The price on Elly De La Cruz only will continue to rise, but the Reds have been unable to get their dynamic young shortstop to agree to a long-term contract extension.
Even before the 2025 season, De La Cruz rejected an offer that would have surpassed Joey Votto’s mark as the richest in team history, according to multiple reports.
The 24-year-old De La Cruz has made the All-Star team in two of his first three seasons with the Reds, finishing last year with 22 home runs, 37 stolen bases and a career-best 86 RBIs.
“We made Elly an offer that would have made him the highest-paid Red ever,” team president Nick Krall told The Athletic on Friday. “That’s not where he is and you respect that. It’s their career. You keep going and you keep working on what you can do today.”
Votto, a six-time All-Star over 17 seasons with the Reds, signed a 10-year deal worth $225 million in 2012.
De La Cruz, who is represented by Scott Boras, is under team control for four more seasons and won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2029 season.
“I let my agent take care of all of that,” De La Cruz told reporters at the team’s fan fest.
Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. inked an 11-year, $288 million extension in 2024 to remain in small-market Kansas City.
Young stars such as Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna and Arizona’s Corbin Carroll also are among those to have signed nine-figure extensions in recent years to bypass arbitration and put off free agency.
Juan Soto, another Boras client, was a high-profile example of a player who turned down multiple extension offers early in his career, and he was traded from Washington to San Diego to the Yankees before landing a record $765 million contract with the Mets in free agency before last season.
The Reds signed pitcher Hunter Greene in 2023 to a six-year extension worth $53 million with a $21 million team option for 2029 to buy out multiple years of free agency.
“We’ve got a lot of guys on this club that are impact players that have a chance to be impact players,” Krall added. “Hunter took a deal and that was great. We love having him and he’s an anchor starter for us. We’ve had a lot of conversation over the years, it’s got to work out for both parties.”
