Cincinnati Reds Offseason Questions ANSWERED – Including an ALL STAR They Will NOT Trade For

Cincinnati Reds Offseason Questions ANSWERED – Including an ALL STAR They Will NOT Trade For

There are many questions surrounding the Cincinnati Reds this off season like how will they get better? Well, I know for sure one thing they won’t do. They will not trade for Catel Marte. 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 Lockdown Reds podcast. Lockdown Reds is part of the Lockdown podcast network. We are your team, your Reds every single day, and we thank you for helping us make Lockdown the number one sports podcast network in the country. On today’s show, this is a replay of our Q&A from the live show on Friday. We will do live shows throughout the offseason, so make sure you join us for those. But we cover a wide range of offseason topics. We begin with would the Reds trade for Catel Marte from Arizona? I’m going to tell you why that ain’t happening. At least based on some of the reported trade packages other other teams are are looking at. It’s it’s insane. We’ll also get into some other things like should Ellie move to the outfield? Uh did the Dodgers just make this whole salary cap thing a foregone conclusion? We’ll get into the Kyle Schwarber of it all and talk about many options that the Reds could look at to make their team better, including maybe trading away key Brian Hayes, all on today’s edition of Locked On Reds. That is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app today, create an account, and use the promo code lockdown MLB to save $20 off your first purchase. That’s uh download Game Time right now. But the question is this. Look at Reese Hines numbers in Triple A last year and tell me that he doesn’t need to get a shot for a full-time outfield spot. He’s only been given less than 100 at bats in MLB. He’s your power bat. I don’t know what’s going on between Reese Hines and the Reds organization, but it very much feels like he’s getting the Nick Senzel near the end of treatment and I don’t understand why. Um, when the Reds were in desperate need last year of some quality at bats and some power and some time, Ree Hines never got a phone call. And that tells me pretty much all I need to know about what the organization thinks about him. And I don’t know what happened, Jeff. I didn’t hear anything. The people I talked to haven’t heard anything, but something definitely happened. I find it strange and I don’t I don’t necessarily ascribe to AAA stats and and and that being the reason that I want to see a guy. The reason that I want to see more of Ree Hines is his peripherals. Dude has one of the fastest swings in the major leagues, at least according to the bat tracking stuff that um Baseball Savant uses. Now, of course, he’s only played a little bit, so they’re not saying that he is qualified to be ranked in any of these numbers, but had he played long enough to get qualified, he’d be in the top 80 or top 85% of swing speed in the major leagues. He’d also be in the top 90% in barrel rate. He hits the ball hard. He swings the bat fast. His issue is discipline, plate discipline. And I feel like you can work on that. Like I feel like with bat speed and and his quality of contact and things like that, the ability to hit the ball hard, that’s the hard thing to work on. But for some reason, it almost feels and this this isn’t just a resign thing. This feels like a Red’s thing where it feels as though they would rather have somebody with good plate discipline that doesn’t necessarily hit the ball that hard as opposed to the opposite because they would rather teach hard hitting than teach, you know, batter eye at the plate. And I feel like that would be the thing that would at least be a little bit easier to teach like hard hitting and, you know, changing a guy’s swing that could change so many different things about his game. Rhys Hines has the swing. He just now needs to focus in on the strike zone and really understanding that. So I would and I agree with the commenter. I would love to see more of Ree Hines. The problem is the Reds are telling us they don’t trust something about Ree Hines. And as much as we have wavering trust in how they evaluate players, I still tend to believe that they have guys that know what they’re talking about. So I I would love to see more from Ree Hines. But if if uh if Nick Crawl or Terry Francona or whoever were to step in front of a microphone tomorrow and tell me that Reese Hines is the starting left fielder for opening day, I don’t necessarily think that makes me feel super comfortable just because of the lack of opportunity they’ve given him. And I I I would love to see more from him, but he is not the answer. As Ty asks, are the Reds trying to get Catel Marte from the Arizona