BOMBSHELL: Philadelphia Phillies Ready To DUMP Nick Castellanos—Cincinnati Reds SHOULD Go Get Him

BOMBSHELL: Philadelphia Phillies Ready To DUMP Nick Castellanos—Cincinnati Reds SHOULD Go Get Him

Nick Castanos, when all things are considered, is a good move for the Cincinnati Reds. >> You are Locked on Reds. Your daily Cincinnati Reds podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. >> Welcome in to Locked on Reds. Locked on Reds is part of the Locked On podcast network now the number one sports podcasting network in all of the land. Thank you very much for helping get us there. We appreciate you very very much. My name is Stephen Offenbaker. His name’s Jeff Cart. We love baseball. We love the Cincinnati Reds. We love talking about baseball. We love talking about the Cincinnati Reds so much. In fact, we’ve been doing it for a combined 14 seasons now in podcast form. And we love talking about the Cincinnati Reds with you on today’s show. A little bit later, we’re going to get into the Ellie de la Cruz situation and answer the question, are the Reds sending Ellie mixed signals when it comes to what they expect from him and are they sending us mixed signals about just how healthy Ellie is. We’re going to get into that a little bit later in the show. We’re also going to get into why not Miguel Andar. We’ve talked about options for the Cincinnati Reds. talked about the things they could do uh to have this lineup be a little bit better and Miguel fits in and we haven’t spent a whole lot of time talking about him. We’re going to fix that a little bit later in today’s show. And where we are going to begin is with the possibility of a reunion with another old friend. We talked about a Suarez yesterday and today we’re going to talk about old friend Nick Castanos because uh Philly is looking to get him out of town at pretty much any cost and that could benefit the Cincinnati Reds. We’ll we’ll talk about that coming up here in just a second on today’s show that’s brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this NFL season, visit fanuel.com to place your NFL live bets all season long. All right, Jeeoff, this one’s growing on me a little bit. We we kicked the tires on this uh yesterday in prep and decided to push it to today. And uh in that 24-h hour period uh had some time to let it uh marinate, ruminate a little bit. And a Nick Castiano’s reunion might not be the worst thing in the world for the Cincinnati Reds at this point. >> Yeah. And there’s lots to consider with this thought process. The main reason that I believe that the Reds should do this is this is the most quintessential thing that Nick Crawl could do. Think about what he said at the beginning of the off season. We’re going to wait. We’re going to wait for all the dust to settle. He said it in so many words. He said it in Nick Crawlsp speak. But in normal person’s terms, we’re going to wait for the dust to settle and then we’re going to make our move. This is the dust settling right now because the Phillies have said, at least according to Matt Gelb, the beat writer for the Phillies on over at The Athletic, the Phillies have said they are going to either trade him or release him. So I I.e. He’s not going to be in Philadelphia next year, i.e. they don’t mind eating his money. He’s got $20 million left on his contract final year in 2026. And the Phillies are basically telling everybody, look, we will pay for him. We just want to move him. We don’t want him on our team anymore. And and I believe that this is the perfect scenario for the Reds who love to shop in the clearance aisle at Audi for for the team that just does not want to spend top dollar. This might be a situation where they don’t have to spend anything to get a guy. Now, I I think there’s some caveats involved with this as to how the Reds could best utilize this. You’re not plugging him in right field anymore. But I think that this is the perfect move for Nick Crawl in his let’s let’s be kind and say in his dystopian world of front office moves. Nick Castiano in Philadelphia last season, Jeff, in his age 33 season. Uh now if you just go straight to his war, you’re going to be like, “No, we don’t want that guy.” He was negative. He was negative last season. 0.8 in war. uh in 147 games for the Phillies. But if you dig a little bit deeper, and you don’t have to dig too deep, you know, slash line of 250, 294, 400. Um not world beater, but you know, there’s something there. And 17 home runs in a season where he was down a little bit. Um the previous two seasons he hit 23 and 29, so he still got pop in that bat. I think you’re absolutely right. You bring him in as a DH. Uh maybe you teach him first base and and you give him a few start there. >> Yeah. and and and for him to be open to that. You’re you’re absolutely right though. You can’t put him in the outfield um unless there’s an emergency. But um he’s never played he’s never played first base. Uh you know, he was a third baseman for a time way back in the day. I’m not suggesting you put him there either. But I I don’t mind this if he’s if this is one of those deals where he’s nearly free. If he’s nearly free, what do you have to lose, right? What’s the downside? Uh this this is going to be a trade