CINCINNATI — Joey Votto, the longtime Cincinnati Reds first baseman and one of the most beloved players in franchise history, set off the first real argument of the Reds’ offseason this week by saying that if he ran the team, he would trade superstar shortstop Elly De La Cruz.
Asked by A.J. Pierzynski on the “Foul Territory” podcast what he would do as the Reds’ general manager, Votto did not hesitate, according to the Dayton Daily News: “I would trade Elly for as many prospects as possible to start.”
Votto’s case, as he laid it out, is about money rather than talent. De La Cruz is headed toward a payday that would reshape the Reds’ entire budget, and Votto questioned whether a club with Cincinnati’s payroll can build a winner around a single contract of that size. “Elly’s going to get $650 million,” Votto said. “Are you going to give up a half or a third of your payroll on one player? It doesn’t make sense.”
He made equally clear that the comment was no knock on De La Cruz himself. “I love Elly,” Votto said, calling him a leader and “a talent getting better” — “He is all five tools.” The point, in Votto’s telling, is that a small-market front office has to be honest about what one mega-contract does to the other 25 spots on the roster.
Votto even used his own career as the cautionary example. The Reds signed him to a long-term extension that kept him in Cincinnati for the rest of his playing days, and he said the club “should have flipped me at year four and a half or a year at five” instead — cashing in his trade value while it was highest rather than paying for the later years of the deal.
The remarks landed hard in Reds country precisely because of who delivered them. Votto is a franchise icon whose opinion carries weight with the fan base, and his argument — trade the most electric player on the roster now, for a haul of prospects, before his price tag arrives — runs directly against the instinct of most fans, who see De La Cruz as the player to build around, not the asset to sell.
For now, though, this is a legend’s opinion, not a trade rumor. Votto is not running the team, and nothing in his comments suggests the Reds’ front office is shopping De La Cruz. What his words do is frame the question that will hang over Cincinnati’s winter: whether the Reds add real depth around their young star, which would quiet the debate, or stand pat — in which case Votto’s argument is likely to follow the club all offseason.