Reds 2022 Season Doomed Before It Began

[Ron Madden]

Season Doomed From The Beginning

The Reds didn’t hide their intentions to jettison bigger salaries in trades when they used the phrase “align payroll to our resources” on the first day of the offseason.

The Reds canceled their first team meeting in spring training when they completed a trade that sent Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suárez to Seattle minutes beforehand.

Winker, Suárez and Amir Garrett all had emotional exits with their teammates and it crushed the mood in the clubhouse as an 83-win team was dismantled in front of their eyes.

"It was sad because it was so unexpected," Jonathan India said. "They came in, it was quiet in the clubhouse. I couldn't believe it. Everyone was in shock. We were losing everyone. Everyone was gone. You know, it's the business. It was my first time experiencing something like that."

Reds team president Phil Castellini made national headlines when he scoffed at fans upset about ownership and the direction of the team.
Well, where are you going to go?” he said in a radio interview before the team’s home opener.

Perhaps, it should have been no surprise that a turbulent spring led to an awful start. Injuries ravaged the roster and the Reds opened with a 3-22 record.

The Reds had their lowest-attended season in 38 years
Five players were traded for 11 prospects at the trade deadline, including starting pitchers Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, who were under team control through the 2023 season.

"As a second-year guy, people were looking at me like a vet now," India said. "Like, oh my god, it's my second year, I'm still working on things.

You look at our record and it's like, 'oh, they lost 100.' We had a new team almost every week."

.

continue reading here:
https://sports.yahoo.com/reds-blown-...234202614.html

[klw]

When rookie starter Graham Ashcraft was asked about the 100-loss season, he mentioned a ground ball in the seventh inning. The ball rolled up the middle and second baseman Spencer Steer was in position to field it before it deflected off the second-base bag, and bounced toward right field for an RBI hit.

"That hit summed up our season," Ashcraft said.

[Kc61]

How about Nick Krall’s comment after the Suarez/Winker trade in mid-March that Reds are not trying to rebuild? That was short-lived.

[cumberlandreds]

I knew they were in the destroying mode when they traded Winker and Suarez for a song. Then they nuked it with trading Mahle and Castillo. That pretty much sealed the deal with this franchise bobbing around the 95 to 100 realm for a few seasons to come.

[REDREAD]

How about Nick Krall’s comment after the Suarez/Winker trade in mid-March that Reds are not trying to rebuild? That was short-lived.

Typical Reds' ownership/front office quote.. they really think that the fans are stupid.

[LeatherPants]

Local media out defending the club yesterday and today. Charlie Goldsmith posted a video basically saying, "don't worry about the 100 losses, you won't remember anything about this season in 10 years" and Lance out there today saying what a great rebuild it is.

[Old school 1983]

Local media out defending the club yesterday and today. Charlie Goldsmith posted a video basically saying, "don't worry about the 100 losses, you won't remember anything about this season in 10 years" and Lance out there today saying what a great rebuild it is.

Compare it to the last rebuild. The talent in the system and being brought in dwarfs the last rebuild. Going into 2024, the payroll will be a clean slate too. I expect more of a developmental year next season. Maybe a longer term piece or 2 gets added. But, after that, there will be a solid core of home grown guys with money to add to it.

[LeatherPants]

Compare it to the last rebuild. The talent in the system and being brought in dwarfs the last rebuild. Going into 2024, the payroll will be a clean slate too. I expect more of a developmental year next season. Maybe a longer term piece or 2 gets added. But, after that, there will be a solid core of home grown guys with money to add to it.

The biggest part of that talent (Hunter and Lodolo) are from the last rebuild. We don't really know how the talent from this rebuild is going yet.

[Ron Madden]

Bobby Nightengale
@nightengalejr

Reds attendance for the season: 1.388 million over 79 home dates.

It's the lowest attended season in Great American Ball Park history and the franchise's lowest since 1984.

Gabe Lacques
@GabeLacques

Amazingly, the Reds drew more (1.5 million) in 2021, which began with Covid restrictions and was far closer to the pandemic epicenter.

Then the Castellinis said screw you, what are you gonna do about it?

The fans responded.

[Old school 1983]

The biggest part of that talent (Hunter and Lodolo) are from the last rebuild. We don't really know how the talent from this rebuild is going yet.

