Elly De La Cruz has UNDERPERFORMED for the Cincinnati Reds in 2025

Elly De La Cruz has UNDERPERFORMED for the Cincinnati Reds in 2025

In case you haven’t been paying attention recently, it is super clear that LA de la Cruz cannot wait for this season to be over. [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. Locked on Reds is part of the Locked On podcast network. We are your team every single day. My name is Stephen Offen Baker. His name is Jeff Carr. We love baseball. We love the Cincinnati Reds. We love talking about baseball with you. We love talking about the Reds with you. We’ve been doing it for a combined 14 seasons now. That is a long time. We love talking about baseball all the time. Thanks so much for being here and making Locked on Reds your first listen each and every day on today’s show. A little bit later, we’re going to talk about how the Reds just need to keep beating the Cardinals like a drum. We’re going to talk about the rest of this series that still has a little bit of meaning. Although, if you heard yesterday’s episode, you know what we really think about that, but they need to beat the Cardinals. Um, also, Sal Stewart continues to do herculean things since being called up three for five yesterday. big big night uh against the Cardinals. Uh we’re going to talk a little bit more about South Stewart and what the Reds should do with him moving forward. And where we’re gonna start today is with Ellie de la Cruz. Ellie was dropped in the lineup uh when he should have been dropped out of the lineup and given a day off, but no, we’ll get into that. Ellie is probably ready to forget about 2025. This season has not gone the way that he wanted to. And we’re going to dig into that just a little bit because you look at how Ellie has performed and it’s really disappointing is the word that comes to mind. We’re going to get into all of that on today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app right now. $5 in a winning $5 bet gets you $300 in bonus bets that you can spread around. That’s that’s a big time. We haven’t seen that in a long time. If you want to get in on that, download the Fant FanDuel app today. All right, Jeff, let’s get into this with Ellie Dea Cruz because you look at how Ellie’s performed. You look at what has happened over the course of the season, it’s not been good. And Terry Francona actually drops Ellie in the lineup today. I don’t think that went far enough. I I I don’t understand the reluctance to just sit him down. No. And to be honest with you, I I would like to see it. But at this point, I just want to see him hit a home run because I think it’s too late. It’s too late to rest him. Like resting him right now, it it almost feels like, man, I need to take a nap, but I’m going to bed in like two hours. Like don’t take a nap now. Don’t don’t rest in now. I I I think that we have learned a lot from this season of Ellie Dela Cruz. I I saw a stat, Steve, and this this was just so crazy. in that his first 79 games he had 18 home runs and in his last 70 he has one home run. A a crazy just split of a season for him. And when it really comes down to it, there’s going to be something said about what this 162 means to him. And I hope to God that when it comes to next season he just goes off has like a seven eight nine war season because if he doesn’t then what is this all for? This has been his goal all throughout the season. It’s clear play 162 and I think it’s torpedoed everything that he has worked for. He is now according to baseball reference below three war. He was almost to four in July. That’s how bad things have gotten over the last two months. Let me ask you this because I I want to try and play devil’s advocate just a little bit, but we did our episode yesterday. I think you and I both stand by what we said yesterday. Yeah. However, um as we record, the Mets were off and the Reds are still just two games out of that final wild card spot with a lot of teams bunched together. set him down and give him a day off and maybe he helps springboard them into the playoffs. Is that a crazy idea? Is that a crazy notion? I mean, I hear what you’re saying. Too little too late in resting him, but maybe give him another day off, stack it with an off day, get him rested and maybe he can catapult this team into a postseason appearance. You could do that here at the end of the St. Louis series and and have him be off Wednesday and be off on the off day on Thursday. come back to the home stand really fresh and ready to go. And I don’t say this from a physical standpoint. It is clear he is mentally fatigued. Y and and everybody watching him sees it. Like even in this even in this game, he had a hit that was a bit of a bad special. It was it was one of those pot flies that landed in no man’s land and he kind of got a little bit lucky that nobody was there because it wasn’t really hard hit. But that’s just baseball sometimes. Sometimes you need that to get going. He also drew a walk. And so there’s a little bit that you want to like really kind of fine-tune under a microscope and say, “Okay, these are reasons to see the turnaround happening.” But then his final at bat of the night was more of the same. He swings at the first pitch that was a fall off the table curveball that fell off the table and about bounced. And then he looked at strike two that was a flat 95 mph fast ball that was belt high. A and I I there’s still part of me that just cringes when I watch him bat because I know those were