Reds Remain In Slow Burn of Their Rebuild

[kaldaniels]

This cheap ownership just had the highest payroll in team history and apparently that wasn't enough for most fans. It led to zero runs in the playoffs in 2020 and a huge choke down the stretch in 2021. The Reds decided to blow it up and start over and the fans want them to add even more pieces. The players blew it, the window has closed, but the fans want those same players to remain on the team...why?? They had their chance and were given everything they needed and could not get it done. Its time to move onto this new group of young players or move on as a fan. The same fan narrative is getting stale, the Reds are trying to set up this franchise to compete for a decade, not go all in for a year or two...all just my opinion and I have been through the season of 1982, it could be a lot worse...believe me.

If I fed my family filet mignon last weekend but told them today it was gonna be ramen this weekend, I wouldn’t blame them for being pissed.

There is no excuse for what is going on.

[westofyou]

If I fed my family filet mignon last weekend but told them today it was gonna be ramen this weekend, I wouldn’t blame them for being pissed.

There is no excuse for what is going on.

Only thing is that in the Red's case it was round steak, not filet

[REDREAD]

Only thing is that in the Red's case it was round steak, not filet

And the Reds ran out of food in the 3rd inning

[CesarGeronimo]

Though we've had some promising signs, this team is about 15-20 wins shy of the playoffs on talent as currently constructed. You can't fix that in free agency. You could throw $60M at the problem in FA and you're still fighting for 3rd in the division most likely. Sure, I can imagine the scenario where everybody stays healthy and all the young guys play at the 80th percentile projection, the team is frisky, and we're all lamenting what could have been. But that's quite unlikely.

I figure that, relative to the baseline of spending they were comfortable with (~100-110), 2020 was a big step out on the financial ledge. They were trying to Cardinals it, rolling an investment into a winner that justified support for the ongoing cost. Instead, COVID (and Mike Moustakas sucking, injuries, etc.) happened. They didn't just fail to win, they "lost" a ton of money. So now, it's not just back to the sustainable* baseline. It's making up for what was lost. The idea is to just take it on the chin for a few years, get Votto and Moustakas off the books, and reset the balance sheet. Meanwhile, invest in the farm and developing young guys so that everything syncs up for a up a re-investment cycle in 2024 or 2025.

If guys like Lodolo, Greene, Stephenson, and India continue to grow and maybe 1 or 2 of the next crop of guys like EDLC start making noise, I could see payroll returning to the 100M range in next year. But they have no interest in throwing good money at a team that isn't anywhere close yet while they're still in the red (again, relative to their comfortable margins).

Krall's most recent statement on the Reds' strategy that I'm aware of was that they are seeking to avoid peaks and valleys. Isn't that the opposite of what you are suggesting with cutting budget now because the team isn't close to being a winner and later raising that budget when their window of opportunity opens?

[InsaneinthBrame]

Krall's most recent statement on the Reds' strategy that I'm aware of was that they are seeking to avoid peaks and valleys. Isn't that the opposite of what you are suggesting with cutting budget now because the team isn't close to being a winner and later raising that budget when their window of opportunity opens?

Maybe they are getting rid of the peaks because that is what it looks like to me.
The only peak i see is in profits

[Kingspoint]

If I fed my family filet mignon last weekend but told them today it was gonna be ramen this weekend, I wouldn’t blame them for being pissed.

There is no excuse for what is going on.

But, you forgot to say that before you came home with the ramen, you stopped at the best steakhouse in town and pigged out with the money you took out of their college funds.

[klw]

If I fed my family filet mignon last weekend but told them today it was gonna be ramen this weekend, I wouldn’t blame them for being pissed.

There is no excuse for what is going on.

C Trent rolled with you analogy:
https://theathletic.com/3983898/2022...nter-meetings/

While a sport that (temporarily as always) has labor peace and the loosening of purse strings around them, Krall witnessed so many of baseball’s other teams dining on the finest steak, seafood and sushi in San Diego while he metaphorically lived on gas station hot dogs.

[Larry Schuler]

I feel like gas station sushi would have been a better illustrative choice. Much grosser and conveys that sense of deluding yourself/others into thinking you’re still fine dining.

[InsaneinthBrame]

C Trent rolled with you analogy:
https://theathletic.com/3983898/2022...nter-meetings/

The hot dogs they fished out of the dumpster behind the gas station hobo cuisine

[Strikes Out Looking]

Krall's most recent statement on the Reds' strategy that I'm aware of was that they are seeking to avoid peaks and valleys. Isn't that the opposite of what you are suggesting with cutting budget now because the team isn't close to being a winner and later raising that budget when their window of opportunity opens?

The Reds are in a valley, death valley. The only window they have coming up is painted by the roadrunner and we know Wily Castellini will run right into it.