The Cincinnati Reds enter the 2025 MLB season with one of the youngest rosters in the league and one of the lowest payrolls, too.
That combination means several of its young players will likely be the Reds’ most productive, and as a result, some of the most undervalued players in the big leagues.
How did we determine that? BetOhio.com, as part of our Ohio sports betting coverage, turned to Fangraphs.com to gather 2025 salary information and projected WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for the coming season. Then we divided the salary by the player’s projected WAR (dollars per projected production) to determine the players’ potential value.
Player | 2025 Salary | 2025 Projected WAR | Value (Salary Per WAR) * |
Elly De La Cruz (Shortstop) | $800,000 | 4.9 | $163,265 |
Matt McLain (Second Baseman) | $800,000 | 3.4 | $235,294 |
TJ Friedl (Outfielder) | $800,000 | 2.1 | $380,952 |
*Rounded to nearest whole number
All three of these players are yet to be arbitration eligible, meaning that unless the Reds sign them to an extension, they’re locked into their salaries this year.
De La Cruz has taken the league by storm since his call up midway through the 2023 season. While he declined toward the end of 2023, last year was definitely a breakout season as he hit 25 home runs and led the league with 67 stolen bases. His 5.2 WAR last season was ninth best in the league, and he finished eighth in National League Most Valuable Player voting.
At DraftKings Ohio Sportsbook, De La Cruz has odds of +2000 to be Cincinnati’s first MVP winner since Joey Votto received the award 15 years ago.
This season, Cincinnati celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Big Red Machine’s first World Series title in 1975 and the 35th of the Wire-to-Wire Reds winning the team’s last title in 1990. The franchise has a promising lineup of youngsters, but for the 2025 season the Cincinnati Reds World Series odds are +7000 at FanDuel.
However, their odds to make the playoffs are considerably shorter. Oddsmakers at bet365 give first-year manager Terry Francona’s squad odds of +280 to make the playoffs, and Fanatics makes Cincinnati its third choice to win the NL Central at +450.
To reach the postseason, though, the Reds will need to avoid costly injuries, which limited them to a 77-85 record in 2024. That was a slight drop from their surprising 82-80 season in 2023.
Two of the team’s most impactful injuries were to outfielder TJ Friedl and second baseman Matt McLain, who are both on our list of the team’s best bargains for 2025. This data is exclusive to BetOhio.com, where real money Ohio sportsbook promotions reside.
Friedl, who served as a table-setter in 2023, broke his right wrist during last year’s spring training, and then just six games into his comeback, broke his left thumb in mid-May. Six weeks later, he strained a hamstring. Despite all that, he still hit 13 homers in half a season, though his .226/.310/.380 slashline was far below the .279/.467/.819 he produced in 2023. If Friedl can get close to his 2023 production, it’ll definitely be good news for the Reds.
McLain missed all of last season with left shoulder injury he suffered in spring training. In 2023, he was a midseason callup. In 89 games, he hit 16 homers and finished with a slashline of .290/.357/.504 to finish fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year balloting.
A healthy McLain would go a long way to bolster the Reds chances of making the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and for the first full season since reaching the Wild Card game in 2013.
And should all three players live up to or exceed their expectations this season, then the prospects are good there will be a Red October in this year’s postseason.
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USA Today Network photo by Sam Greene/The Enquirer
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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