pitches he crushed early on in the year and it’s just where he’s at in the season. the fact that when you step up to the plate, and I know there are people that like to belittle the athletic accompliment, the the athletic accomplishments of somebody on a baseball field, but hitting is different from any other sport in the world because you stand up to that plate and there’s going to be something coming at you about 95 to 100 miles an hour that is moving one way and then there’s going to be something coming at you around 85 to 90 miles an hour that’s moving a whole totally different way. and you have less than a second to decide whether or not you’re really gonna swing at that. And he has seen I don’t even know how many pitches this year. Like I know that there’s probably a stat that I got to go like really digging for it, but in 149 games and 647 played appearances, that’s a lot of pitches. And there just needs to be a day. and and and maybe you’re right, maybe it isn’t too little too late, but with with the mathematical survival that the Reds currently have in the playoff race right now, I I look at this and I say the reason that they’re in this spot, a big part of that is because of how they have managed Ellie de la Cruz’s season. Ellie de la Cruz has got a 764 OPS, Steve, his OPS plus on the season is 104. You know, it’s that’s not superstar level. No, it’s not. It’s terrible. Jeff, I I maintain Frank Cona needs to be the grown-up now. It’s time for Francona to be the grown-up in the room and just tell Ellie he has to take a day off. Look, I I want to run some numbers by you in his last 30 games. Ellie de la Cruz line right now is 220, 267, 331. That includes last night’s game. Um it was great. He had a couple walks. Cool. But again, 220, 267, 331. Those are Santiago Espanolesque numbers. Like that is no different than what we’re getting off the last guy on the bench. Ellie de la Cruz has been a disappointment. And and and if I’m being honest, those include numbers from earlier in the month where he was playing a little bit better. If you want to drill down and look at the last two weeks, Jeff, it gets really, really ugly. Are you ready for this? Because buckle up. In the last two weeks, his slash line is 180, 242, 262. He’s been terrible over the last two weeks. Yeah. The season numbers for Santiago Espanol are 244, 294, 284. That’s better than what he’s I want to say that again. I want to make sure that registers with the every last two weeks of Ellie de la Cruz, a batting average of 180, an onbase percentage of 242, and a slugging percentage of 262. I I don’t know that maybe you couldn’t bumble into that if they gave you enough bats. That’s really bad. That’s It’s really bad. That’s I mean, South Stewart is hitting really well right now, and we’ll talk about him in a little bit. What I mean, Austin Hayes is doing decently. Tyler Stevenson has had a a couple of good games in that time frame. Like honestly, right now, Steve, like even on the seasonl long statistics, baseball reference has Austin Hayes is having a better year and and we look at Austin Hayes and saying, man, he’s been pretty mid this year. So Elliot de La Cruz has been kind of mid this year and he had ran. He had run. I I I think if it the only way to describe Ellie is disappointing. I mean, there’s been times he’s been decent early in the season. and he was great. Um, but a at the at the end of the season, we’re going to look back on 2025 and just say Ellie’s performance was disappointing. He’s got to be better in 2026 for the Reds to get to the playoffs. The Reds built themselves around Ellie de la Cruz and the fact that he has played the way that he’s played has been a big reason why we are still a little bit ler of this. But the Reds, they’re mathematically alive. And one of the big reasons is Big S cuz he’s doing big things right now. And the Reds have a big decision about him when it comes to 2026. You’ve probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and thought, “Sure, like that actually works.” There’s so many products out there and it’s hard to know which ones are actually going to do anything. That’s why you need to give Neutrifall a closer look. Neutrifall is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people including myself. And if it’s not it’s not all just the hype when it comes to Neutrifall. This is a supplement that is clinically tested that targets the root causes of thinning and shedding with a proactive approach. I mean let’s be honest here. 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You always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all of the fees are included. So, the price you see is the price you pay. Jeff and I tell you about this all the time. We go down to the Dora. We hang out there at the banks. We grab something to eat. And as we get closer to first pitch, we start looking at tickets. We get a great deal on tickets. We head into the ballpark and we see a great Reds game. It’s just that easy. If you want to get in on the action and score yourself a deal with the Game Time app, just download it right now. The Game Time app is where it’s at. Create an account. Use the code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms do apply, but again, use the promo code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase with the Game Time app. