Demoralizing reality of historic Reds' trio should be final nail in the coffin for Nick Krall

The Cincinnati Reds have three of the most electric stars in Major League Baseball. Sal Stewart, Elly De La Cruz, and Chase Burns would be the envy of every single baseball executive throughout the league, and yet, the Reds sit in last place in the NL Central division heading into the month of September.

According to a recent social media post from OptaSTATS, the Reds are the first team in MLB history to have a hitter under 25 years old with 30 home runs and 100 RBI (Stewart), another hitter under 25 years old with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases (De La Cruz), and a pitcher under 25 years old with 15 wins (Burns) all in the same season.

That is quite the feat on the part of Stewart, De La Cruz , and Burns. It's also quite the indictment of Nick Krall and the Reds' front office. Coming into the 2026 season, all three players were pre-arbitration eligible, meaning they received the league minimum salary.

In other words, Stewart, De La Cruz, and Burns are taking home a collective $2.367 million in 2026. That's 1.8% of the Reds' $129 million payroll according to Cot's Baseball Contracts. By comparison, the quintet of Hunter Greene, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Brady Singer, Jose Trevino, and Eugenio Suárez ($47 million-plus), are eating up nearly 37% of the budget.

Nick Krall's tenure with the Reds is hanging by a thread

While injuries to Greene, De La Cruz, Emilio Pagán, and others certainly hurt the Reds' chances in 2026, name one team throughout Major League Baseball that hasn't endured similar losses. Furthermore, accounting for such injuries is a key part of roster construction — something Krall and Co. failed to do this past offseason.

The historic statistics pulled by OptaSTATS aren't, in and of themselves, reason for the Reds to move on from Krall. But it highlights a long track record of Krall's shortcomings, and illustrates how important it is to have competent, forward-thinking individuals running the baseball ops department.

The closer we get to the end of the 2026 season, the hotter Krall's seat is getting. It remains unclear whether or not Cincinnati's ownership group is ready to cut ties with their president of baseball operations, but they risk losing the fanbase is no changes are made this coming offseason.

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