My Response to Bob Castellini

My Response to Bob Castellini

Micah Greenhill
2 years ago
3 min read
Bob Castellini, Reds president, wears a hat in honor of Joe Morgan before the MLB baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates

In light of the recent trade activity-particularly the trade of All-Star Jesse Winker-Bob Castellini recently discussed the very tough decisions made by the team with Tommy Thrall on the Reds website. I read some of the comments he made, and I was legitimately laughing out loud. 

And I had to respond. 

Dear Castellini family, please see my thoughts below. 

"That commitment (talking about the committment to winning) has never wavered. It is simply untrue that our resolve to win has waned in any way. I really want our fans to hear that directly from me. Our fans fell in love with these players, as did I, and it hurts to see them go. Players like Jesse Winker, who came up in our organization – and we watched grow from prospect to All-Star. These were very tough decisions made against the realities of today’s game, where money must be invested at every level of our baseball operation."

This is absolutely ridiculous, but let’s assume for a second that Castellini is telling the truth. Assuming that his resolve to win has not waned, then the only conclusion is that he is completely inept. If he’s committed to winning, why hasn’t the winning happened? Also, the Jesse Winker trade that Castellini referenced did not significantly improve the farm system. The main benefit was getting Eugenio Suarez’s contract off the books.

So, Castellini family, I choose to take you at your word. You are committed to winning, and that resolve has never wavered in any way.

Then you are awful at your job. If I were your boss, I’d fire you. In fact, considering many fans-especially younger fans-are moving on to cheer for other teams and sports, in a way, you’ve already been fired.

 "We’ve seen that our focus on sustainability through acquiring and developing talent is working. ... We know that the investments in scouting and player development that we’ve made since 2019 are paying off."

Okay Bob. Here’s the problem with what you just said. You’ve provided a qualitative metric for success when fans want a quantitative metric of success. You say it’s working, but it hasn’t yet translated into true winning baseball. Heck, I don’t care of your focus is working or not. I care about wins and watching competitive baseball.

So, if your focus is truly working, then your metric for success is not a winning team.

"We have more to do. We need to pursue postseason play in this expanded format that is starting in 2022. And we need to rekindle the trust we have lost with some of the fanbase."

Well we agree on one thing. You definitely have more to do. The fact that you call out the expanded playoffs is also concerning. It makes me feel like you’re not going to try as hard, because you know it’ll be easier to make it into the playoffs. I guess I should count my blessings, though. If it weren’t for expanded playoffs, maybe the Reds would never make the playoffs.

And yes, you need to rekindle the trust you’ve lost with the fanbase.

And it’s not just “some” of the fanbase. Stop trying to make the truth look more optimistic. You haven’t lost the trust of just some fans. You’ve lost the trust of us all.

We are not proud to be Reds fans.

We are ashamed.

"The future is bright, and I have so much confidence in what we are building in the short and long term. We appreciate our fans and cannot wait to see them back at the ballpark."

Well, at least there’s one person who thinks that.

Want to know what the rest of Reds country thinks?

The future is not bright. We do not have confidence in what the Reds are building in the short and long term. And we do not plan on coming back to the ballpark.

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