Elly De La Cruz made his big league debut three years ago tonight.
That day - and the walkoff win that night over the Dodgers - felt significant. Elly's debut and what appeared to be a nice stockpile of young players made it seem like years of waiting for the Reds contend were finally going to payoff. Maybe not immediately, but sometime in the not-so distant future. Certainly by the middle of the decade.
Since then, the Reds are 246-243. A winning percentage of .503. The Reds don't seem dramatically better than they did 489 games ago. The familiar early-summer themes of "not sure if they're buyers or sellers" have become an annual thing. The number of foundational pieces and truly established players remains startingly small.
When the Reds chose to be really bad in 2022, there was lots of chatter from the front office about the desire to eliminate peaks and valleys moving forward.
It seems as if that mission has been accomplished.
Reds are 30-29 and jn last place. Bullpen is in tatters. Their best player is on the IL. Roster is loaded with guys who’ve provided nothing offensively yet get unlimited opportunities to prove that they’re not what they are. A season with only postseason advancement as an acceptable outcome is already teetering on the brink and we haven’t yet reached the first weekend of June. Not great.