Probably much better and faster considering Greene, Lodolo, India, Stephenson, Diaz, and Ashcraft are all currently in house and in the MLB. To a lesser extent Fraley is here too. De la Cruz and Marte are more highly rated than anything the Reds had in the system during the 15-18 rebuild. I’d Say CES falls into that group too. Plus on top of it, the payroll is going to be a blank slate.

[LeatherPants]

Probably much better and faster considering Greene, Lodolo, India, Stephenson, Diaz, and Ashcraft are all currently in house and in the MLB. To a lesser extent Fraley is here too. De la Cruz and Marte are more highly rated than anything the Reds had in the system during the 15-18 rebuild. I’d Say CES falls into that group too. Plus on top of it, the payroll is going to be a blank slate.

You just listed a bunch of players that were here before this rebuild started, and then a couple from the current batch.

We don't know yet how this rebuild is going.

[Old school 1983]

You just listed a bunch of players that were here before this rebuild started, and then a couple from the current batch.

We don't know yet how this rebuild is going.

So those guys aren’t on the team that’s being built currently? Denying the talent that is there is a pretty weak take.

Just given your take there it can be inferred that the Reds spent and built in 2020 and 2021 since you can separate the rebuilds…means there had to be building and spending with the break in rebuilds…the Reds spending in 2020 is something you flat said didn’t happen over and over earlier in the season. Second thing that can be inferred is that the Reds didn’t gut things to the bare studs if that much talent is still on the team.

The Reds have potential high end to elite…maybe even generational…talent on the MLB team.
The Reds have more projected high end or even elite talent coming.
The Reds will have a clean slate of payroll.

Sure, it can get screwed up, but that’s a pretty good setup to create a winner in the coming years.

[BCubb2003]

I have a hot take that Phil Castellini’s “where you gonna go” was misunderstood. I’m not defending him. He said the wrong thing in the wrong way on the wrong day. Utter failure to read the room, and the city. But he said a different wrong thing than what people assume.

He had said several things that fans could take to heart (some prompted by reporters trying to do damage control.) That the owners were reinvesting in the team. That it’s great to have three major league teams in the city competing with each other. And this one: “If you don’t win the fans don’t show up.” That could have been the headline to all those stories if he’d stopped there. It should be a sign above the door to the owners suites. And each owner should have to slap it on the way through Ted Lasso-style.

It went off the rails when he was asked about selling the team. His salty response was not right. But here’s what his “Where you gonna go” was about: He wasn’t speaking to the fans at the moment (problematic) but from the perspective of an owner selling the team. He was using the second person (problematic) “you.”

So what he meant was: “You want to sell the team. Where you gonna go. You’ll end up selling it to Nashville, Las Vegas or Charlotte, where they think they can make more profit in those markets. The fans don’t want that, and neither do we.”

It wasn’t a message to the fans, “you’re stuck with us,” it was “we’re here in Cincinnati with you doing the best we can.”

But he didn’t say it that way, and he talked profits at a time like this, and he brought up the specter of moving the team when everyone knows MLB isn’t going to do that. Again, I’m not defending him, I just think it was a different failure on the part of someone who speaks for the organization.

[Strikes Out Looking]

I'd love the Reds to stay in Cincy but if there are no owners who want to take on the team in that market, then its better for MLB to move on to another market. I AM NOT saying I'm in favor of this or that is even true-I don't believe Cincy isn't a market that can have a profitable MLB team - its the same size as Milwaukee and just a bit smaller than St. Louis - it's completely the ownership.

The ownership doomed the season even before the March Winker/Suarez trade. They doomed the season when they were lockout hawks and didn't even want to start the season (voting with a few other franchises) to keep the lockout going. The ownership has completely lost the forest from the trees and must be gotten rid of if this is to be a successful franchise. They are not good business people, don't understand their market, and are basically a bunch of boobs who were born on third base and are so convinced they hit a triple that they don't realize that they've stepped off the bag and been tagged out. Rich Morons.

Next year will be more of the same, and if they Reds are successful in any season it'll be due to luck rather than business savvy (i.e. starting pitching or the phalanx of SS's all have career years at the same time), it'll be short lived and this group will go into another rebuild quickly (ala the Luria Marlins).

[Old school 1983]

Man. We are already getting it the Reds are ever good it’ll be luck takes.