Diamondbacks? You know, I saw that flurry of talk coming across. I think that that was Arizona um trying to drive up the price on on Catel Marte. That’s how I took that. How’d that hit you? Yeah, I I think that he is going to be dealt, but I don’t think that the rest I think that they’re looking for the same type of trade package that Nick Crawl should be looking for for Hunter Green. And I saw a um a rumored not a rumored post, but like a one of those like, “Oh, this, you know, this would be an interesting trade offer um from a from another baseball website.” And I’m not going to shout them out because I’m going to shred the trade offer to bits. The trade offer was Catel Marte to the Reds for Hunter Green, Matt Mlan, and um I think Rhett Lauder. It was one of the pitching prospects. And I was like, “Are you insane?” No, that is a horrible deal. Horrible, horrible deal. So, I was I was I was laughing at that. I’m like, if that’s what it’s gonna take, he can go anywhere else. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. How about this? Did the Dodgers winning the World Series again increase the odds of the owners holding out for a salary cap? There will not be another Listen, this is how strongly I think this is how it’s going to go. There will not be another CBA that does not include a salary cap. all of the owners except unless you own the Dodgers or your last name is Cohen are going to hold out for a salary cap. Um that is where the state of baseball is. Um there will if there’s baseball in 2027, I will be stunned. I I think that the decision was made far before the World Series and seeing Hal Steinbrer’s quote the other day, the owner of the New York Yankees saying, “Boy, if if fans knew just how much money we spent on like the stadium lease and stuff like that, they’d stop saying things about how rich we are. The New York Yankees are trying to cry poor. That’s where we are right now. The owners are getting ready to fight for some sort of CBA.” And just to kind of hit this point home a little bit, looking back at this chart that I very smartly kept up here and did not delete, um the the whole like revenue to spending thing, one of the things that absolutely stunned me, the opposite of the Blue Jays, because the Blue Jays stunned me in the fact that they were 13th in revenue, fifth in spending. The Chicago Cubs in 2024 were third in revenue and in 2025 they were 14th in spending, spending about 36% uh payroll to revenue ratio. The Chicago Cubs are part of the group that is going to fight for a salary cap. And if you’ve got the Cubs, you’ve got the White Socks. And you’ve got the Cubs and the White Socks and the Yankees, then this is going to be a knockdown dragout fight. Keegan asked, “Will Matt Mlan stay or will they trade him or sign a replacement?” Um, well, Matt Mlan right now doesn’t have very much in trade value. You could get a little something for him, but he needs to go back out there and prove who he is. Um, so I don’t think they’ll trade him. He’s not going to get an extension offer again anytime soon. Uh, and signing a replacement. They still have several years of team control on Matt Mlan. So, they’re not going to replace him. Matt Mlan’s going to play every day if he’s healthy. Um, he’s in this lineup for 150 plus games in 2026 as long as he’s not injured. There’s just no way around it. I love seeing the uh the Zips projection on him of being a three-war player because I think we would all sign up for that right now if we knew that he was a three-war player next year. And I think that there’s just something too like you mentioned, you know, him just going through the shoulder injury and all of that stuff because it’s 147 games of a zero war season where he was 3.6 war in 89 games. And I want to highlight that because war is accumulative. It is not sample size based. So you have to have more games to have more war. And the fact that he had 3.6 6 were in 89 games tells me that there’s plenty of talent there and that he was still going through quite a bit even through 2025. I think that 2026 we will see that breakout and I believe that the Reds are betting on that too. And here’s the thing, if you’re thinking if you’re in the camp that you believe that Matt Mlan can be traded, that is the only thing that they can sell people on in a deal is that yeah, he will bounce back. And then if I’m an opposing GM, I would ask Nick Crawl, then why aren’t you keeping him? Because if that’s what he’s going to do, it’s just a wait and see game. Baseball is such a long game type of thing when it comes to player performance and and so many different variables with this game. Like you cannot sit here and say we are out on Matt Mlan right now in his entire career because of one season because teams just don’t do that unless that