Cincinnati Reds’ Lineup OVERHAUL Looms as Front Office Faces Pressure

Cincinnati Reds’ Lineup OVERHAUL Looms as Front Office Faces Pressure

The greatest teams in Red’s history were called the big red machine. The 2025 Red’s lineup was probably more like the little engine that couldn’t. We’re going to break it down on today’s Locked on Reds. [Music] You are Locked on Reds, your daily Cincinnati Reds podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked On Reds podcast. My name is Jeff Carr. His name is Steve Hoffenbaker. And we are lifelong Cincinnati Reds fans. We’ve been podcasting about this team for a combined 14 seasons. And we’re glad that you’re alongside us here today. Locked on Reds is part of the Locked On Network. We are your team, your Cincinnati Reds every single day. And on today’s show, we are going to look at a little bit later on how the Reds can fix this lineup. We’re going to start to preview some moves that they can make, some ideas that we have. Of course, it’ll be a little bit of a teaser because we’ve got a whole off seasonason to really dive into the details of that, but it’s going to begin the conversation. In just a few minutes, I want to get into some of the quotes that Nick Crawl had and why some folks think that it’s status quo, but I believe differently. But we will begin with what this lineup just was not able to accomplish in 2025 on today’s podcast that is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app today and use the promo code locked on MLB to save $20 off your first purchase. All right, Steve, the lineup. I mean, we we started the season thinking, “Okay, it looks like it’s a question mark. Here’s how it can work.” None of the answers panned out because it seemed as though that the Reds really put a lot on Elliot Dela Cruz and Christian Incarnio Strand. And some people are going to be like, “Christine Incarnas on Strand, he’s been in TripleA for like three months.” Yeah, exactly. Yeah. They got 36 games out of CES. Um, all you need to do to really understand just how disappointing the Reds were offensively in 2025 is look at the wins above replacement for this team. You get Ellie de la Cruz leading the team. Cool. That’s exactly what we thought was going to happen. Absolutely. 3.6 in war. Not what we thought was going to happen. The next best guy, the next best guy, Jeff, offensively for this team is TJ Fredel at 2.3 War. You go down the list and you want to find CES in his 36 games that he made to the big leagues in 2025. 0.6. 6 negative or negative 0.6. It’s It’s unfortunate and and I know and I I Yeah, I got rid of it. We used to have that overlay saved of um you know what the delineation of wins above replacement is. And like two to three is like an everyday starter proved his worth. You know, that’s what he was worth that season. One was like a three a major leager. Three is a major leager. Four is a a starter. Five and above is allstar. Six and above is MVP consideration kind of. And one and below is like bench level utility guy, things like that, right? That’s why we keep hearing the Reds have lots of different utility guys because that’s how they’re performing and that’s what we have seen from most of these guys. And and the thing for me all year long was they didn’t come out and say it at the beginning of the year, but it was clear they didn’t go get a cleanup hitter because they thought they had one. They they were betting on Christian Strand to develop into that guy and it did not happen. I mean, it it it was so so much of a crash and burn. I mean, he had injuries, sure, but at the same time, when he was healthy, he had no plate discipline whatsoever. He had no pitch recognition whatsoever. And sure, he had a lot of power. And boy, he had that grand slam at Fenway, but outside of that, like this season was a I mean, the season is a huge disappointment for him. But even like outside of that hit, like he didn’t really do anything. And so because of that, you constantly saw this rotating cast of cleanup hitters and none of them ever took hold the reigns. Like we never saw Tyler Stevenson go. We never saw Austin Hayes. Like Austin Hayes like had a couple of weeks where you thought maybe and then he went back to being just okay. And that was the biggest problem. That and the number two spot in this lineup. I mean, when your t two of your top four spots in your lineup are huge holes, that’s where your lineup just really cannot recover from. Yeah. The the Reds never really found a combination that could consistently get it going. And that’s really the key word. Um, this this group of hitters was consistently inconsistent. You just never knew what you were going to get from day to day. Uh, nobody ever really got hot at the same time, multiple players. Uh, it was always just one guy and then another guy. Um, and there there were lots of there’s lots of disappointment to go around uh, in this lineup. You look at Matt Mlan and his zero war for the season. Uh, I don’t think anybody predicted that heading into the year, even with the shoulder injury. He finished with a slash line of 220, 300, 