Just days after the Milwaukee Brewers captured the first World Series title in franchise history, Dodgers fans are already looking toward the offseason and wondering what Andrew Friedman has in store.
The catch is that a looming lockout and the uncertainty around what comes next could slow down free-agent business. Trades, though, are another story. Deals involving players still under team control may move faster, and that’s where Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz enters the picture.
The buzz around De La Cruz has been building for a while, and this week brought another jolt when reports surfaced that the Boston Red Sox made a “very strong offer” for him before the trade deadline, only for Cincinnati to turn it down. Then The Athletic’s Jim Bowden added fuel to the fire during an appearance on D-Mac and Reiter on 97.1 The Fan, saying he believes the Reds would seriously listen if the right offer came along.
"Absolutely, I do," Bowden said. "For the Reds, what makes sense, like the Nationals with Wood and Abrams, they should be trying to sign these guys.
But if you can't, don't let them get to free agency or a year from free agency. Trade them now while you can get a huge package and can get a competitive team."
Bowden didn’t stop there. He also put the Dodgers directly in the mix.
"This kind of trade makes sense for the Reds and the Dodgers," Bowden said. "The Dodgers need to be thinking about their next superstar player."
That idea starts with timing, and with a player like De La Cruz, timing is everything. Small-market clubs have shown they can build winners by moving players at the right point in their team-control window, and the Brewers just proved that formula can carry all the way to a championship. The hard part is knowing when a young star is close enough to free agency that the return becomes too good to pass up.
De La Cruz has already made that decision more complicated for Cincinnati. The Reds reportedly offered him the largest contract in franchise history during spring training in 2025, a deal that topped Joey Votto’s 10-year, $225 million extension, and he passed on it. That leaves the Reds with a player whose price is only going up.
Cincinnati finished this season with the 19th-highest payroll in baseball at roughly $126 million, and no player on the roster made more than $15 million. De La Cruz is heading into his first year of arbitration, with MLB Trade Rumors projecting him at $7.9 million in 2027, and the number figures to climb quickly from there.
The performance has backed up the cost. De La Cruz hit .235 with 13 homers and 35 steals in 98 games as a rookie in 2023, then exploded in 2024 with 25 homers, an MLB-leading 67 steals, an .809 OPS, his first All-Star selection and an eighth-place finish in MVP voting.
In 2025, he played all 162 games while working through a strained quad and earned another All-Star nod. This season, he took another step, hitting .283/.365/.515 with career highs of 30 home runs and a 142 OPS+, joining the 30-30 club and finishing with 5.6 bWAR at age 24.
That kind of production makes arbitration a pricey road. De La Cruz still has three trips through the process before reaching free agency after the 2029 season, and Just Baseball expects his salary to get close to $30 million by the end of that stretch.
Juan Soto set the arbitration record at $31 million with the Yankees in 2024, then Skubal topped it last February at $32 million with the Tigers. Soto eventually turned his final year of control into a 15-year, $765 million deal at 26, and De La Cruz would hit the market at 27.
With Scott Boras as his agent, it’s easy to see why Cincinnati might eventually prefer a massive trade return over waiting for the next contract battle.
If the Dodgers wanted to make a real run at it, they’d have the kind of prospect depth to get Cincinnati’s attention. The Reds would be looking for cost-controlled help that can contribute quickly, which means a deal would likely begin with an established big leaguer such as Andy Pages or a younger player like Justin Wrobleski or Alex Freeland.
From there, the package could go one of two ways. Los Angeles could anchor the offer with that major leaguer and add a premium prospect such as Josue De Paula plus another high-end piece. Or Friedman could lean into quantity, sending five or six players such as James Tibbs III, Eduardo Quintero and a fresh-start Bobby Miller to give Cincinnati multiple pieces to work with.
And if Dodgers fans need one more reason to keep an eye on this, De La Cruz has already done damage at Dodger Stadium. He’s hit .309 with four homers and six steals in 13 career games there, including a 444-foot shot in September that stood as the longest home run hit at the ballpark all season.
Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office know exactly what they’re doing, but this is the kind of offseason story that should have fans watching closely. The idea may sound like fan fiction now. It’s looking a lot closer to reality.
In Other News...
Dodgers Face Two Quiet Roster Decisions That Could Reshape Their Bullpen
The Dodgers have a small but meaningful set of offseason roster calls ahead of them, with six arbitration-eligible players to sort through before the November 20 deadline. Andy Pages and Emmet Sheehan are expected to stick around, while Brock Stewart and Gavin Stone also appear likely to be tendered even with some lingering questions attached to each.
The trickier decisions sit farther down the list, where Alex Call and Jake Cousins are both in that gray area between usefulness and uncertainty. Los Angeles will have to weigh performance against health before deciding whether either player is worth keeping on the books, and those choices could ripple into how the bullpen is shaped for next season. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Prospect Is Suddenly Testing A Role This Roster May Need
The Dodgers have spent the Arizona Fall League using Charles Davalan in a different way, shifting the No. 6 prospect away from the outfield and over to second base as they sort through a crowded group of young outfielders. It is a notable wrinkle for a player who already built momentum with a strong 2026 season at High-A Great Lakes, where his bat helped him stand out as one of the organizations more interesting position-player prospects.
Eric Longenhagen has pointed to Davalans versatility as one of his selling points, and the new look only adds to the sense that the Dodgers may be exploring a path that keeps his bat moving while broadening his defensive value. Longenhagen has projected him as an everyday player who could handle both second base and left field, with a possible major league role by 2028, and this fall assignment gives the club a chance to see whether that kind of flexibility can become part of the roster puzzle. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Have Two Rotation Fallbacks If Tarik Skubal Gets Away
The Dodgers are expected to chase Tarik Skubal if he reaches free agency, but they are not likely to sit around with only one name on the board. As the winter market takes shape, Los Angeles is already being linked to a pair of rotation alternatives in Freddy Peralta and Michael King, giving the club some insulation if the top target proves too expensive or simply lands elsewhere.
Peraltas season was uneven after splitting time between the Mets and Rays, though he finished on a better note with a strong September and postseason run. King, meanwhile, declined his player option after a strong October and brings the added familiarity of having pitched for the Padres, which only adds to the sense that the Dodgers will have several paths to choose from if their preferred ace slips away. [Read more 🡒]