season is just absolutely god awful. And as much as we want to, as much as folks want to sensationalize the struggles that Matt Mlan had in 2025, he was a replacement level player, but he was not a horrible, horrible player. The next time you’re looking to get into an event, you got to use Game Time to get there because Game Time makes the ticket buying process simple. Whether it is showing you your view from your seat, showing you your all-in pricing before you ever put the ticket in your cart. So many great things. And there’s even zone deals and and great lastm minute deals on Game Time. Whether you’re talking about a a game, a football game, a basketball game, whether you’re talking about a concert, a comedy event, all of it can be found on Game Time. I use Game Time all the time. In fact, I’m got the chance to go to a Cyclones game here recently. Use Game Time to get there. Game time’s going to have you covered. Download the Game Time app today. Create an account and use the promo code locked on MLB. You’ll save an extra $20 off that first purchase. So, you’ll get some good deals and you’ll get an extra $20 off with that promo code locked on MLB. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. All right, let’s get into this one. This one’s going to be fun. Jeeoff, I can’t wait to see how you handle this. What do the Reds have against people like Hines and Benson? I’m not saying that either of them are future Hall of Famers, but can’t but the Reds can’t give them a chance. Well, they gave Benson a chance, and he was terrible. He was terrible. Horrible bad. Um I think he’s got Benson’s gotten all the opportunities the Reds are going to give him to be a full-time outfielder for this team. Uh the Hines thing, like I just said, I don’t understand it. Um, 100 at bats doesn’t paint much of a picture. Unless there’s just something we don’t know that’s just so bad. I I don’t understand the resin thing. But Will Benson, I think his days in Cincinnati are numbered. There’s got to there’s just got to be like more behind the scenes stuff than just what we have seen on the field because I mean Will Benson was one of the best power bats in the lineup last year. And I get it, the rest of his game really wasn’t following suit, but if you sort the Reds by slugging percentage and you don’t care about like sample size and anything like that, he was seventh. And then if you just want to say, okay, guys who played 90 or more games, he was fourth. Like he was one of the best sluggers on the team. Now his on base percentage of 273 is just awful. And that’s got to be a lot better. But he never walked. It was it was a three true outcomes guy where he only did two of the true outcomes where he either homer or he struck out. And for some reason it just kind of feels like the Reds are trying to shun the three true outcomes thing. Like they want people that don’t strike out and they want people that hit singles. And Will Benson isn’t that guy. And so maybe that’s just as easy as the explanation. And same with Ree Hines. Those guys want to hit the ball hard and they want to hit the ball out of the park. But that also is going to mean there’s going to be some swinging missing their game. albeit the Reds still ranked really highly in strikeouts. So there’s a lot of like contradictory strategies going on with this lineup. I just I find it strange that that couldn’t be the left field platoon, right? Will Benson and Ree Hines, but if it was going to be that way for this year, I think we would have seen more of both last year. Uh how many days ago was it you did uh pretty much uh most of a show on O’Harn? That was two days ago. Two two days ago. Yeah. So there’s a couple It was Tuesday. It was Tuesday. Yeah. Ultraactive. I see your your comment here. There’s a whole show. Go back in the archives like two days. Jeff did a whole show on O’Harn. Um, and then in that same comment, there’s also a uh, and I’ve seen it a couple times, trade for Durant. Does the Do you think that’s still an option? Do you think they still look to move Durant? I think so. It’s just it’s going to have to be something really really good because now they feel better about their starting rotation. They’re not desperate because we because we talked about that in conjunction with the Hunter Green deal. That’s that’s where we were talking about it. Yeah, because I don’t know that like you could trade Brady Singer for Jiren Duran. Um and I think that if you’re talking about a trade for Jiren Duran, you’re probably going to have to offer somebody from the starting rotation because I don’t know who else on this team moves that needle that much. And if you’re talking about prospects, you’re going to have to put together a package of prospects, not just one or two, probably three. I I think you