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Thank you for making Lockdown Reds part of your everyday routine. If you’re an everydayer, you’re awesome. And if you’re not, hit that subscribe button. Become one here on YouTube and on your favorite podcast app. When you do, you’ll get Tim Daniel going live at the end of every Red’s ball game. A few of those are left. Maybe we’ll see the Reds climb back in this and we get to do some postseason Tim Daniel as well. But make sure you subscribe to Locked On Reds. All right, Steve. Big S doing big things. another home run. He’s got four home runs. He’s got as many home runs as José Trevinho. If he hits one more home run between now and the end of the season, he will have as many home runs as Gavin Lux and he has four more home runs than Santiago Espanol. I mean, Santiago Espanol, you and me all have the same number of home runs in Major League Baseball this year. So, that there’s that. Uh, but he’s South Stewart has been really good so far this year. And I think the big question is is how does he affect the off season? Because do you plan for this? Do you think that this is going to continue? Do you sit him into a position for the future and say this is it s you’re our guy? So that’s the reason I asked you to put this in the show today. You know, when you and I were doing prep, I’m like, we need a whole segment for Sal Stewart because I have some questions. I got you. Me and right here looking looking at what you’re saying, I let’s just drill down on this just a little bit. Um, and you know, we got two weeks worth of body of work from South Stewart as a Major League Baseball player. In those two weeks, Jeff, 297, 297, 622, four home runs, right? Okay, let’s let’s drill down a little further. Let’s talk about after he got through the first week. Let’s talk about his second week in big league baseball. Okay, let’s look at the last week of numbers. Buckle up for just a second, Jeff Carr, because in the last two weeks, he’s got a 320 batting average with a 320 on base percentage, but slugging 680. That’s his slugging over the last week. Again, three home runs in the last week. He hit one home run in the first week. South Stewart’s doing some things now. We saw what he did at DoubleA Chattanooga. We saw what he did at AAA Louisville. And we’re seeing what he’s doing now in Cincinnati. I think there’s a broader question. We asked this question when he first came up and we saw his first week’s worth of work and the question was, “Do they start talking extension right now?” And my answer to you was, “I need to see more. We’ve seen another week and he has not shown any signs of slack.” The question is, do we need to circle back? Do we need to ask the question once again? Should the Reds be talking about locking him up right now to an extension to keep him around here for a couple extra free agent years? I like it when you turn the tables this way. I that is intriguing to me because we’ve talked about how the Reds need to figure out and of course they’ve got to pick the right moment. They got to pick the right player, but they’ve got to take advantage of things like what the Brewers have done with Jackson Cheerio, like what the Red Sox have done with Roman Anthony. And look at these guys who they’re like, “This dude is a huge part of what we want to do for a long time, right?” And the common denominator was they struck early. They didn’t wait too long. They didn’t let things get out of hand. They locked it up before there was really a body of work. They gambled on their guy. Braves with Alb’s and Ronald Akuni as well. I think I’m in on this. Now, the interesting part would be, could you do him and Chase Burns in the same offseason? Man, I feel real good about that. both like make sure both those guys just buy out and we’re not saying like sign them to a lifetime contract here. We’re saying like buy out a year or two a free agency. Hunter Green type deals. Hunter Green type deals because I remember there were people in the comments section and replying to the Hunter Green deal that said he’s hurt a lot. I I don’t know if he’s ever going to be worth that. Are we worried about that now? No, we’re not. And I don’t think we’d be worried about that with Chase Burns or South Stewart. I’m kind of in on this. The one thing that I give a little bit of pause to and I am a little bit curious as to how he’s going to grow next season because I don’t know that the league adjusts to him enough between now and the end of the year that we see this. But as it is right now, he hasn’t taken a walk. And as it is right now, he is swinging at over 37% of the pitches that he sees outside the strike zone. league average on that number is 28% almost 10% less than the amount of times he’s swinging at this. He is also seen over half the pitches that he is seeing right now 51.2% to be exact are fast balls. Somebody’s going to throw him a breaking ball and and currently as it stands right now he’s batting a buck 33 against that pitch. He has seen eight at least according to baseball eight total offspe pitches so far in his young major league career. those numbers are going to go up. So, how does he adjust to those things? But right now, he’s having a lot of fun and the numbers that we’re seeing from what he is doing, the underlying numbers, as I’m talking about those other statistics that I’m concerned about from the underlying side of things, his quality of contact, his barrel percentage, those are all astronomical. His average exit velocity, Steve, is 94.1. that if he had enough at bats to be qualified, he’d be in the 95 percentile of major league hitters. We’re talking