The Real Problem With The Reds

[Roy Tucker]

I’m lucky in that I work in a very senior and well-respected and technically proficient group. Our manager is a strong leader, but he very much listens to what we say and respects our viewpoints. I have directly contradicted him on big items and he listens to what I have to say and will say “ok, makes sense, let’s go that way”. He also sometimes says no. But that’s ok.

But I’m also going into my 46th year in my career and it’s not my first rodeo. The facts that he a.) listens to us and b.) will change direction on what me or my coworkers say is a rare thing indeed. I’ve run into all kinds of tyrants and mini dictators and serial entrepreneurs in my careers and that behavior is certainly the norm. I’m lucky now but I also have the freedom of being in my last year working, financially secure, and I’ll very directly speak my mind because I don’t give a crap about extending my career.

[REDREAD]

So far Bradley hasn't signed with anyone, it's still possible the Reds can resign him at a lower cost. It would be a great move if they could somehow do that. Casali will probably be the only other non tender they could possibly miss.

I'm going to put more trust in Krall than I am in Heyman at this point. I'll wait and see how everything works out before having a panic attack.

I know this isn't the main point of your post, but the chance of Bradley resigning here are zero, I would guess.
Think about it, if your boss basically laid you off, then offered to take you back at half the salary, would you do it?
Most people would not, even if that meant starting at another company for the same lowball salary, just out of pride.
Why go back to an employer that disrespected you like that?

Plus, I'm sure whatever the Reds offer Bradley, there's going to be another team offering at least 50k more.
This offseason will likely depress the prices of relievers, but the good ones are likely to sign with big market teams and contenders, to get exposure for the next deal. Why would a quality reliever want to go to a team like the Reds, where
his arm might get abused due to lack of depth (unless he's well paid or given a multiyear deal)? Bell uses his pen pretty hard.

It's different for a guy like Farmer, he will take whatever the Reds offer him because he's on the fringe and might not get another offer from anyone else.

[backbencher]

The "problem" with the Reds is three-fold:

1. The Reds are in the #37 media market in the country, lowest in MLB, and have the lowest ticket prices as well.

2. The Reds have been bad at scouting/development.

3. The Reds have not identified a market inefficiency or creative approach to compensate.

Hopefully #2 and #3 change. Driveline certainly is an effort in that direction.

Cincinnati's local, public owners may be faulted for not finding a creative, small-market path like Oakland or Tampa. But if the steady stream of "firesale" posts on this site are an indication of public sentiment, the fanbase does not want the Oakland/Tampa churn approach either.

And when Cincinnati's recent MLB payrolls have been HIGHER than a dozen larger-market teams, well, I'm not sure how ownership can be blamed as being tight.

[Wonderful Monds]

The "problem" with the Reds is three-fold:

1. The Reds are in the #37 media market in the country, lowest in MLB, and have the lowest ticket prices as well.

2. The Reds have been bad at scouting/development.

3. The Reds have not identified a market inefficiency or creative approach to compensate.

Hopefully #2 and #3 change. Driveline certainly is an effort in that direction.

Cincinnati's local, public owners may be faulted for not finding a creative, small-market path like Oakland or Tampa. But if the steady stream of "firesale" posts on this site are an indication of public sentiment, the fanbase does not want the Oakland/Tampa churn approach either.

And when Cincinnati's recent MLB payrolls have been HIGHER than a dozen larger-market teams, well, I'm not sure how ownership can be blamed as being tight.

Because those other owners are tightwads too? Jeez dude, have some standards, you’re letting them totally off the hook for being a....top 18 payroll in the league?

[Revering4Blue]

Because those other owners are tightwads too? Jeez dude, have some standards, you’re letting them totally off the hook for being a....top 18 payroll in the league?

With all due respect, WM, I think you're missing the key points:

- Overall, in the Castellini era, the issue isn't so much that the franchise hasn't spent enough money to be competive - not counting the tanking years - it's that they've done a sub par job of allocating the resources spent.

- While Cast has definitely meddled at times to the detriment of the franchise, we can't overlook the fact that his GMs and/or POBOs have also committed some grievous organizational errors.

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[Wonderful Monds]

With all due respect, WM, I think you're missing the key points:

- Overall, in the Castellini era, the issue isn't so much that the franchise hasn't spent enough money to be competive - not counting the tanking years - it's that they've done a sub par job of allocating the resources spent.

- While Cast has definitely meddled at times to the detriment of the franchise, we can't overlook the fact that his GMs and/or POBOs have also committed some grievous organizational errors.

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I don’t disagree with most of this. I mean honestly the real issue that they have is that they don’t develop players well. If they had guys in the pipeline that could soon be counted on to be major contributors, or used as trade chips, they wouldn’t be stuck in the middle right now. That’s really kind of what it boils down to.