would need to trade a major leaguer for Jiren Durant and that only comes from the starting rotation. I think it’s probably one of the guys that we don’t want to see traded like Green or Lollo or Abbott or somebody like that that gets that deal done. This from Brian. Is it a good idea to keep Hayes at third given he’s an automatic out? Is his glove really that valuable in the lineup that struggles so much at the plate? Um, I would trade Key Brian Hayes right now for a bucket of baseballs if if could get a deal done. Um, just to free up that money to spend on somebody else. I get what Nick Crawl was trying to do when he brought him over here. And yes, his glove is amazing. I do not worry about a ground ball hit to third base with Key Brian Hayes over there. 9.99 times out of 10, he’s going to do something spectacular with it. All that being said, no, it’s not worth keeping that bat in the lineup. Now, I did see something come across the other day that Key Brian Hayes has been in Cincinnati. He has been working with Red Strength and Conditioning. He has been doing all kinds of things to try and get his back closer to form where he was when he was hitting well or where he was at least hitting better. Um, so if they don’t trade him this off seasonason, our only hope is that he shows up for 2026 with some improved back strength and is able to get around on the ball better and that that chronic back injury doesn’t bother him as much. And then maybe, you know, he still would be a seven, eight, nine hitter, but if he’s not an automatic out, now it’s a different conversation. So hopefully some of that hard work pays off that he’s doing right now trying to get that back dialed in. Yeah, because he’s got to be able to get around on the inside pitch because opposing pitchers understand the scouting report on him. He wants to go the other way. He wants to poke a line drive into right or Yeah. into right field and get a single that way or or hit one into the gap and get a double. So, if you just throw him inside, he cannot get around on that enough to get the bat on the ball and get a decent hit. The best he can hope to do is foul it off and then eventually he’s just going to swing and miss anyway or he’s going to roll over top of it and hit a ground ball. So that’s kind of where that part comes into play. I think you can stomach him in the lineup if you improve the lineup enough elsewhere because he can work on a team that has the middle of the order figured out that has a first baseman that is a typical first baseman type hitter that has maybe one other guy in the middle of the lineup and then you can kind of stomach him batting eighth. But traditionally, no. You can’t have a glove a glove first third baseman, but it could work if you build out the rest of the roster. That’s the only thing that I would say would make sense to keep him. I don’t agree with the bucket of baseballs, but if you could get a decent relief pitcher for him, I’d take that. We didn’t give up a whole lot to get him. Just keep that in mind. Um, interesting. There there there’s a a multi- comment thread developing here in the chat, Jeff, that’s basically questioning is Key Brian Hayes taking away time and at bats from South Stewart. You and I both think South Stewart is the first baseman on this team, not the third unless they make for a first base unless unless they go out and sign a first baseman. So, um I don’t think one impacts the other. I think that the real question is, you know, will Spencer Steer sees time at third base if Sal Stewart is playing at first base? Um, I don’t know. Um, either way, both of them are better offensively. I think it I think it could be a time share like like defensively, not lineupwise. Lineup wise, South Stewart should be playing every day, but glovewise, if you almost split it down the middle where Spencer Steer plays other positions on the day that South Stewart plays first base and then South Stewart DHes on the days that Spencer Steer plays first base, then you could totally get that done. The issue is going to be like how does the roster shake out lefty power hitter wise? because they got to add one dude from the left side with some power, I think. And that’s kind of why I advocated for Ryan O’Harn. He’s a lefty that he’s got a little bit of power, not a lot, but a little bit to the point that you would feel good about putting him at first base and DH and then you could kind of move things around there. Although he doesn’t have platoon splits either. I’m just saying like in terms of roster strategy, it kind of still feels like this this team has a bit of a clump of guys who can play all of the positions in the infield but aren’t necessarily like the all the all out like absolutely have to bat him in the middle of the order every single