343. Now, the slugging was clearly not there. The fact that he got his on base percentage up to 300 during the course of the year, that’s great. He was still good for what, 15 home 15 home runs in 2025. So, there he showed signs, especially more towards the end that he was figuring it out. He’s somebody that’s a big question mark, but somebody also that the Reds need to count on next year. CES, on the other hand, I think was totally counted on to be the power hitter they didn’t get. CES was totally counted on to be the first base cleanup hitting masher of this lineup. He never was. And we head now into 2026, a vastly different expectation of CS, which is, is he even going to be part of the conversation? Is he even going to be part of the team? I don’t think he’s really even going to be given much of an opportunity because you’ve got Spencer Ste a look, right? A look. He’s gonna get a peak. He’s going to be that minor league insurance guy. And I I what a difference in narrative between the beginning of 2025, the off season of 2025, and then the offseason heading into 2026. Whole different narrative for C. He’s where Will Benson was at the beginning of this season. Yeah. Like exactly. Can you can you convince me you deserve playing time? that’s where he’s going to be next season. And I find this intriguing too, Steve. Like, as much as we belabor the cleanup spot, this is something that I’ve been kind of monitoring all year long, especially considering that a guy who got a good chunk of playing time in this batting order position was Santiago Espanol. But the number two spot in the lineup was also very horrible to the two that the collective that was the number two hitter in the Red’s lineup this year, Steve, grounded into 20 double plays. So as much as we talked about, man, TJ Fredle can get on base. And you know, there was that thing all year long that we heard from the broadcast at different points where they’re like, you know, Terry Franona took TJ Fidel aside in the offseason. they went golfing or something and and he told them he told him just get on base twice a game and quite frankly TJ Fredo was pretty good at doing that. The problem was he get to first base and then the dude just stepped up next to him hits into a double play and then it doesn’t matter. In fact, there were only three teams, Steve, three teams that saw their number two hitter ground into more double plays than the Reds did in 2025. It’s it is ridiculous how quickly the number two hole hitter in this in this Red’s lineup, whoever it was, and there was definitely a rotating cast of characters in this, but whoever it was, that was that guy was killing the rally before it ever began. I mean, you had Matt Mlan with the most at bats in the number two spot, the most uh the most games after him was Santiago Espanol. But because Santiago Espanol didn’t do all that great, he had less at bats than Noelvie Marte did. But Matt Mlan, Santiago Espanol, and Noelvie Marte combined for pretty much the entire let’s see that’s 60 was yeahund 126 games. So you’re talking about like what’s that 26 more game 36 more games whatever it is that weren’t those three guys. But none of them just really like Noelie Marte got bumped up there cuz he was going crazy when he first came up after you know the injury and then whenever he hit into the second spot he just stopped hitting. Yeah. The and again the inconsistency that was really the only consistent thing about this team. The the frustration with this lineup, you know, they they did things the most frustrating way possible. Uh, every time you thought they were about to turn a corner, every time you thought there was about to be a big rally, every time you thought that they had finally figured it out, it would go the complete different direction. You look up and down this lineup, Jeeoff, and I these some of these numbers are just staggering now that the season’s over and you really go back and look at it. Uh, just looking at OPS plus for this team and and excluding guys that had small sample sizes. So, I’m talking about guys that were here over a hundred games for the Reds in 2025. You look at the OPS+ and you say, “Well, of course it’s going to be Ellie de la Cruz that leads the team.” But just like with the war, you look at his OPS+ 109, 9% better than league average. The best player, the a face of Major League Baseball, the face of the franchise, the guy that was supposed to be driving the lineup, 9% better than league average. They only f in fact Jeff had three guys with a 100 or more games played that had an OPS plus above league average. They had Elliott at 109. They had Austin Hayes at 105. And they had TJ Fredel at 102. That’s it. It’s hilarious to me because I also think about Hayes and I’m just like, man, I I think he could have given the Reds more. He could have had a better season, but I think part of that was injuries, but you’re right. like he still was the second best hitter on the lineup. So, it’s hard to say that best hitter in the lineup. Didn’t have a horrible. It tells you a lot about the lineup. It tells you a whole lot about the