about John Carlos Stanton type percentile for South Stewart here. So, he’s hitting the ball really stinking hard. It’s just how is the league going to adjust to him and how does he adjust to the league? That’s going to be the one thing that I think I do need to see early on next year. So, I I would be excited about a contract extension, but I also think that the Reds need to answer one other question before they answer that. And the the the question they need to answer is what is the plan with him? Where does he cuz because you’re not wrong because I because we’ll we’ll circle back to that right now because I know I threw a curveball to you um in where we were going to go with this segment and I did that on purpose just to gauge your real reaction. But um I think if we’re being honest and if we’re being fair, you can right now say that the Reds go to Goodyear next February with Sal Stewart pencled in as the front runner to be the first baseman on this team. I think Spencer Steer goes back into either a super utility role or they run the play that I really want them to run, which is he moves to second base, Matt Mlan moves to shortstop, Ellie de la Cruz moves to the outfield. I I think that’s the best lineup the Reds could put forward. Um, will that happen? I don’t know. But I think at the very minimum, South Stewart comes into the 2026 season as the front runner to be the first baseman on this team. He has got a great swing. I love South swing. It’s it’s one of the one of the prettiest right-handed swings I’ve seen. And at least according to baseball, it’s actually a little bit below league average as far as bat speed goes. So, he’s going to get a little bit stronger. They’re going to work on that in the offseason. We’re going to see that bat get a little bit faster next year. And these quality contact metrics may not necessarily be a mirage. They might be something that he can actually build upon and become the kind of middle-ofer hitter that this team has so desperately needed. So, I think the other part of this question is if you do go into the offseason with that plan, does that take that need off the table, off the grocery list for Nick Crawl? Middle of the order guy. The middle of the order guy. I don’t think it does. I think you still need to be out there looking for another outfielder that’s a bopper that can at least give you 20 to 30 home runs a year. I I we we’ve been banging this drum for years, Jeff, and it it just it doesn’t get any better. no matter what happens on the infield, they need somebody in the outfield that’s good for between 20 and 30 home runs in addition to what you might get from Noelvie Marte. Um, so no, I don’t think that changes it at all. But this I know in an a month of baseball that has been abysmal, in a month of baseball that has been disappointing, South Stewart has brought the spark. Sal Stewart has brought some potential and Sal Stewart has brought the fun. and I am looking forward to seeing what he does the rest of the way. But what the Reds need to do the rest of the way is beat the stinking Devil Magic Cardinals in the rest of the series. And we’re talking about that coming up next. With baseball in the stretch run, football getting started, there’s no better time to go get in on the action on FanDuel than right now. And they’ve got this amazing offer that I don’t see them do a whole lot. This is a very rare deal right now, but if you create an account on FanDuel and you place a $5 wager that wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets. I said $300. Normally, it’s like half that. It’s a really good deal. You got to go check out FanDuel right now. And you can check out tonight’s line on the Reds and Cardinals, and I’m talking about the line on the uh the total the the total runs scored overunder is set at eight. Now, last night it was eight and a half and I told you to smash the over because they’re going to score a lot of runs and they scored 17 total runs. They doubled the overunder total. So, tonight we’re gonna say the under because Andrew Rabbit is pitching and so is Mick Grievy for the Cardinals. I think it’s going to be a pitcher duel and I’m taking the under total eight runs for the Reds and the Cardinals. That’s over on FanDuel. Download the app today and take advantage of that $300 bonus bet offer for your first winning $5 bet. If you can’t watch us here on YouTube, you can find us in pretty much every single podcasting platform there is out there. We’re in all the audio feeds. If we’re not on one you need us to be on, message Jeff. He can make it happen. Click subscribe. Uh if you’re on YouTube, click subscribe and the notification bell. That way you get all of the Red’s content we’ve got coming your way the rest of the season and all off seasonason long. All right, Jeff, you know how I feel about the St. Louis Cardinals. And you know how I feel about things when the Reds play them. Um, I want the Reds to beat them. I want the Reds to win the season series. I want the Reds to just make them feel bad. I want them to be humiliated. Um, them and their fans and everybody involved with this organization because I do not like the St. Louis Cardinals. Yeah. The the mathematical possibility of making it into the playoffs and all of that stuff notwithstanding. I’m looking at this from a a just Reds Cardinals perspective because I was curious after they beat the Cardinals. All right, where’s the season series stand and all this other stuff? The Reds are five and six against