day type guy. So if somebody emerges like that, which I think South Stewart is the best chance to do that, then that’s the guy that should be playing every single day in this lineup. So, how they block all of that, it’s not going to be Key Brian Hayes that keeps him from playing first base or from playing in the lineup every day. It’s going to be who’s at first base. How does that affect South Stewart in the lineup every day? Because I think right now it’s him. And if that changes, then there’s more questions that need to be asked because if they do go get a first baseman like Ryan O’Harn, then you would need to conceivably decide Hayes or Stewart because you can’t start Hayes every day and then bring in Stewart as a pinch hitter later on in the game or vice versa and get the best out of both players. I just also we do this all the time. South Stewart doesn’t have that many more big league at bats than me. So, let’s let’s temper our expectations. I see the vision. I see the vision though. I’m I’m okay. Like I know that’s we do this every time we do you. We all everybody and when I say we I am talking collectively of Red’s country that you know listen Aristes Aino just plant that seed in the back of your head about what a hot start can ultimately result in. So let’s see some consistency over time before we’re ready to anoint Sal Stewart as a 10-year member of the Cincinnati Reds. I don’t know what Sal Stewart is. So, let’s let’s just take our foot off that gas pedal a little bit. I think um and and not and not clutch the pearls about how his playing time is going to be impacted. That’s what I’m saying. I will say it does it did look like Sal Stewart got a lot better the more at bats he got. So, I think he will continue to get better, but I’m with you. It’s it’s tough to say that a guy who has 55 professional at bats um is the reason that you don’t go out and make one particular move in the Okay, here we go. We haven’t talked about this one in a minute, Jeff. It’s probably going to make us mad. Plenty of game action to get in on over at FanDuel. And I’m looking at the Cincinnati Bearcats as they’re headed on the road this weekend. going to be closing out the season against TCU. The Lion has actually moved. The Bearcats opened as four and a half point underdogs. They are now three and a half point underdogs. That’s an interesting one to bet on as a cover. I’m not necessarily sure that I love it, but that might be something that you love on over at FanDuel. And if you’re a new user and you place $5 on that and you get a win, you get $300 in bonus bets. Those kind of odds you can’t find anywhere else. And plus, you can check out all the stuff, whether it’s NCAA football, NCAA basketball, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL. It’s all on FanDuel, and you can take advantage of so many different lines. Whether it’s the spread, the money line, the overunder, prop bets galore, FanDuel’s got you covered all season long. Make sure you download FanDuel today. Jason asks, “When are we going to have a discussion about the fact that the Reds refuse to move Ellie or that Ellie refuses to move to center field?” That is a real issue for this team. I don’t know that Ellie’s refused to do anything. I don’t know that he’s even been asked. I don’t know who it is that’s dug in on this Elliot at shortstop thing, but I do agree with the sentiment behind the question, which is the best version of the Red’s lineup involves Ellie de la Cruz playing in the outfield. I also disagree. Like we’ve talked about this quite a lot. Like this isn’t something we’ve ignored. Um but no, I mean I I agree with you. I think he should be in the outfield, but for whatever reason, they haven’t started that process yet. Like the the weird thing was when they moved Noelie Marte to the outfield, it was on a whim. Like he had played a couple of games in right field and then at the trade deadline, they’re like, “We got a third baseman. Marte’s a right fielder now.” So, it makes me wonder if they’re going to do that with Ellie, too. Because when you look at guys like Fernando Tatis or O’Neal Cruz, even they were moved gradually and they got exposed gradually to the outfield and how they have to field out there and how they have to prepare themselves and see the game and all this other stuff. It just feels like when the Reds move a guy, they’re they wake up one day and they’re like, “Ellie’s an outfielder. All right, let’s make it happen. Come on, let’s go.” like and it seems like that’s what’s going to happen eventually if he does not catch on. I’ll I’ll give him one more year until I’m just like banging down the door of Great American Ballpark. Like move this man to the outfield now. Brian says, “I see Matt Mlan bouncing back to he definitely deserves