that doesn’t cost the Reds very much. We’re talking, you know, lowlevel complex guy, right? You know, this what you you were pitching. So, I’m okay with this. Um from a fan standpoint and and maybe more the casual fan in Cincinnati, they’ll see this name, they’ll remember his 2021 season and think, “All right, we’re cooking with gas now.” And and I’m okay with that because if he comes to Great American Ballpark and gives you 20 to 25 home runs, that’s kind of what you’re looking for. And you don’t have to necessarily, you know, hit him clean up all the time, but 20 to 25 home runs in the four hole for the Cincinnati Reds in 2026 is pretty much better than what anybody else was doing anyway. >> Well, and and and that’s the biggest part of this that I really love is that the Reds could make this move and still make other moves. They could still go get a bullpen guy, still go get a lefty reliever. They could still go get Miguel Andar, who we’ll talk about in just a few minutes to help out the outfield. You could address multiple spots. Now, again, this is not the okay, they’re getting an A if they do this and they do those other things, but they will address things. They won’t just leave them sitting and, you know, run it back status quo next year. This is the kind of move that Nick Cross should be just falling over himself trying to get to the phone to call Dave Dumbrossski and get this deal done because I I really believe that the Phillies are basically saying please offer us anything at all and you won’t have to negotiate for some sort of free agent deal because there’s a possibility that he’s signing for more than one year. That’s the other part of this. This is a one-year deal. You don’t have to keep him for multiple years and and worry about how the decline hits him after 2026. And it may be hitting him in 2026, but this would be a free gamble to find that out. If he goes to the open market, there’s a chance that he’s looking for a multi-year deal because I doubt that he would take a I mean, he probably takes a one-year deal if it goes all the way to February, but like I just I feel like the Phillies are motivated and and like I had mentioned, he said that he’s willing to learn first base, so he’s motivated to get out of there and he had some good times here in the city of Cincinnati. There’s there’s an interesting point to all of this and I kind of wonder about how this has affected things for the Reds if they’re really going in after Nick Castanos. And that is the reason that the Phillies have him available at all is that there was a little bit of a dust up between him and manager Rob Thompson there in Philadelphia this past year. Dust dust up meaning like he was saying some things that Rob Thompson didn’t like. And there was a point where Nick Castanos made some comments that they did not make public in the locker room and they suspended him for a game. Like the team suspended him for a game because of those comments. And he Nick Castanos has also been open with reporters at times about Rob Thompson’s not necessarily the the he didn’t agree with the manager’s handling of the roster. And so there’s a little bit of that involved that I wonder if Terry Francona has watched that and said, “You know what? We had some good times in the past. No need to dredge that back up. I don’t necessarily want that to be a problem next year.” So that could be on the table as well. >> Yeah. And and those are things we’ll probably never know. We’ll never know exactly one, what was said behind those closed doors, and two, we won’t know if if Tito um puts the nicks on players or not. I would be interested to know and this is probably something that Tito will never tell us or Nick Crawl would tell us just how involved Terry Francona is in in this process when they identify free agents or trade targets that they may be willing to go get. Um I I I don’t know what kind of collaboration goes on there. I know that in the past David Bell would at least have a say like they would ask David Bell what he thought about player A, player B. I would have to imagine that Terry Francona has a say also. I just don’t know how deeply involved he is in the front office stuff, but the fact remains you need somebody that can give you some some home run pop. And if you’re looking around the league, the the cupboard is starting to get bare on the free agent market. Uh at least from a standpoint of guys that the Reds can realistically go out and get. So, if you can get a freeish free adjacent player that can give you 20 home runs, I think you got I think you got to take the chance on it. Um, even if you know, if it doesn’t work out, you’re not out anything. So, um, from that standpoint, you know, Frank Kona might be open to it even if he has heard some things. >> Look, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but this kind of feels like a 10 cent lunch, maybe. So, let’s let’s see if >> it’s a coupon. I’ve been saying Nick C’s been looking for a coupon. He finally found the coupon because there’s still no show Otani in that bargain bin, buddy. >> There’s a big old uh big old Philly coupon looking right back at him. Let’s see if he takes takes advantage of that one. But I know this outside of the Nick Castianos or