lineup. A lot about the lineup. And there’s there’s lots of things that need to happen this off seasonason. I think that there are some shuffling that needs to go on and shuffling via trade and some additions and subtractions and things like that. And Nick Crawl and Brad Better had some things to say about that. yesterday they met with the media and uh it seemed like status quo but I I don’t necessarily know I I think there’s something else to this. We’ll get into that in just a moment. Money is always a problem and it more money problems. No money more problems. Lots of problems. Monarch Money helps you have less problems because they help you monitor your money. Whether it be your spending, whether it be your investment accounts, all of your accounts are in one place. If you go to monarchmoney.com and get started today, you can get half off your first year and see everything there in one screen. You just need one login to see your debit, your credit, your investment, all of it right there. And you can set spending limits to help you track just how much you spend and really set your budget up well. Plus, they help it make it easy to link up with a partner on Monarch Money. You all can manage your finances in one spot and they make it easy. help hopefully helping those awkward conversations be a little bit less awkward. Stop financially surviving and start financially thriving with Monarch Money today. Go to monarchmoney.com and use the promo code lockdown for 50% off your first year. Again, it’s half off your first year at monarchmoney.com and the promo code locked on MLB. Thank you for making Lockdown Reds part of your everyday routine. If you’re an everyday, you’re awesome. And if you’re not an everyday, hit that subscribe button right here on YouTube or on your favorite podcast app. We are on every single app there is. Uh and also, you know, Tim Daniel, he’ll be back with us at some point this offseason talking Reds baseball. But once the season gets going again next year, he’s always here with the postcast as well. All right, Steve. So, you know, the lineup everybody knew really big weakness of this ball club and there w that was a huge topic of conversation yesterday as Nick Crawl and Brad Meet met with the media and as much as I wish there was video that we could have clipped of this, there was plenty of things written about this. Charlie Goldsmith had a lot to say on his Substack about the the interview, about the press time that they had with the two guys in charge of the Red’s front office. And his overall feeling was status quo. Nothing will change. Everything’s fine. We just need to shore up a couple of spots and we’re okay. Which is every Red’s fan’s great fear. And let me assuage that right now because I think this is not Nick Crawl admitting that he won’t be able to do anything. This is Nick Crawl trying to tell us to not have any expectations because he has ideas. He’s just not sure that he can do them. I think this is him holding his cards super close to his vest. Maybe Nick Crawl has finally learned to to stop putting his foot in his mouth. Um and also guys like Charlie are trying to get clicks. that’s how they’re getting paid. So, if you read between the lines of what Charlie had to say, um the, you know, Charlie had to say, the roster is largely set. That’s true. You know, we know the Reds need outfield, the Reds need bullpin, but the rest of the team is fairly set. The infield is set, catcher set, starting pitcher set. So, if they go out and sign four big guys and we’re all thrilled, Charlie can still say, “Well, that’s four out of 26. The roster was largely set.” So, that’s what I think’s going on with the way Charlie Freys thinks. That being said, Nick Crawl is finally learning how to GM speak. Nick Crawl is finally learning how to say the things without saying anything. And it only took a few years of him really sticking those loafers in his mouth to to get this right. But I think the Reds are absolutely going to be looking there’s absolutely they have to they have to go out and look for bullpen. They have to go out and look for something in the outfield. something has to be done out there. So there there are things, but I think what Nick Crawl is not going to do is tell you we are targeting that left field power bat. We that’s really what we need because then when he can’t go get the left-handed or the left field power bat, then we’re like, oh, the offseason was a total disaster. They didn’t do what they said they were going to do. Um and and this way Nick can say, you know, we’re we’re just looking for opportunities to make our team better. we really like the guys that we have and we’re going to we’re going to evaluate on a playerby player basis and do what we think is best for this ball club. That’s the answer. It’s clear that Nick Crawl has seen the Fast and Furious movies because when you go into something with no expectations, you have a lot of fun. And I think that that’s what he’s trying to do with the offseason for the Cincinnati Reds is not set expectations. But I find this intriguing, too, is what one of the