Reds Make Baffling Decision With Elly De La Cruz After Latest Injury

The Cincinnati Reds received relatively good news on star shortstop Elly De La Cruz on Monday, but their plan for handling him moving forward is questionable at best.

De La Cruz left Sunday night's game against the Chicago Cubs with tightness in his left quad, the same quad that bothered him throughout the second half of last season. After being evaluated Monday, De La Cruz was diagnosed with a small strain.

“He has a small strain but it’s a strain," Reds manager Terry Francona told Charlie Goldsmith. "The doctor thinks Elly can play through this with the caveat that if it gets worse, he’s got to let us know. He has promised he’ll do that.”

The Reds are listening to that advice. De La Cruz is in the lineup as the DH and batting second in Monday night's series opener against the San Diego Padres.

Did the Reds Not Learn From 2025?

Aug 22, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Cincinnati Reds infielder Elly De La Cruz (44) smiles while on third against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the seventh inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Anna Carrington-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While it's certainly encouraging that the injury isn't considered serious, it's hard to understand why the Reds would take any risk at all with De La Cruz at this point in the season.

Cincinnati isn't going to the postseason. There is simply no good reason for De La Cruz to play through a quad strain during the final month of the season, especially considering what happened just one year ago.

De La Cruz played all 162 games in 2025 despite dealing with a left quad injury during the second half. His production declined considerably down the stretch, and Francona admitted during the offseason that he should have done a better job of protecting his star player.

“There were a lot of things going on. I think I need to take responsibility -- and I have, and I will,” Francona told MLB.com's Mark Sheldon in the offseason. “I need to find ways to get him off his feet from time to time, and I didn't do a very good job of that, and I own up to that.”

Francona went even further when discussing how he planned to handle De La Cruz in 2026.

“I don’t think there’s a number. But I also think if you wait to a certain point, like I did last year, you wait too long,” Francona said. “I’m not sure a day is going to do a whole lot of good in September. I think you have to be proactive and I just need to explain it to him better to make him understand. … I just need to do a better job of managing that and I will.”

That's what makes Francona's decision to put De La Cruz right back in the lineup on Monday so difficult to understand.

Someone in the organization needs to wake up and tell Francona that it's not worth the risk.

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