even the Haney Osuarez who we talked about yesterday of it all. There’s a guy sitting out there that the Reds should have already brought back and he played for the Reds at the end of last season. Miguel Andrew Hart needs to be in a Red’s uniform next year and I’m tired of it not being true. FanDuel is the place to live bet NFL games as we head down into the stretch run. Get ready for the playoffs. So many exciting matchups are happening. Of course, none of them are involving the Bengals because they’re officially eliminated. What we already knew has now been confirmed, but there’s still plenty to get in on with every game that you watch. In fact, I love using FanDuel to live bet my fantasy players who are playing in the different games. I turn on Red Zone. Hey, live bet my fantasy players. Whether you’re talking about touchdowns or yards or completions, whatever it might be, FanDuel’s got you covered. Got to download FanDuel today and get in on all the action, especially as we get into the playoffs because that makes it so much more fun. Plus, we got Christmas Day football action coming next week and always the NBA as well. That’s another great one to live bet and you should do it all over at FanDuel. Thank you for making Lockdown Reds your first listen of the day. And thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network. You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go ad free. Join the Everydayer Club today and get Lockdown Reds with no interruptions. Members only Discord access and more. All for just $5 a month or $50 a year. You pay for a yearly thing, you get two months for free. Go to lockdowns.supcast.com. supercast.com or check the link in the show notes down below uh to learn more. All right, see we we’ve kind of mentioned Miguel Andar a little bit so far this off season. We we’ve said almost as a matter of fact like we feel like he’s going to be a red at some point, but quite frankly I don’t understand why he’s not a red yet. And I saw a uh Substack post from our friend Charlie Goldmith where he was talking about some guys who are still available and he listed he said there’s only one guy that really makes sense as an everyday player and that’s Austin Hayes. And I would push back on that because I feel like Miguel Andrew is an even better everyday player than him. And I think hopefully, and maybe this is one of the reasons he hasn’t signed yet, but I think that hopefully his leg will have healed and he will be good enough to play in the outfield again because remember that’s the reason that he only dhed last year is because he was dealing with a leg injury. But the Reds need to have Miguel Andrew like three days ago. >> I I agree. Uh, I wish that we knew a little bit more about what the team was thinking when it comes to Miguel Anduhar because somehow this he’s a platoon player narrative has stuck with him. But if you look at if you look at these numbers, it doesn’t make very much sense uh career-wise or even just last year. Let’s just take his numbers from last year, Jeff, because he played uh pretty decent split. He played 44 games against right-handed against left-handed pitching. He played 84 games against right-handed pitching. In those games, the splits the splits say he’s an everyday player. As a right-handed batter against right-handed pitching, his slash line was 290, 331, 429. That breaks down to a split OPS plus of 116, 16% better than league average. And then if you look at the numbers against left-handed pitching, it’s even better because you get the 44 games, you get a slash line of buddy, let me tell you, 389, 409, 578 for a split OPS plus of 172. 72% better than league average against left-handed pitching. I’m I don’t know why they let him leave the clubhouse at the end of last season. There should be video of Nick Crawl holding him by the ankles. You remember the fight with Yasel Pig where Tucker Barnhart’s getting dragged at home plate. It should have looked like that with Nick Crawl hanging on to Miguel Andar’s legs. >> Yeah, because he fills a key need for this team. I mean, if you talk about because we’re we’re we’re trying to like squint really hard and see a platoon in left field. If you bring in Miguel Andrew Hart, you don’t need to platoon him. He he plays left field every day and he can Obviously, he can play DH. You and I were talking about this a little bit um as we were getting ready for this show. There were five different guys who played at least 17 games as the Red’s designated hitter and nobody was better than Miguel Anduhar. Like Miguel Anduhar had the best OPS plus and he had the best slashline of anybody. Like he was really good in that role and we saw it all the time. like he was coming up with barrel after barrel after barrel, especially at Great American Ballpark. And this goes back to and and we’re doing this thing today where we’re like, hey, we have an idea and we can link it back to something that Nick Crawl said. Nick Crawl has said time and time again, Steve, what’s he said about hitting? He said that we want line drive guys. That’s who Miguel Anduhar is. Every time I saw him swing the bat, that thing was screaming into the outfield. They should have already honestly I don’t even know and and I I I