Phil Castellini surprised that Opening Day tickets still unsold

[Wonderful Monds]

lol

[LeatherPants]

Based on a projected revenue this year of $290 million, the Reds, if they spent 45% on payroll, would have a payroll this year of $130.5 million. They are currently looking at about $100-110 million opening day payroll, so that should mean they would have $20-$30 million in payflex for next year.

It's not payflex if you don't use it. It's just money that isn't being spent. And that's what they've done the entire time they've owned the team, except for 2013-2014, and then they ruined that by dropping below 40 for multiple years and then just going back to where they were before.

The idea that they will use payflex in the future is evidence not in the record.

[LeatherPants]

And no crap they’re pocketing some of the money. I’ve said that and I said I flat don’t care. They are running a business and not a charity. As Caveat Emperor posted unless a team has publicly show their finances they are going to BS about it. You’re getting upset over the level of BS that practically any ownership group spins.

What other owner groups are dumb enough to say over and over again that they are putting every dollar they earn back into the team? Nobody would be against them making a profit, but it's their own stupidity that puts them in this.

[Wonderful Monds]

It’s wild to me that regular ass fans would be willing to say “I don’t care if my favorite team trades off players and pockets the money, it’s not a charity after all”. You don’t have to defend to ultra wealthy, Castellini would not so much as piss on you if you were on fire.

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It sure as hell is a charity for them though when they need a new ballpark financed by taxpayer dollars

[Old school 1983]

No, we really can't.

You assume so much in your little hypothetical here.

We don't know that the Reds are going to spend that money on anything. They say they are. They have a history of pocketing that extra cash, as shown in LP's work over the entire course of this thread. You should probably read those. We don't know we have a bunch of guys who can cover 3B. We have Moustakas and Solano currently-- both of those are question marks. I would be absolutely gobsmacked if either Pham or Solano come within half of Winker's production. Fraley is a cypher. Dunn has a bum shoulder. Phillips is a scratch-off lottery ticket. You assume they'll somehow provide excess value...?

Finally, and I can't believe this has to be said: neither Solano nor Pham has anything to do with Winker. The Reds could have signed both and Michael Conforto and a whole outfield of producers. Instead, they cheaped out. Again. They took their cash and went home. You want to add free agents to trade acquisitions to prospects. Pretty easy to make the math work if you can add everyone possible.

But it doesn't make the deal or the Reds any more palatable.

Any future prognostication has assumptions built in. It’s not that hard to assume that Pham and Solano are linked to the Ms deal because Krall said we are under budget enough to pursue FA and those are the guys they signed for damn near what Suarez was set to make. And unless Suarez quits uppercutting at flies, they should add more to the team too. To outperform him and make up for a chunk of Winker.

Great the Reds should have done this and should have done that. I’m interested in discussing what they actually did. We can all form hypotheticals where they did better. The Reds have set themselves up to have a young solid core. A pipeline of pitchers and money to spare in the coming years. People need to quit acting like they disbanded a World Series team. They tore down a team that barely finished a tick above 500. They likely took 1 step back to take more forward in the future. I’m ok with that because the pervious model was spend money and prospect capital and hope it breaks right and you finish 500ish. Let them realign. Go younger. More athletic.

[Old school 1983]

It’s wild to me that regular ass fans would be willing to say “I don’t care if my favorite team trades off players and pockets the money, it’s not a charity after all”. You don’t have to defend to ultra wealthy, Castellini would not so much as piss on you if you were on fire.

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It sure as hell is a charity for them though when they need a new ballpark financed by taxpayer dollars

Dude. Most people wouldnt piss on anyone if they were on fire outside of their family. Money has nothing to do with it.

[Wonderful Monds]

Dude. Most people wouldnt piss on anyone if they were on fire outside of their family. Money has nothing to do with it.

I’m pretty cynical, but even I’m not cynical enough to believe that most people are completely selfish and uncaring about other people.