quotes that he said about, you know, improving the roster and going out and getting guys, Nick Crawl had this to say. I don’t think there’s a specific style where you need this or you need that. Would you like more power? Sure. Would you like more defense? Sure. Are you going to get a guy who’s onedimensional and can’t do other things? You don’t want to do that. You want to get the best players you can. And Steve, I know exactly what you’re thinking right now. I put far more personality behind that than probably what he had to say whenever or what he did whenever he said it. But no, that’s fine. That’s all he needs to say. I don’t need him to tell me that yes, we are getting Kyle Schwarber because number one, they’re not. They’re going to get outbid by three other teams before they’re able to do that. And I don’t need him to say that we are looking for, you know, some guy who who drives a Prius and and and he’s he really likes to vacation down south and like, you know, I don’t I don’t know, Louisiana. I like you don’t need to be specific with your with your target here. You can just tell us we know we need to make this team better and that’s all I need to hear and then go. I I love that what you reached back and found was Prius. That’s that’s funny. Listen, I I think this is the answer for me, Jeff. I don’t need any more words at all from this front office. I want zero words. I want the only words out of this front office to be this is what we did. Here are the actions we completed. Here are the things we accomplished. We signed this guy. It’s done. No, don’t tell me that you’re looking at this guy or you’ve had loose conversations with that dude or you happen to call up the agent and find out what that guy’s sandwich order was. Tell me the guys that you signed because I’m tired of hearing about we’ve had conversations with that. That’s all crap. We all know that it’s crap. They’re going to say, “We had conversations with Kyle Schwarber.” Yeah, it went, “Hey, Kyle, what’s your starting number?” And then he’s going to be like, “Bob, Kyle’s starting number was this.” And and Bob’s going to be like, “Is Espanol still available? Is he guy still around?” Oh, God help us. That’s going to be that’s that’s the conversations. I don’t want to hear about the conversations. And I know we get baseball starved in the offseason and we’re all excited about what is what’s the rumor? What’s the thing? Oh, the Reds. They had a conversation with who. Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m sick of it. Just sign guys. Just sign guys. Friendly friendly reminder. Obviously, nobody’s a free agent yet because the playoffs are still going on. But as soon as people become free agents, as soon as trades open back up and you start hearing rumors, 99.9% of the time that is coming from the agent, that is not coming from the Red’s front office. They they really like, especially when it comes to rumors, they hold things close to the chest. And I think that early on in his career, Nick Crawl thought he could be, you know, benevolent with his thoughts to the media. And all of us Reds fans were just like, “Yay!” and then those things didn’t happen and we’re just like boo. You know, there’s a lot of people that have a very negative opinion of Nick Crawl right now. And so, he understands that. He understands this team needs to be better next year. There’s an opportunity in front of them. And if they don’t seize it, then the whole peaks and valleys thing will just be absolute hogwash. And and I really think that we will get to a point where this team will make sense to us between now and opening day. But there’s going to be a lot of speculation based on what we’re hearing from agents and from other sources that are not inside the offices at Great American Ballpark. So, just keep that part in mind as well. Yeah, I I’m I’m not I’m not ready to push the they said status quo panic button, Jeff. I I I think there’s going to be things happen. There’s going to be conversations to be had. There there there’s going to be guys signed. It’s just the the turnover of the roster that we’re going to get into when it actually happens. When we reach the actual end because it’s not the end of the 2025 season, we’re just done. Um once we get to the end of the 2025 season, we can really start to lean into, okay, here’s who the Reds didn’t have back. Here’s the guys that had club options, mutual options, player options. Here’s how it all shook out. Here’s the actual openings on this team. And once we have that, we can really start to lean into how much money was freed up, what we think the budget will look like. The budget’s going to be about the same next year as it was this year. That’s just the way that it’s going to be. Maybe just Maisie, maybe Nick Craw will be able to ring his hands a little bit and Phil will throw him a few more dollars, but the budget’s going to be largely the same. and we’ll be able to look at the numbers that were freed up and really start to realistically have conversations about these are the players they could target with that amount of money. And we don’t