remember talking about this with Tim Daniel a little bit as the season was coming to a close and Tim was like he seems like the perfect one plus one candidate. Give this guy a three-year deal. Like sign him up for a while because who do you have in the outfield that you are blocking if you sign Miguel Andrew Hard to a couple of seasons. I don’t want him for just 2026. I want him for a couple of years because I really feel like he could be an asset to this lineup. And to be clear, we’re talking about Miguel Anduhar for a second move. It’s something and Miguel Anduhar to put in this lineup because we’re not looking to bring Miguel Andar in here to be the number four hitter behind Ellie to in this lineup. No, but if Miguel Anduhar is your number five, your number six guy behind that power hitter you brought in, whether it’s Casianos or Suarez or somebody else, um this lineup starts to look a bit better than it did last season. Let’s play everybody’s favorite offseason game. What’s the lineup look like? Let’s let’s even say for a minute that we go back to my idea from uh this the last episode where I was like, okay, TJ Fredo one, Ellie de la Cruz 2, Mr. Outside Hire 3, South Stewart 4. Let’s push South Stewart back one. Let’s say TJ Fedel Ellie Nick Castanos Miguel Andrew South Stewart. >> See, you still have Miguel Clean up there. And I I would rather put somebody that will occasionally run into a few. So in that particular lineup, maybe you hit Tyler Stevenson, maybe or you you go you go uh Fredel Ellie Cassanos Suarez outside hire, then you go Tyler Stevenson, then you go Sal Stewart, then you go Miguel Anduhar as your number six hitter and kind of flip that lineup back over again. You know, your second batch, your second leadoff guy, your second get on base guy is Miguel Anduhar in the six hole. I like that lineup. >> Well, then okay, let’s let’s even scrap my idea. Let’s buy back into the idea of either Marte or Mlan at number two. >> Maybe Marte at least to start the season. If Mlan goes goes back to being Mlan, then he probably works his way into that spot. >> But yeah, then you have >> if it’s three war Mlan, I’m batting that guy second. Three war Mlan second, TJ Fidel first, Ellie third, Castiano’s fourth, Andy horror Stewart fifth and sixth, however those two guys go. I kind of like that a lot more than what I’m seeing right now. Like what I’m seeing right now is there’s just holes in this lineup and you can put names in there, but you don’t feel good about them. You go out and you get Castanos and you get Miguel Andy, which you can do. We’re not talking about a pipe dream where money falls out of the skies the Castellinis don’t have. This is something they could do. And and and you would feel a lot better about that line. >> I I I keep coming back to our need to have a a meme of either Nick Craw or one of the >> Castellinis with the I got I got a dollar fishing pole guy. I I I feel like that needs to happen, Jeff, because otherwise your options are you have to use somebody in-house. And the only other guy when you when you look around the cupboards down in the minor leagues and you brush away the cobwebs, the only guy you still find on the shelf is Hector Rodriguez, who we know absolutely nothing about, right? Like he could be a lot of fun. He really could. But he also has this one thing that is staring at everybody. If you look at his profile on any website that kind of shows you like, you know, what does he do when he’s at the plate as far as discipline wise, he strikes out a lot. He chases a lot of pitches outside the zone and he swings and misses a lot. I.e. he could be a lot of fun or he could be Aristino. So, it’s really hard for me to get excited about that profile because he’s going to have to prove that he’s not Aristino. He’s not Christian Kardashian Strand. insert a lot of different guys that we’ve seen over this last decade that fit that profile, >> right? And it makes Miguel Andrew Hard just that much more attractive when you think about it that way, Jeff. And then if you want to talk about the money of it all and what the Castellinis slash the budget is willing to absorb, last year Miguel Andar made $3 million. Uh spot track has him projected to make $6.1 million. So let’s say he comes in somewhere in that neighborhood, six, seven, >> three years, 18. >> Yep. Get out of here with that. That’s that’s that’s easy. Get that deal done today. Um I don’t see any reason not to go out and get Miguel Anduhart. Get it done, Nick. Get it done. I know you are watching. We need to spend a little bit of time coming up talking about our friend Ellie de la Cruz because the Cincinnati Reds have been sending some mixed signals and it makes me wonder exactly why. We’re going to be talking about Ellie up next. If you can’t watch us here on YouTube, guess what? You can take us on the road. We are on every single audio podcasting platform out there. So, you can take us on the road, you can take us to the gym, you can take us in the car, you can take us for a walk, we can talk Red’s Baseball with you anywhere. Just click that subscribe button on any of your favorite podcasting apps. All right, Jeeoff, let’s talk a little bit about Ellie de la Cruz because we got a little excited and