Red Sox' botched Elly De La Cruz pursuit gave Yankees blueprint for a major splash

The New York Yankees landed some much-needed offensive help, trading for Luis García Jr. in a deal with the Nationals. The first baseman is an awkward positional fit, but a seriously needed offensive upgrade. Now the Yankees can turn their attention to upgrading actual positions of need, and the Boston Red Sox might have just accidentally given them the blueprint to do so.

The undynamic duo of Anthony Volpe and Jose Caballero has ensured that shortstop is a real position of need. The availability of potential options is questionable, but the Red Sox's failed pursuit of Elly De La Cruz just laid out exactly how the Yankees can land the Cincinnati Reds star.

The Reds aren't necessarily looking to move De La Cruz — similar to how the Angels have viewed Zach Neto's availability and the Nationals' stance on trading CJ Abrams — but they will for the right offer. That "right offer" would have to include young, controllable major league players.

Boston's pursuit fell short because it was only willing to offer up a prospect-centric package, but the Yankees could have the goods to get the 24-year-old superstar.

The Yankees can and should make a compelling offer for Reds star shortstop Elly De La Cruz

Before we dive into what New York could offer for De La Cruz, it is first necessary to take a look at why he's better than the other alternatives.

Starting with the bat, the switch hitter is superior Neto and Abrams. Abrams does have better numbers this year, a 150 wRC+ versus De La Cruz's 129 mark, but over the course of their careers, De La Cruz is the better hitter with a 111 wRC+ versus a 107 mark for Abrams.

Neto has consistently posted wRC+ numbers between 109 and 116 to this point in his career and has regressed this season with a 31.6% strikeout rate.

De La Cruz is also the best base stealer and defender of the bunch. He's been slowed by a hamstring injury this season, but still has 20 steals and logged a career high of 67 in 2024. Defensively, he's posted seven outs above average this year, against -8 for Neto and -14 for Abrams.

De La Cruz and Neto are free agents after the 2029 season, while Abrams has one fewer year of team control. The combination of all of these factors makes De La Cruz the most impactful of the trio and the most worthy of heavy investment.

Now, unlike the Red Sox, New York can give the Reds what they'd want. Controllable big-league talent is the starting point, but what kind of controllable big-league talent is what really matters.

Cincinnati's biggest needs are in the outfield and starting pitching. The strength of their farm system is middle infielders, and with the graduations of Chase Burns and Rhett Lowder, their pitching pipeline is drying up. Add in the fact that they're mulling trading Hunter Greene, and the need for controllable pitching is serious.

Burns and rookie infielder Sal Stewart are the Reds' foundational pieces, so finding players on similar timelines is ideal. The Yankees have those in the form of Spencer Jones, Jasson Dominguez, and Will Warren.

Warren holds immense value as a trade chip thanks to his team control through 2030. Jones or Dominguez would be an ancillary piece, but they both still have potential to go along with oodles of control.

The missing piece to get a deal done might be George Lombard Jr. That would be a bitter pill to swallow for the Yankees, but if it results in De La Cruz manning short for years to come, it's an acceptable price to pay. Lombard Jr. is technically still a prospect, but he's on the cusp of being MLB -ready and could slide in soon to replace De La Cruz. He'd line up better next to Stewart and Burns on the Reds' timeline, too.

The Yankees might need to include two more prospects to bring the deal over the top, but this framework could give the Reds what they'd need to part with De La Cruz, and we can thank the Red Sox for bringing it to light.

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