the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.” I and I hope he does because in that scenario, I put that up next, Jeff, because for Ellie to move, Matt Mlan has to be your shorts stop. So, Matt Mlan has to rebound also. Could they be waiting? Where where did that go? I just saw Are they going to wait on Edwin? Are they going to wait on Matt Mlan? Someone just posted a question about, you know, moving Matt Mlan to shortstop. Yes, that’s that’s what you do. Maybe could the Reds be waiting to to see if Matt Mlan’s bouncing back and then do something in season? Um, of all the players on this team and of all the times they’ve just thrown a guy in the outfield, uh, we saw it with Tyler Stevenson, we saw it with Noel Marte, we saw it with Spencer Steer where they just ran guys out there of all the guys on this team that you could just walk in one day and be like, “Listen, sorry, but um, I hate to do this to you, but grab that bigger glove if you’re going to play in the outfield today.” Of all the guys on the team you could do that to, I think Ellie de la Cruz is the best equipped to deal with it. Like I think he could go play the outfield today. And would he run a few bad routes? Yeah. But he also has the athleticism to make up for the bad route. So um not like Noelvie out there. I swear to God, every time he runs down a flyball, I hear Chris Burman in my head going rumbling, bumbling, stubbling because that’s how he runs with the glove kind of like I’m I but he’s also got that athletic ability too. But you’re right, like that’s Ellie’s the guy that could could make up for it in and this is pretty much across sports like athleticism makes up for lack of experience, makes up for lack of awareness or understanding or something like that to a point. And I think that his athleticism and his smarts, he’s got baseball smarts that people just don’t give him credit for. He can adapt very easily, I think, to the outfield. So, yeah, they could do the Red’s thing and wake up one day and say he’s an outfielder and it probably will work, but at the same time, it just it feels like that’s how that’s going to happen. We’re not going to see the gradual, okay, he played a handful of games in the outfield in the month of April. He played two handfuls in the out in the outfield in the month of May. and then okay now we’re starting to move him. It’s just going to be like bam like that. Just from William, do we think the defense will get better next year because of Tito? Um, I will say this, Jeff. I had the opportunity the other day to talk to Eric Hos Hos Hos Hos of the Milwaukee Brewers the other day and um he played for Tito for a period of time and and basically, you know, in that conversation just drilled in on not to underestimate the influence of Terry Francona. Um, I think Terry’s gonna do a lot of things to get this team be better. And you know, and Eric told me that Terry is definitely like the the the players manager. Guys want to play for him. Guys love playing for him. And some of what was wrong with the defense last year was Terry’s fault if we’re being honest. Um, but I think Terry will make corrections and I think Terry will get things dialed in. Um, is the defense going to be better because of Terry? He’s going to make changes. He’s going to have influences. He’s going to do things. The real answer to this is the defense is going to be better. Yes, because Ellie de la Cruz is a little bit embarrassed by how he performed in the field and we’ve heard it’s because of the injury. It’s because of that. Ellie will be better defensively in 2026 no matter where he plays. Number two is we just talked about Key Brian Hayes. Him being in this lineup makes the defense better. Third base is nailed down. It’s going to look good out there. Outfield is still a question mark, but the infield defense of Ke Brian Hayes, Ellie de La Cruz, Matt Mlan, and whoever you put at first base is a pretty good defensive infield. So, I think the defense is better in 2026. There’s a fielding metric that Baseball Savant likes to use for teams and for players as well, but it’s better used for teams called fielding run value, and it takes everything into account, outs above average, all the other stuff. And in 2024, the Reds were second worst, third worst, sorry, third worst in the Major Leagues with negative 36 fielding runs. In 2025, they moved up eight spots. They were 20th in Major League Baseball, but they moved up 28 fielding runs. They went from negative 36 to8. So, I’ve seen the step forward. I think they take another step forward this year, and I think that they will be they will be better. Now, do I think that they’re a top 10 fielding team? top 10, maybe top five, no, but as long as you’re around that top 10 area and you’ve got the pitching that they’ve got, their run