and spent some time talking about Ellie de la Cruz uh representative of the Dominican for the World Baseball Classic and there were some great pictures out there on social media uh writer that covers the World Baseball Classic, talked about Ellie representing uh the Dominican. Uh the Reds had a post about Ellie representing the Dominican. Uh they just finalized the roster for the Dominican and Ellie de la Cruz is not their shortstop and the Reds have since deleted their post of Ellie playing for the Dominican. Sounds like um the cart got put before the horse and Ellie never got official permission from the Reds to play for the Dominican >> which is it’s tough because we want to say well it feels like the Reds blocked him. They actually can’t do that. like if he wants to play in the World Baseball Classic, he can’t. There there’s nothing that says that teams can refuse a player from playing. But of course, they can strongly advise and and things like that. But you’re right, like it was really interesting because it was celebrated. Even the Major League Baseball official social media accounts were sharing a picture of Ellie draped in like a Dominican Republic flag. Looked really epic. It looked like a cool picture. And it’s like, okay, they they spend some time marketing this, like unless Ellie just had this picture laying around. I I don’t know what his photo camera roll looks like on his phone, but I I really feel like this was a moment where they’re like, “Let’s celebrate this. We’ve got a really exciting player, a really marketable player that’s going to be in the World Baseball Classic. Let’s go.” And then it was wiped away. There was a tweet from a guy who covers the World Baseball Classic specifically, and I can tell you his name, but you’re not going to know it. He’s not a really well-known reporter, but this is what he does. And he talked about that there were some sources around the Reds that alluded to the fact that they weren’t on the same page with Ellie in this. So, it’s almost as if the Reds in Major League Baseball tweeted out a celebration that Ellie’s going to be in the World Baseball Classic. And leadership for THE REDS WENT, “WHOA, WHAT? What now? What? What? what’s happening. And that has since been retracted. And for me, and maybe I don’t know, you you can shoot me down if you think this is unfair, Steve, but for me, this makes me wonder how healthy he is. Because why on earth else would they say, “No, you’re not playing in the World Baseball Classic if he’s not 100%.” >> Okay, I can see this from a standpoint of them just being cautious. It it Ellie could be healthy, but I could also see the Reds not wanting a healthy Ellie to go play for the Dominican when they just finished having him play 162 games on one leg. I I feel like they t they’ve talked about the need that Ellie’s going to need more rest in 2026. They learned a lesson. And I could see that they wouldn’t want him out there playing meaningful baseball games because we talked about this. The players in those games, especially the Latin American countries, they take that seriously and they’re they’re not out there just trying to get their work in. They’re out there trying to win. So, from that standpoint, I could see the Reds wanting to not have Ellie participate because then that’s just that many more games you can play him in 2026 that you don’t have to rest him. So, I I don’t think it necessarily means Ellie’s still hurt. I think it’s more of a caution. We learned our lesson. It’s the Reds admitting that they were really dumb in how they handled Ellie de la Cruz in 2025. They really did not do a good job of how they handled Ellie de la Cruz. And I think this is them maybe learning from that a little bit. >> That’s fair because I mean it it’s hard it’s hard for me to see Terry Francona going on different media availabilities during the winter meetings and saying, “Yes, we messed up. we’re going to have Ellie rest a little bit more this season and then go play in the World Baseball Classic and then come back and do his his everyday thing as the Red Shorts stop and all that stuff. I feel like he would need to add more off days because what we have said is like look piggyback off of scheduled off days for the team and just have him take one extra day off and you really only have to do that once a month but if he plays the World Baseball Classic you probably need to double that and then we’re talking about less games and we really got to move some things around. So yeah, I I could definitely see that. But I it just makes me wonder a little bit because this and this was in the middle. This was the exact same week really when all of this went down. And the fact that it was just finalized the other day uh that I saw people tweeting about the official Dominican Republic roster. Um it it it happened the same week as the Kyle Schwarber thing. So it just felt like it was more wood being thrown on the fire that that was that week for the Reds, the the dumpster fire. So, I guess it was more garbage thrown into the dumpster fire that was the Reds that week. Um, and so maybe you could overreact a little bit and your more rational thought process on this makes plenty of sense now that we’re removed from that. But