Castellini is glad to let the people of Hamilton county pony up for him, he’s not willing to do the same in return for us. He’s actively robbing the average people of Cincinnati. Why go to bat for that? It is so bizarre to me.

[Old school 1983]

I’m pretty cynical, but even I’m not cynical enough to believe that most people are completely selfish and uncaring about other people.

Castellini is glad to let the people of Hamilton county pony up for him, he’s not willing to do the same in return for us. He’s actively robbing the average people of Cincinnati. Why go to bat for that? It is so bizarre to me.

Even if you believe that, it still has nothing to do with the amount of wealth they have.

[mth123]

The issue for me is they got nothing for Miley when lesser pitchers get at least some return, they got a poor return on Gray, the sold low on Suarez and by attaching him to Winker, sold low on Winker as well. None of the savings was invested in future assets or building blocks, but just on cosmetic moves with aging stopgaps.

Mike Minor, Donovan Solano, Colin Moran and Tommy Pham will be making a collective $22 Million or so this year, but its not an investment in building a winning team, its just a cosmetic move to bring in a few recognizable names to a team that is going to win less than 80 games. That money won't help the Reds rebuild in any way and if they win 73 games as opposed to 76 or 77, its not going to matter. Do something of consequence with the savings, not stopgaps who won't help this team become a winner down the road.

[Wonderful Monds]

Even if you believe that, it still has nothing to do with the amount of wealth they have.

1000% totally incorrect. Just stick your head outside and look at the state of the world right now. Good lord.

[Old school 1983]

I’m pretty cynical, but even I’m not cynical enough to believe that most people are completely selfish and uncaring about other people.

Castellini is glad to let the people of Hamilton county pony up for him, he’s not willing to do the same in return for us. He’s actively robbing the average people of Cincinnati. Why go to bat for that? It is so bizarre to me.

Robbing them how? Because their taxes pay for the stadium? That was put in place for Castellini. I don’t think there’s a single person here that would run a business with a $0 net income every year regardless of what the capital gain would be when they sell it. You still need to show some sort of income and or profit annually.

[LeatherPants]

The issue for me is they got nothing for Miley when lesser pitchers get at least some return, they gt a poor return on Gray, the sold low on Suarez and by attaching him to Winker, sold low on Winker as well. None of the savings was invested in future assets or building blocks, but just on cosmetic moves with aging stopgaps.

Mike Minor, Donovan Solano, Colin Moran and Tommy Pham will be making a collective $22 Million or so this year, but its not an investment in building a winning team, its just a cosmetic move to bring in a few recognizable names to a team that is going to win less than 80 games. That money won't help the Reds rebuild in any way and if they win 73 games as opposed to 76 or 77, its not going to matter. Do something of consequence with the savings, not stopgaps who won't help this team become a winner down the road.

Exactly!

They've got people so convinced that they are poor that they can literally do anything and they'll have people defending them.

[Wonderful Monds]

Robbing them how? Because their taxes pay for the stadium? That was put in place for Castellini. I don’t think there’s a single person here that would run a business with a $0 net income every year regardless of what the capital gain would be when they sell it. You still need to show some sort of income and or profit annually.

Saying that other people think they should never turn a profit is a complete strawman. They are turning plenty of profit. That’s not remotely an issue for them.

Also yeah I’m sure Castellini will pony up out of his pocket come time for replacing or renovating GABP.

[Old school 1983]

1000% totally incorrect. Just stick your head outside and look at the state of the world right now. Good lord.

I do. I happen to be in a situation where I can rub elbows with both the wealthy and the poor. And there are great people in each group and compete piles of garbage in each group. For whatever reason a lot of people have been warped to believe that there’s evil in being successful and grace in being poor.

[LeatherPants]

Robbing them how? Because their taxes pay for the stadium? That was put in place for Castellini. I don’t think there’s a single person here that would run a business with a $0 net income every year regardless of what the capital gain would be when they sell it. You still need to show some sort of income and or profit annually.

We will continue to return all of the financial support we receive from our fans, business partners and MLB back into the Reds.

https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/reds-c...bob-castellini