even know who those players are yet because, you know, does Kyle Schwarber even actually hit the outfield market. I don’t think he’s going to. I think the day that free agents can sign, he’s gonna have a deal with Philly. I I think that’s what’s going to happen. Um, so we don’t know who the players even are yet. So, while it’s fun right now and lots of people are chomping at the bit to get that content out there, get get those rumors reported. Get those get the speculation started. Well, it’s all conjecture. It’s all it’s all grasping at straws. And nobody has any clue what this team’s going to do yet. Uh nobody uh the front office doesn’t even have a clue what this team’s going to do yet. they they’re waiting just like we are to see who’s available, what the money looks like, what the budget’s going to be, and then they’re going to make their plans, and they’re going to develop their their targets. So, anybody that tells you right now that they think they know what’s happening, they don’t. And so, the question I have then is, are the answers in house? And I don’t necessarily mean currently on the major league roster. We’ll get into that next. There’s nothing like catching a sporting event live. 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They’re still watching every single game the rest of the way all the way through the World Series so that you don’t have to and you’ll know exactly what’s going on. All right, Jeff, that was a very interesting uh tease you went you went with there as we went into that last break. Um, is the answer in house? Is the help in house? Uh, that’s a great tease. Tell me what you think. So, it’s a thought that I have because he’s in the Arizona Fall League right now. He actually went one for four, had a couple of RBI’s last night in his Arizona Fall League debut. And he’s a guy that a lot of people have sort of earmarked as a prospect that you wouldn’t want to trade. In some cases, some people have even said he’s untradeable. Not not for bad reason, but for good reason. And that is Cam Collier because Cam Collier has power. Cam Collier could be a middle of the order type hitter. And if he shows that he’s healthy and that he’s ready to go, could we see Cam Collier be the answer at first base next year? Because here’s what you do. You put him at first, you move Steer to left field and you solve your left field problem. Or at least that would be the plan with this. And then you could even have South Stewart at third base. Or maybe you trade Key Brian Hayes for some bullpin help or something. I I there there’s definitely moving parts that have to happen for this to make sense. But but could the Reds be doing it? Well, stranger things have happened. Look, Cam Collier spent 74 games in Chattanooga uh in the 2025 baseball season. He’s still playing, as you say. They’ve got him out in the Arizona Fall League. Um what does that mean? I think that means he’s going to get one of those peekaboo spots in spring training where he gets a lot of times the first couple. He gets a lot of he gets a lot of playing time early. See what he kind of does. if he does well, he starts the season in Louisville and then we see what we’ve got. Uh we see what opportunities create are are available for him. Um I don’t see any scenario where he breaks camp with this team in 2026. He he’s heading into his age 21 season. Hasn’t played at the AAA level yet. He plays first base, third base, and designated hitter. That’s where the log jam is right now. Um, I I I really think realistically we could see him in 2026, but it will not be on opening day. That’s fair. And and because I I’m curious about this because we were also talking about the fact that like you could squint real hard and if the Reds just aren’t able to make a major upgrade in left field, you bring back Miguel Andrew and platoon Gavin Lux and Miguel Andrew in left field. Gavin Lux was okay to below average defensively. His arm is not good out in left field, but he has a solid grasp of the position. And so, like, you could sort of squint and say, “Okay, it’s not a great answer, but it’s a better answer than not doing anything, I guess.” But I I think what I’m saying here is like the Reds are going to look internally. And if they can keep Miguel Anduhar and make him part of the plan, then that’s interesting to look at moving forward. But I think it’s more likely, Stephen, this is the other part of this, that if they are going to keep it in house, I think it’s more likely that they use Gavin Lux as the left-handed part of that platoon than Will Benson. As much as I love Will Benson, I someday w would would love to know the behind thescenes dynamics between Terry Francona and Will Benson. I would love to know what it all came to a head there in Los Angeles. It was clear something was I would love to know there there’s something there. I don’t know what it is. Haven’t heard any speculation. And I mean I’ve asked this is just us watching. I have asked people close to the team. Nobody has a a handle on this, but there’s clearly something going on there. Um, I think you’re right though, Gavin