the Cardinals this year and they finish it up these next two games. So, they would have to win both these games to be above 500 against the Cardinals for the season. If they were to do that, and I get it, we we’re talking about the fact that, you know, the Reds need to go on a run to even think about the playoffs and all this other stuff, and they’re doing it against a team that’s played them really well this year, but if they were able to do that and and clinch a season series victory over the Cardinals, it’d be back-to-back years. That hasn’t happened since the turn of the century. It’s never happened in the great American ballpark era. 1999 and 2000 were the last time that the Reds went back-to-back years with better than 500 records against these stinking Cardinals. So, playoffs aside, and I know they’re two games back, and I know there’s plenty of reason to look at that and squint at that and, you know, like I always like to say, turn your head sideways, turn the lights down low, and jump up and down and you can maybe see it working. But all of that aside, just beat the dang Cardinals and let’s see if we can get above 500. They got the right guy on the mat at least to win today with Andrew Abbott getting getting the nod. I’m I’m pretty curious to see how Andrew Abbott does in this start because um he’s coming off a really good start. Uh a start where he went deep in the game, seven, eight innings. Uh I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I think it was eight innings that he worked into in the last start. Um, but he’s been up and down and we’ve watched him pitched and we’ve watched how he’s looked and he looks like a guy who’s tired. He looks like a guy whose legs are starting to go. Um, this is the same problem he experienced last season, albeit he’s pitched more. He’s been healthy. He’s been available. He’s been in a lot of games. And I don’t begrudge him for being tired at this point. Uh, there’s a long stretch of this season where he carried this rotation, but I’m really curious to see how he looks when he comes out. I don’t need Andrew Rabbit to come out and have another seven or eight inning performance. I need six to seven quality innings from him. Keep the Cardinals off the board and let the bullpin do the work the rest of the way. The Red’s offense needs to cooperate, score a few runs. Let’s get Andrew Abbott another win and let’s not make him work too hard to get him. Yeah, looking at the last seven starts for Andrew Abbott, the Reds are two and five in that time. But individually, Abbott has pitched 6 and 2/3, 7 and 2/3, 7, then four, five, and four and 2/3. That’s when we really started to think that he was getting tired and that the season was kind of going downhill for him. And then he bounced back in a big way, like you mentioned, eight innings his last time out with just one earn run allowed against San Diego. And that was kind of that game where we’re like, man, all right, something’s different here. The Reds are turning things around. Andrew Abbott is turning things back around to where he was earlier on in the season. I’m with you. I’m not expecting eight innings. It’s just amazing to me that he has kept his ERA below three. Still, even through this struggling time, that’s how good he has been early on this year is that at at at one point and for a long period of time, his RA was under two. And so it has climbed up a little bit, but not to the point that we’re still talking about it being a a good season. We are still talking about this in the great area. Where is he sitting in wins above replacement right now? He leads the team, at least according to baseball reference, he’s at 5.3. And then whenever you go to Fan Grass, because they have a slightly different calculation, I forget the nuances. It’s it’s flipped around. is 3.5, but he’s still um he is right below Ellie Dela Cruz and leading the team. Do you think he gets any Sai Young votes? I feel like he deserves to get some Sai Young votes. He has been phenomenal for this team. I would say similar to where Hunter Green was last year. Hunter Green, I think, finished seventh last year in Sai Young voting. I could see Andrew Rabbit finishing like seventh or eighth or something like that. I just don’t think he does the sexy things that the Sai Young guys are going to get. His strikeout rate is right there at league average, 21.9%. And his walk rate is really good, but everything else is just about limiting the damage. And while that is exactly what a pitcher is supposed to do, his strikeout numbers really don’t just put him in the forefront the way that other guys will get. Like he’s not he’s not ever going to compete with a Paul Ski. Let’s let’s put it that way. And and let’s let’s give everybody just a quick rundown also on Sunday’s game. Uh hopefully the Reds will be going for a sweep to try and actually win the season series against Cardinals. Uh Wednesday’s game, not Sunday’s game. We’re jumping jumping ahead there. All right. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Okay. I I I want to clarify, folks. You guys have seen I am all over the place. My background is different every day. I have been traveling for a week. I was telling Jeff in prep, you guys, I don’t know what day it is. I don’t know what state I’m in. I don’t know what time zone I’m in. So, I apologize. Yes. When we get away from this series with the Cardinals, what are we looking at on the getaway day? G final game. The Reds cannot play the Cardinals and not face Andre Palante. They have to face Andre. I I think it’s contractually obligated at this point that Andre Palante has to pitch against the Reds. And he does so very, very well. But Andre Palante goes up against Brady Singer on Wednesday’s Getaway Day game, which that game is that timed as a Getaway Day game? I think it is. It is 1:15 p.m. Eastern time to 12:15 p.m. uh Central time. But yeah, that’s going I knew what time it was. I just didn’t know I knew what time it was. I didn’t know what day it was. I think he might have been more frustrated than those of us watching at home on Friday night when he left the game having only given up two runs to to the A’s and then oh by the way that’s how the game ended because the Reds didn’t score anything. I I just that that for me has got to like stick in his crawl a little bit. But then you look at the guy on the other side and this Andre Palante dude I there’s nothing special about him. When you look at his season statistics, it’s a 5.3 erra. He has negative war when it comes to baseball references calculation. But Steve, when he pitches against the Reds, he has a 2.08 erra in 18 total games pitched against the Reds. 56 and a3 innings that he’s given up that 2.08 RA. The Reds have hit just two. I said two home runs against this guy in 56 and a third innings. All right, let me ask you this before we get out of here. Jeeoff, we got about a minute to go on today’s show. Cincinnati Reds have two games remaining with the St. Louis Cardinals. Let’s just say they do what we’re asking them to do and they sweep the series and they win the season series with the St. Louis Cardinals. If you look at the standings at the end of this series and the Cincinnati Reds are two games or less away from the final wildcard spot, are you back in? Are you doubling down on this team making a postseason run? Because they are just teetering on that space where we want to be in and we want to be excited and we want to be hopeful, but I just don’t know if I’m willing to let them suck me back in again. I I feel like I will be because that’s just who I am and that’s just what I do. Um I I think really when it comes down to it, it’s going to be what does what happens with the Mets and and the New York Metropolitans uh just really don’t have that hard of a schedule uh left. They’ve got three against Washington. They do have three against the Padres’s. So, that could be a little bit interesting. But the Padres’s, I mean, we saw the Padres’s are kind of reeling. They also play the the Marlins. And then they got the Cubs. And I don’t know what to make of the Cubs right now. The Cubs look like they are just screeching to a halt here coming to the end of the season. Picro Armstrong has been a shell of himself. I mean, he had such a huge first half of the season. He’s going to garner some MVP votes, but he’s not this shoe in for MVP that he was early on in the season. and Kyle Tucker is a shell of himself as well. So, what version of the Cubs faces the Mets? That’s going to be the tough one because the Reds have nothing but divisional opponents the rest of this year and they haven’t played the division well. So, I feel like if they are able to sweep, I’m going to start to believe a little bit again because then you’re you’re probably talking about two out of three that the Mets take from the Nationals, which means that the Reds would gain a game. Um, yeah, I think I’d be back in. Every time I think I’m out, they suck me back in. That is where we’re going to go ahead and wrap up this edition of Locked on Reds. Folks, we’re are going to be on top of every single game the rest of the way. We’re going to bring back all of the news, the reports, the rumors, the information. We’re going to monitor this playoff race. Uh we have kind of called it, but the Reds are teetering on the brink and we’re going to keep all of the information right here for you. Click subscribe, click the notification bell so that you can stay in the hunt if the Reds stay in the hunt. We’re going to be back in your feeds tomorrow with another breakdown of Red’s Cardinals. And if you’ve checked us out and you’ve made it this far, click subscribe, click the notification bell, and then head over to the Locked on MLB feed where you’ve got two great shows. You’ve got Paul Francis Sullivan, you can call him Sully, giving you a national perspective of all things Major League Baseball, and then you’ve got Locked on MLB Game Night, watching every single game, every single night so that you don’t have to. Breaking down the happenings around MLB. We’ll be back in your feeds tomorrow. Until then, we’re going to keep you locked on reds every single day. I think we just spent 10 minutes jinxing the heck out of them. They’re probably losing tonight. That’s That’s our brand. It’s in the description. The profile description 100%.

The Cincinnati Reds face crucial decisions as Elly De La Cruz’s performance dips dramatically. His home run production plummeted from 18 in his first 79 games to just one in his last 70. Jeff and Steve analyze De La Cruz’s fatigue, Sal Stewart’s promising start, and Andrew Abbott’s sub-3 ERA pitching. They debate potential contract extensions, assess the upcoming Cardinals series, and evaluate playoff chances. Will the Reds secure back-to-back winning seasons against St. Louis for the first time since 2000? Tune in for expert insights on the Cincinnati Reds’ present challenges and future strategies.

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