yeah, like immediately in that moment, I was just like, what on earth is happening down at 100 Joe Nucks all way? >> And we could still see now we could still see Ellie added to this roster. He when it all shakes out, he could still be uh in the World Baseball Classic. they could add him to the roster later, but I I think it does definitely show that there’s some kind of disconnect right now. And and we talk a lot about what is this front office doing and what is happening with its communication. Like how did we get to a point where, you know, we’re putting the word out there Ellie’s playing for the Dominican and the Reds shared the post. Now, I know that’s somebody in the social media office. That was an intern. That was some somebody roster decision. >> That wasn’t Nick Crawl that clicked the share button. Okay, guys, I understand. >> Oh, if Nick Crawl had a Twitter Oh, boy. >> Let’s make that happen in 2026. Let’s listen. >> If you want to talk about endless endless content from the Cincinnati Reds, let’s give Nick Crawl a Twitter X account. I love it. >> I think we’d have to create a locked on show for it. The locked on Nick Crawl Twitter account. >> Yeah, I I think so. Um, but you know, this could still happen. There there’s there’s been a disconnect. The the Red’s front office does kind of still need to get their stuff together a little bit more. But, um, I I I want to give them the benefit of the doubt that this is not about Ellie being hurt. And I I think that I think that’s where I’m going to stick with it, Jeff. I I I’m okay either way. I’m okay if Ellie plays. I talked about the benefits of having players in the WBC. I’m also okay if the Reds want to say, “Yeah, you know what, Ellie, let’s maybe not do that this year after the way last year went.” I I I see both sides of this and I’m okay with however it shakes out. >> I do think it’s interesting too like how they are continuing to move with him where it’s like to their credit they are being like really forthright and that he is a shortstop and they’re not moving him off of that position or anything like that. But then on this side, it’s like, okay, things are starting to get a little bit of murky here and and all that. I I’m curious to see exactly how all of that moves as we get into 2026 and and get forward because we are starting to tip from, okay, he’s got a lot of team control to now we are headed toward that precipice of are they going to extend him, which we don’t think is possible. Like honestly, I think it’s like a 1% chance, maybe even less than that, that they actually extend him. So then you’re talking about, you know, what does a trade look like for him later on? It’s it’s tough too because I I also look at the updated Redsfest roster and he continues to not be on it. So like, how are we moving forward with our star player here? Because there’s no there’s no argument here. There is no one more marketable on this roster than Ellie de la Cruz. and the Reds really got to manage this correctly because it feels as though things are starting to get a little bit shaky when it comes to how they’re they’re treating their star players. So, we’re definitely going to be monitoring all of that as we go through 2026 and obviously as we end 2025 and get into 2026, but just thinking about as we get into next year. There’s so much that we’re going to be monitoring here on the Lockdown Reds podcast. We appreciate you for tuning in to today’s Lockdown Reds. tomorrow or the next show because we are in our offseason mode. We we’re having a few less episodes each week as we move through the rest of the December and through January. But on our next episode, we are going to dive back into some more rumors. And I’m curious a little bit as to how this starting rotation exactly what we are expecting from them because I think that passively we’re expecting greatness, but what does that look like? We’ll try to lay that out a little bit more on the next episode of Lockdown Red. Make sure you subscribe and follow the podcast so that you get all the latest episodes. You can also follow Steve and myself on social media. You can follow me, Jeff Carar with three Fs. You can follow Steve at soffenbaker with two Fs. You can also follow the show, Lockdown Reds. There’s no Fs in that. Uh, did Lockdown Reds make your Spotify wrapped? Prove it on social media to secure a free month of our brand new Everydayer Club. Just tag our National Lockdown Podcast Network account on any social platform and we’ll drop you a code. Be one of the first to join the Everyday Air Club to get your favorite show ad free and to get exclusive access to the membersonly Discord channel. For those of you on video, we’re going to send you to our first ever 247 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel on uh audio. For our listeners there, make sure that you check out Lockdown MLB and make them your second listen. Until next time, you always know that Steve and myself will be locked on Reds every single day. >> I’m calling the Reds front office right now and telling them that Nick Crawl needs a Twitter X. I’m doing it. I’m calling right now. >> Give him a Twitter. Give him a Tik Tok. I want to see him on Tik Tok. That’d be a lot of fun. He’d be on Instagram.

