Elly De La Cruz set to break Juan Soto's historic $765M Mets deal soon, claims former Red Sox star

Elly De La Cruz is one of the most exciting players in Major League Baseball right now. The Cincinnati Reds shortstop is must-watch television every time he takes to the field thanks to his incredible combination of speed and power, as well as his incredible throwing arm on defense.

While Elly De La Cruz still has some areas of his game that he will need to improve upon if he hopes to find himself in MVP conversations year in and year out. The 22-year-old did finish 8th in National League MVP voting last season, so it is not outside of the realm of possibility that he could get his hands on the award sooner rather than later.

De La Cruz will need to cut down on his strikeouts as he led all of Major League Baseball with 218 total strikeouts. This has not stopped former New York Mets and Boston Red Sox infielder Carlos Baerga from claiming that Elly will not only be one of the best players in baseball, but one of the best paid as well.

On the latest episode of La UCA Deportes, Baerga said that he believes that Elly De La Cruz will become the first billion-dollar contract in MLB history. While this may sound absurd, we have now seen two players (Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani) secure $700 million deals and De La Cruz has several years before he is eligible for unrestricted free agency.

The Cincinnati Reds superstar is eligible to hit unrestricted free agency in 2030 according to Spotrac. It may not be impossible by that point that a billion-dollar contract could be an option, however, it just might be too high of a number for it to come to fruition.

Currently Juan Soto's 15-year, $765 million deal is the richest contract in MLB history, however there are a number of superstars who could hit free agency and potentially put up massive contracts. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuna Jr., and Gunnar Henderson could all hit unrestricted free agency before Elly and help increase the number of $500 million+ deals, even bordering on Soto's contract.

Elly De La Cruz has been a force for the Reds so far through throughout Spring Training

Spring Training may have only just started, but Elly De La Cruz has been putting the league on notice already. Elly has taken part in only 9 at-bats so far this spring but he has already launched 3 home runs with a .556 batting average and looks primed to make a big push for his first NL MVP.

Currently on the popular sports betting website FanDuel, De La Cruz sits with the 7th best odds to win the 2025 NL MVP Award, sitting at +2500. Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is the betting favorite, sitting a +145 for the moment.