prevention is going to be fantastic. And so that’s the thing that they are looking for with this team. And that’s the reason that Kebrian Hayes is on this team because they looked at him and they looked at that position and they said, “We’ve got nothing from the third base spot with a glove. Let’s get him and let’s see if we can work the lineup around that at some point.” I think the off seasonason is that point where they fix the lineup around him. We just got to see exactly how they’re going to do it. And ultimately, I think it’s all going to come together. I I I think that Tito definitely has a hand in that, but the change in talent like playing like last last opening day going into opening day, we were talking about third base being Noelie Marte, Jammer Candelario, and Santiago Espanol. We feel a lot better about that defensively going into next year. That’s for sure cuz we don’t have an Easter Island head sitting out at third base. But at the same time, want to see the lineup get a little bit better, but I think the defense will be better next year. Look at this. Jeff Carr, it is the return of the poofyhaired fancy boy. He says he saw us on X as Thanksgiving Day balloons made me laugh out loud. Rico Suave, if you’re not following along on X, is the guy’s handle that did that. And I almost like spit taped my coffee when I saw that that morning. Um, yes, he used a generator to make Jeff and I, both uh Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon parade participants. It was hilarious. I had my Reds hat on and my uh Rainbow Warrior Aloha shirt holding a Lone Star beer, which pretty much just encapsulates me, Jeff. It was It was 100% spot on. Had me wearing my LA sunglasses, too. I like those sunglasses. I haven’t worn them in a little while. All right, let’s get a couple more in here. if we can. And let’s try. You like these kind of questions. Where to go? Uh, giant shopping. Ramos, you have any interest? Depends on how much he would cost because I mean, he’s younger still to the point that like I think that the Giants would want a lot for him. Let’s look him up real quick. I Ramos 1.2 war last year. He’s 26, so he’s not like super young. Been in the league four years. Last year was the one that he played the most. He was worth 2.3 wins in 20 in 24 and he was an all-star and he was worth 1.2 wins last year. But both years, OPS Plus was better than what we’ve seen on the Reds. The interesting thing is just what it will cost because the fact he’s going to be 26 years old and he still has what? Yeah, he’s going to be a free agent after 2029. So, he’s still got three years left of They’re going to want a lot for him. I I think that would be a tough trade. That could be a starting point to a Hunter Green trade if that’s what they’re looking for, but obviously they would need to put more in that, but Promos would be interesting. Brian asks, “What is going on with CES? Haven’t even thought about him for about six months now.” Well, me, you, Jeff, the Reds, I don’t know if anybody’s thinking about CES. Jeff, I have not heard anything about CES. No hype, no no updates, no he looks good, no he’s in the best shape of his life, nothing. I feel like where we were talking about last year, the fact that both Novi Marte and Connor Phillips brought themselves up, you know, lifted themselves up by their bootstraps from the pit of despair where nobody was expecting anything from them and now they’re like dudes on this team. Christian Strand was like, “Hold my beer. Let’s see if we can dig this hole even deeper than you guys dug it because you’re right. Like no one is talking about him and looking at how he finished last year in the minor leagues. Like in AAA last year in uh let’s see that was 62 games, 252 played appearances for a guy that would need to really wow you. In 252 played appearances, he had a 310 on base. And that’s what we’re looking at with him. We know he can hit the ball a country mile. We all can still close our eyes and see that grand slam he hit at Fenway Ballpark. But at the same time, we know who he is, and that is a guy that swings at every stinking pitch that comes plate word. And he doesn’t look at anything outside the zone. He went down to the minor leagues in AAA last season, and in those 252 plate appearances, still had a strikeout rate in AAA 24.6%. So, we’re still talking about a dude that swung and missed a lot. And I don’t know that we can count him in on the plans next year. Like, he would be on the peripheral, maybe even on the outside of being a dark horse to make a big impact on the team. Now, if there are some injuries, he will be called upon for sure, but I just I don’t think I don’t think that there’s anything we can count on that there. And EJ Mack makes a great EJ M Stew Stewart happened to see. Yeah. Yeah. Um