Cincinnati Reds eye a bold reunion as Nick Castellanos becomes available, with the Philadelphia Phillies ready to pay most of his contract just to move on. Could a Great American Ballpark power boost offset his defensive shortcomings, and is this the kind of low-risk, high-reward move Nick Krall should target this offseason? Hosts Jeff and Steve debate Castellanos’ fit as a designated hitter, discuss creative ways to fortify the Reds’ lineup, and explore what his presence would mean for the club’s power production.

Miguel Andújar’s strong numbers against both lefties and righties last season spark calls for his return, especially as the outfield market thins out and the Reds search for consistent pop. Plus, Elly De La Cruz headlines a curious World Baseball Classic controversy—did mixed front-office messages keep the young star sidelined? Don’t miss this energetic breakdown of Cincinnati’s options and lingering off-field questions as 2026 approaches.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-reds/

https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnReds?sub_confirmation=1

Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnMLB

BOOKMARK Sports Illustrated’s Cincinnati Reds site, Inside the Reds!
https://www.si.com/mlb/reds/

Also follow @jefffcarr and @soffenbaker on Twitter

JOIN THE DISCORD SERVER: https://discord.gg/STMcRDyMCt

For your next listen, check out the Locked On MLB podcast. Get Sully’s take on MLB! He has it all covered every single day. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

0:00 — Nick Castellanos Trade Idea
10:13 — Miguel Andújar Reds Fit
20:25 — Elly De La Cruz, WBC Signals

Everydayer Club  
If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. 
Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub  
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

#Reds #CincinnatiReds #MLB