I see it in just about every game I watch.
There are guys who are biding their time until they can leave via free agency (Encarnacion).
There are guys who look to pad their own stats for the sake of making their wallet fatter (Phillips).
There are guys who make their decisions based on favoritism rather than actual talent (Dusty).
Tear it down. Burn it down. Blow it down completely and rebuild.
There are too many holdover veterans who've accepted the Cincinnati culture of losing that it's going to start to carry over to the young players coming up. Once you accept losing, it's like a dog who's tasted blood or a malignant tumor in the brain, it has to be destroyed...eradicated.
Right now the only people I see on the field with any fire in them are Votto, Herrerra and Rosales. It seems like everyone else is going through the motions.
I'm not saying trade away every one, but you have to get rid of those players who have accepted losing and are comfortable with the status quo.
Dusty has to go too. He can't even instill basic fundamentals in this team. I've never seen a group of professional athletes make so many stupid mistakes on the field of play as I have with the 2009 Cincinnati Reds.
I'm tired of watching a club of guys playing ball with their friends who are fine with losing ballgames as long as they draw a paycheck. I'd rather watch a AAA team fighting for their careers than complacent millionaires.
I've grown fond of a lot of these players over the years, but I'm tired of the losing culture. If you're going to rebuild, do it all the way like Tampa Bay did. We've spent the better part of a decade attempting to half rebuild and half compete at the same time. You can't do both. It's fundamentally impossible.
And get someone in here to manage this ballclub with some fire to drive the young kids to play hard. If a guy screws up, I want to see the manager rip him in the paper the next day. He'll remember that the next time a similar situation arises.
I would take another five seasons of losing baseball to watch young guys with potential try their hardest between the white lines before I can watch another five seasons of mediocre to downright awful baseball with guys who just don't seem to care anymore.