What will it take for Reds fans to forgive the Castellinis?

[Ron Madden]

What will it take for Cincinnati Reds fans to forgive the Castellinis?

What will it take for Reds fans to forgive the Castellini family?

Seems like an easy answer: Field a winning team again and all will be forgiven for owner Bob Castellini gutting the Reds’ payroll, his son Phil Castellini making the cringeworthy “where you gonna go” comment and the club losing 100 games last year.

No?

Prediction: It’ll take more than a winning season for the fans to fully forgive the Castellinis. It’ll take the Reds winning a playoff series, something they haven’t done since 1995. Or some fans might be willing to forgive if the rebuilding Reds make the playoffs ahead of schedule and show promise of a return to the postseason.

Am I completely misreading it? Will it take more than that?

It took a Super Bowl appearance last year for Bengals fans to forgive owner Mike Brown.

Maybe it’s not fair to compare the Reds and Bengals owners in this context. Brown was working against three decades of pent-up fan apathy. Only a Super Bowl could've revoked Brown's membership in the Worst Team Owners club.

Bob Castellini isn’t in the club. His troubles didn’t really start until about a year ago, when the Reds let go of Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suárez, Sonny Gray, Amir Garrett, Tucker Barnhart and Wade Miley. It snowballed from there.

Anger has given way to apathy. The Reds are on the right track. Unlike the NFL, however, baseball isn't setup for quick turnarounds. The Reds likely won't be ready to compete for at least two more seasons.

Let me know in the comments below or on email what you think it’ll take to forgive the Castellinis. And by the way, if a sale is what you’re waiting on to forgive, you might be waiting a while. Bob Castellini has no plans to sell the Reds.

I share my viewpoint. It’s only fair I let you share yours. In this space, I’ll respond to some of your emails.

Readers flooded the inbox after last week’s column about Thom Brennaman, in which I wrote it’s time some team or college athletic department give him a second chance at broadcasting. Surprisingly, most readers agreed. Here’s a sampling of what landed in my inbox:

Continue Reading Here:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/williams-...033012855.html

[Ron Madden]

The Author Jason Williams, Cincinnati Enquirer would like you to answer in the comments at the end of the article. He says Bob is Not selling the team.

[JFLegal]

yes, i think it's as simple as that. i think i can speak for many bengals fans that i thought i would never forgive mike brown. but guess what? winning cures all. doesn't even have to be a world series title necessarily (although that would be grand). but get me to a world series and then the NLCS in consecutive seasons, and have the franchise set up for success for the long term on top of that? all would be forgiven.

[KronoRed]

Win it all.

Then....don't fire sale it.

[Assembly Hall]

Just win baby.

[herbdizzle]

Long term extensions for Greene, Lodolo, India and Stephenson.

Keeping Wil Myers for the entire year and exercising his option.

Figuring out a proper affordable way to keep Votto through next year. Having a suitable team to make a final run in 24 and 25.

Benching Phil Castellini from all public speaking for at least 3 years.

Getting payroll back to at least 120 million.

Working out a new local TV deal that has broadcast and streaming options.

[WrongVerb]

I haven't forgiven Mike Brown. I don't see him as integral to the recent Bengals' success. Rather I see that as due to the Blackburns taking over.

I won't forgive the Castellinis until they sell the team.

[cumberlandreds]

Just win baby.

That is exactly what I was going to post.

[MikeS21]

I think for me, I want to see visible evidence that all this stuff about winning by drafting and development and acquiring prospects, is a legitimate plan by investing in becoming the best scouting and development organizations in baseball. That means investing in front office personnel from successful franchises, and investing in coaches and scouts who know what they’re doing.

The Reds do have a lot of turnover in their scouting and development departments. But they usually just make internal promotions, rather than bringing in new blood who have been successful in other organizations. It’s rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic. Poach the Dodgers director of scouting and let them recruit scouts. Steal away the minor league development director from some team that never seems to finish below .500 and has managed to produce a solid roster via their farm system.

If this is truly the direction they intend to take this franchise, then they need to show tangible evidence that they intend to follow through no matter what it costs. If they only jack payroll up to $150 million, that’s just a temporary band-aid and we’ll be right back in another rebuild in five years. Invest $50 million in scouting and development, and they could set the franchise up for success for the next couple decades.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Admit they were greedy penurious buttheads with several mea culpas to fans and media alike.
Spend at least $150M on the parent club 2024 payroll or failing that, open the books completely to show how they're losing money.
Spend more money in 2025 ($180M or so, or what they're given in baseball welfare) as they chase a pennant.
Continue to chase the pennant every year thereafter.
Continue spending at least all the pennies they're given in welfare from richer teams on payroll.

After four or five seasons of that, I might be able to forgive.

Unlikely, though.

Best to just sell the team.

[Strikes Out Looking]

Win and stop crying about the geographic area the team you own is in (that is just blaming your customers).

[Wonderful Monds]

First step: offer Hunter Greene a 10 year extension

[westofyou]

Nothing short of Wicker Man

[757690]

Reds fans forgave ownership in 2020 when they got the team to .500 after years of slashed payroll, tanking and teams painful to watch. I’m guessing that is all it will take this time too.

[Sea Ray]

The simple and obvious answer is winning but getting into more detail, here's the follow up question: If acquistions from this tear down lead to a winning and exciting team for years to come, will the fans ever admit that maybe management was right in their strategy to build through the farm system? Let's say this year's team wins 77 games and they snag a WC spot in 2024, do we have to admit that we were wrong?