Lux. You don’t have to squint very hard to see the 2026 left fielder for the Cincinnati Reds being a platoon of Anduhar and Gavin Lux in left field. And that is a really not great defensive situation for the Cincinnati Reds. But no, that guy that guy that combined superpower dude could hit a little bit. So, but honestly, like let let’s let’s also compare it to past platoon. Like the left field platoon that I think of that I’m not saying it’s great. I’m just saying it’s the first thing on top of my mind here was the Phil Irvin Jesse Winker platoon. And that that platoon was not good defensively either. Like Phil Irvin was better defensively than Jesse Winker was. But in this case, it’d be Miguel Andrew Hart that is better defensively than Gavin Lux. But at the same time, that’s the right-handed part of that platoon. That’s the part of the platoon that plays the least. So that would be interesting. And the reason that we’re saying Miguel Andrew in left field, even though he didn’t play left field for the Reds, he was hurt during his time here in Cincinnati. I I think the reasoning that we’re not into the platoon is is is kind of Gavin Lux and that’s not fair to him because he’s a solid batter. It’s just the defensive side of it asking him to play left field. I’d feel better about it if it were somehow second base. But I don’t think you’re platooning Matt Mlan. I think Matt Mlan gets everyday playing time until he’s proven guilty next year. So it’s left field. Left field is where you put that platoon. And it’s either Gavin Lux or it’s Will Benson. And it’s clear that whatever the inner workings are of that relationship that it’s Gavin Lux over well Benson. And so I I and and also I was looking at this too Stephen this is the other interesting part that I wanted to just touch on for this moment and we’ll probably dive into it during the offseason but when it comes to Will Benson the key to him was limiting his exposure to left-handed hitters. Well, this year against right-hand or right-hand or left-handed pitchers, this year against right-handed pitchers, he was actually 7% below league average according to most guys who face right-handed pitching. So, he wasn’t even a plus in his own element. And so, that’s kind of something I think the Reds are going to look at and be like, I just don’t know, man, because he’s arbitration eligible. I think I saw some projected number that he’s due probably around 2 million. I think that the Reds probably look to use that money elsewhere. I I agree with that. I I think uh I think his days are done here in Cincinnati. I I just don’t see which is a bummer because I really liked him, but I I understand the business aspect of it all. So, you know, there’s a lot of questions, a lot of questions that remain to be answered, Jeff. A lot of things that are still going to have to play out. How do the Reds fix this? Well, we’re going to have to wait and see. We’re going to have to wait and see who’s available. We’re going to have to wait and see how much money they have. and we’re going to have to wait and see how some of the guys down in the system develop as we head through the offseason. Um, lots more questions than there are answers right now. And that is where we’re going to go ahead and wrap up this edition of Locked on Reds. Listen folks, we’re going to be here with you all off season long. We’re going to be breaking down what happened in 2025. We’re going to be getting you ready for what’s going to happen in 2026. We’re going to be covering all of the news, all of the notes, all of the rumors. We’re gather up all of the information. Thanks as always for making us your first listen. Again, go check out Locked on MLB, make them your second listen each and every day. Check out Sully, check out Locked on MLB game night. You’re going to get all of the league information that you need right there in one place. And again, we’re going to keep gathering up all of that info to keep you locked on Reds every single day. It just feels like Will Benson like spoiled the ending of a movie for Terry Franker or something. There’s there’s that’s one of the nicer speculations.

The Cincinnati Reds’ offensive woes in 2025 take center stage as Jeff Carr and Steve Offenbaker dissect the team’s disappointing performance. Analyzing key players like Elly De La Cruz and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, they explore why the Reds’ bet on young talent didn’t pay off. The hosts dive into individual struggles, including Matt McLain’s unexpected zero WAR season and TJ Friedl’s relative success.
General Manager Nick Krall’s offseason strategy comes under scrutiny as Jeff and Steve interpret his recent statements. They weigh potential roster moves, internal solutions like Cam Collier’s promotion, and the future roles of Miguel Andújar and Gavin Lux. Will Benson’s situation and a possible left field platoon round out the discussion, offering insights into the Cincinnati Reds’ path forward.
Get the full scoop on the Reds’ offensive struggles and potential solutions – listen now!

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