this is interesting from the Quirky Picker. And this is probably where we’ll finish up today, guys. Um Quirky Picker Chad says, “Go Buckeyes.” Oh, baby. Oh, I love it. Uh question. How much additional revenue does one player like Kyle Schwarber bring to an organization? Would he add $20 million to the bottom line? Teams ever consider that? I’m sure they do. I mean, you figure when a team makes a big move like that, they, you know, bring in all their ticket sales guys. They know the phone lines are going to be ringing. They know people are going to have questions. It generates buzz and excitement. I’m sure there’s some kind of metric in baseball that accounts for this. The problem is baseball teams are notorious for not sharing any information at all. We have no idea what metrics they use. We have no idea how much money they really make. Even the Forb stuffs are estimates. They’re not hard numbers. We just don’t know. But yes, between the merchandise and the ticket sales and the excitement, there is a number that is added because you signed a big name, because you signed a dude. We’re just not never going to know what that number truly is. But I think the Red Sign Schwarber, your point I take very well, which is it would offset some of the cost of signing him. Yes. The answer to that is yes. What that number is, there’s really no way to know. It would definitely up the jersey sales for sure. Like I think he would be the highest jersey sale guy on the team next year. I think he would eclipse Ellie just because of his local story and the fact that a lot of people already have Ellie jerseys. So would we like see the will we see like a great handshake between Mason and Middletown if Kyle Schwarber becomes a red and like everybody’s in Schwarber? Some variant of a Schwarber jersey between Mason and Middletown. It’d be interesting. you see some blue Schwarber jerseys, but uh no, I um I I don’t I don’t know about that because Cubs fans tend to be pretty uh pretty fiercely loyal. I don’t know how well they would receive Kyle Schwarber in red and white as opposed to red and blue. Um but no, I I think that there would be some sort of kick, not not kick back, that makes it sound like it’s not a good thing, but that would be there would be some sort of revenue generation by signing Kyle Schwarber. I just don’t think that the team sits there and says yes if we do this that and the other. We can like make this live up to the contract. They’ve got to look at the contract and say does it bring us to the playoffs? Because the playoffs is what would offset different costs like that. And if you make a deep playoff run, that’s really how thing honestly I think that’s how that the Blue Jays looked at and said, “Yeah, we could afford Dylan CE. We made it to the World Series last year and we went seven games and made plenty of revenue.” So, I I think that’s still where the bulk of, you know, making back the contract comes from, but sure. I mean, jersey sales would go through the roof. Absolutely. All right, Jeeoff. I think that is where we’re going to wrap it up for today. Thanks everybody for this live edition of the Lockdown Res podcast here on Black Friday. We appreciate you being here. Uh we will be back in your feeds next week. Actually, Jeff will be back in your feeds next week because I’m on vacation. Uh we’ll be back with you the rest of the off seasonason to keep you in the know with all of the news, the notes, the rumors, the informations, and the reports to keep you locked on rights every single day. You know, I was just thinking you need to travel more. So, it’s good that you’re traveling more. Oh, baby. Oh, H.

Cincinnati Reds face offseason uncertainty as rumors swirl around blockbuster trades, roster shakeups, and positional moves. Is Ke’Bryan Hayes’ elite defense worth the cost despite struggles at the plate? Could Elly De La Cruz’s shift to center field unlock the Reds’ full potential, or is Matt McLain the true solution at shortstop? Hosts Jeff and Steve break down the latest on Hunter Greene, Sal Stewart’s upside, and what’s next for Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Will Benson.

The podcast tackles hot topics like ownership’s push for a salary cap, recent live fan Q&A, and the possibility of high-profile additions like Kyle Schwarber. Key discussion points include the Reds’ improving defense under Terry Francona, trade speculation around players like Cattell Marte and Jarren Duran, and what Reese Hinds’ future means for outfield power. Can the Reds make bold moves to return to contention, or will internal decisions shape their 2026 campaign?

This is a replay of the Q&A from Friday’s live show. Make sure to join Locked On Reds live throughout the offseason.

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