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MLB, Baseball Herren, USA Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals Jul 23, 2025 Washington, District of Columbia, USA Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz 44 on the field against the Washington Nationals during the sixth inning at Nationals Park. Washington Nationals Park District of Columbia USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xBradxMillsx 20250723_dbm_au3_025<\/p>\n
Reportedly, the Reds already tried to lock up Elly De La Cruz with a historic offer, one that would\u2019ve made him the highest-paid player in franchise history. Supposedly, it even topped Joey Votto\u2019s 10-year, $225 million deal. Still, De La Cruz turned it down, and since then, the Dodgers buzz has only gotten louder.<\/p>\n
But is it actually realistic to talk about Elly as a billion-dollar player?<\/p>\n
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Well, on paper, the case isn\u2019t crazy. De La Cruz is heading into his final pre-arb year and won\u2019t hit free agency until after the 2029 season. In 2025, he played all 162 games and put up a .264 average with a .776 OPS, 22 HRs, and 86 RBIs, and that was just his second full MLB season. The year before,he made history by becoming only the fifth player ever to post a 20-homer<\/a>, 60-steal season, and the youngest to do it. He\u2019s only 24 and hasn\u2019t even sniffed his prime yet.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the star-power angle. De La Cruz is a loud, proud Shohei Ohtani fan. When he made his first All-Star team in 2024, he said he was learning Japanese just so he could talk to Ohtani. So, it sure sounds like someone who\u2019d love to share a clubhouse with him.<\/p>\n As for the Dodgers, Mookie Betts is signed through 2032 and currently has shortstop locked down, but by 2030, he\u2019ll be 37. That\u2019s not exactly peak age for handling shortstop every day. By then, De La Cruz would be 27, right in the heart of his prime. And we all know the Dodgers have the money to make De La Cruz listen.<\/p>\n So yes, start bracing yourself for another Dodgers \u201ctop-of-the-lineup heist.\u201d And this time, they might be the team that finally smashes through the billion-dollar barrier.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Dodgers would have roadblocks before splashing a billion<\/p>\n While it sounds wild to talk about MLB\u2019s first billion-dollar contract, it\u2019s hard to ignore the roadblocks that could pop up, especially if the Dodgers are the ones trying to do it. Becauseother owners aren\u2019t exactly thrilled with how L.A. has been operating<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to MLB insider Evan Drellich, owners around the league were basically \u201craging\u201d after the Dodgers landed Tucker in free agency this offseason. So much so that they\u2019ll push hard for a salary cap the next time the league sits down to negotiate. And honestly, can we blame them?<\/p>\n Just look at the numbers. The Dodgers are currently having 8 names on contracts north of $100 million. No other team is playing in that financial universe. So, with the current CBA set to expire after the 2026 season, a showdown over a salary cap feels inevitable. And if that fight is coming, it likely means the Dodgers would have to hit pause before making another earth-shattering splash.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n So if a billion-dollar deal is ever going to happen, it might not be as imminent as it seems. The Dodgers may have to wait this one out.<\/p>\n The post Dodgers Plot Heist of 24YO Star After Reds\u2019 Historic Contract Rejected in Bitter Snub, per Insider<\/a> appeared first on EssentiallySports<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once again, one of the top young talents in MLB is being linked to the Dodgers. And once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[5,24,535,50,4259,7320,2196,6469,27630,29,57,4,1526,536,468,973,71],"class_list":["post-533918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-reds","tag-baseball","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-cincinnatireds","tag-de-la-cruz","tag-dodger-stadium","tag-franchise-history","tag-joey-votto","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-mookie-betts","tag-reds","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-the-reds","tag-washington-nationals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115942738842549084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}