absolutely” listen on De La Cruz. That doesn’t mean the Reds are eager to move him. It means they’re in the driver’s seat, with the Red Sox expected to keep calling and the Dodgers also hovering in the rumor chatter.
It’s not hard to understand why De La Cruz would draw that kind of attention. He’s 24, already a two-time All-Star, and just put together a 30-30 season while hitting .283/.365/.515 with 79 RBI in 143 games, even after a June stint on the injured list.
Two years ago, he swiped 67 bases. He’s under team control through 2029, with arbitration starting this winter, and his value goes well beyond the box score.
He has a Jordan brand deal, has been featured heavily in MLB’s marketing, and his No. 44 is one of the league’s top-selling jerseys. He also passed on an extension that would have topped Joey Votto’s franchise-record $225 million, which says plenty about how he views his own market.
So what would it take for the Tigers to make this real?
A package built around Max Clark, Zyhir Hope and Cameron Flukey sounds impressive at first glance, but it still wouldn’t be enough. Clark is the only one of the three who has reached the big leagues, and while his debut popped, he hit .272 with three home runs in 51 games and is still in the middle of the usual young-hitter learning curve.
Hope, the key piece in the Skubal return, put up huge numbers at Double-A with 29 homers, 111 RBI and 26 steals, but he isn’t expected in Detroit until 2027. Flukey brings intrigue of his own - a 6-foot-6 right-hander with a 60-grade fastball - yet he has only a few pro innings on his ledger after a rib stress fracture wiped out his final college season.
Even that kind of prospect haul would only be the starting point. The Reds reportedly passed on a Red Sox offer at the deadline because it leaned too heavily on prospects, and they were looking for young major leaguers instead. If Detroit were serious, Kevin McGonigle is off the table because he’s locked up through 2034, which pushes Clark to the center of the conversation and leaves Hope and Flukey as the upside plays.
From there, the Tigers would likely need to include real, controllable big-league talent. Riley Greene is the first name that jumps out.
The 26-year-old three-time All-Star just posted a career-best .844 OPS with 21 homers, and he remains arbitration-eligible through 2028. That kind of control matters in a deal like this, because Cincinnati would be giving up years of certainty to get it.
Troy Melton is another possible add. Since debuting in July 2025, he has become one of Detroit’s steadier arms.
In 2026, he made 20 starts and logged a 2.76 ERA with 94 strikeouts over 114 1/3 innings. The concern is durability: an elbow injury kept him on the 60-day IL until late May, back tightness cost him a start in June, and he landed back on the IL in September.
That’s a five-player framework for one superstar, and it would sting. But if you’re trying to picture why the Tigers would even entertain it, the image is obvious: De La Cruz’s speed and power on the left side of the infield next to McGonigle. It’s the kind of idea that lives in dreamland for now, even if the conversation itself is very real.
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