Phil Castellini surprised that Opening Day tickets still unsold

[Sea Ray]

"Outspending the market size" is a relatively hard term to pin down, and maybe they do.

But whatever they lost in 2020 is (a) probably not entirely accurate and (b) irrelevant to a large degree, and it's cute you believe him. With no fans in the stands, no tickets sales, no concessions, no parking, etc, I can believe the pro-rated amount of player salary put them in the red as far as that goes. But that means they also just pocketed the large balloon payment you get every year from the MLB central fund (TV, digital, etc), and didn't count it towards baseball operations. Same as they do with concessions/parking/etc (anything other than tickets and TV rights) by claiming that "3rd party vendors" supply those services, and what flows back to the team isn't baseball revenue, it's a licensing deal.

Again, use your head: if you lost $40m in a year and were in danger of losing anything else in a normal (non-covid) year), you wouldn't keep the team, you'd sell it. Bob's not selling. Because he's not losing money. He's using accounting shenanigans to claim he is, but he's not actually.

Who said I believe him? I'm merely reporting what was said. I don't know have access to their books

[Old school 1983]

It’s both lol

I’d really get the they need to spend more stuff if they started consistently trotting out payrolls in the $50-$80 range after years of being in the $120-150. $120-$150 is more than enough to put a winner on the field in the NL central each year. I’d much rather see and discuss the Reds having a competent plan and sticking to it rather than complaining about money that would never be spent anyway.

[Old school 1983]

No, it's whining about the club not spending what it HAS traditionally spent. Which is why I've posted the percentage of revenue. It's also whining that they don't spend the money they have said they are saving to spend later, but never actually spend it.

It’s one season dude. It’s a rebuild season. They will have a ton of money cleared off the books in the range that they normally spend in for the coming seasons. Recent history has showed us they’ll spend that money. It’s probably wise to see what younger guys solidify their roles instead of going crazy this season or you could very easily end up with expensive un-needed parts like Shogo, or what Moose could show himself to be this year. Now if they go into next year with a stupid low payroll and not add, I’ll be ticked unless the young kids show they are MLB worthy players that make up a winning team and you don’t need to go out and spend crazy money.

[Sea Ray]

That Phil C. WLW interview was something else. In a nutshell:

1) Fans shouldn't complain about the Reds sucking because "where else you gonna go?"

2) Fans should beware of hurting the Castellini's feelings too much because of veiled threats to move the team

I haven't seen a good interview yet of the Castellini's. They should point out :

1) You've only had 5 winning seasons since you bought the team. No playoff series wins. Why should fans believe what you're selling now?
2) Why do you have confidence in Nick Krall? What were his qualifications for being hired to be GM?
3) What were Dick Williams qualifications?

These kinds of questions are never asked

[MoneyInTheBank]

Rich people aren't generally into being humble. That's not a personality trait common with folks worth $400 million

I'm not asking them to be humble. I'm suggesting it's generally a bad idea to get into a public war of words with your fans so maybe consider faking it?

[LeatherPants]

It’s one season dude. It’s a rebuild season. They will have a ton of money cleared off the books in the range that they normally spend in for the coming seasons. Recent history has showed us they’ll spend that money. It’s probably wise to see what younger guys solidify their roles instead of going crazy this season or you could very easily end up with expensive un-needed parts like Shogo, or what Moose could show himself to be this year. Now if they go into next year with a stupid low payroll and not add, I’ll be ticked unless the young kids show they are MLB worthy players that make up a winning team and you don’t need to go out and spend crazy money.

It's not just one season, dude.

They tanked before and then didn't spend the payflex money, as I've shown multiple times now.


Also, coming off a year where they were above .500 and with a new playoff structure, this is a horrible year to cut back. But you know all this.

[Sea Ray]

It's not just one season, dude.

They tanked before and then didn't spend the payflex money, as I've shown multiple times now.


Also, coming off a year where they were above .500 and with a new playoff structure, this is a horrible year to cut back. But you know all this.

With guys like Moustakas, Pham and Minor, what makes you think they'll spend another $20 mill any more wisely?

[NachoMan]

I haven't seen a good interview yet of the Castellini's. They should point out :

1) You've only had 5 winning seasons since you bought the team. No playoff series wins. Why should fans believe what you're selling now?
2) Why do you have confidence in Nick Krall? What were his qualifications for being hired to be GM?
3) What were Dick Williams qualifications?

These kinds of questions are never asked

Here is the interview: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/eddie...podcast_widget

To be fair Mo Egger does basically ask your point 1 exactly at 6:18 of the interview. Phil then blames the fans for not buying enough season tickets.

10:12 they ask about fans losing faith, Phil responds by saying fans have no choice, "Well where you gonna go?" "What would you do to this team to make it more competitive? It would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else. Be careful what you ask for."

[LeatherPants]

With guys like Moustakas, Pham and Minor, what makes you think they'll spend another $20 mill any more wisely?

They need to be less cheap and smarter. It's not an either or situation.

[LeatherPants]

Here is the interview: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/eddie...podcast_widget

To be fair Mo Egger does basically ask your point 1 exactly at 6:18 of the interview. Phil then blames the fans for not buying enough season tickets.

10:12 they ask about fans losing faith, Phil responds by saying fans have no choice, "Well where you gonna go?" "What would you do to this team to make it more competitive? It would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else. Be careful what you ask for."

Really great way to hype up opening day. They are such idiots.

[WildcatFan]

Here is the interview: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/eddie...podcast_widget

To be fair Mo Egger does basically ask your point 1 exactly at 6:18 of the interview. Phil then blames the fans for not buying enough season tickets.

10:12 they ask about fans losing faith, Phil responds by saying fans have no choice, "Well where you gonna go?" "What would you do to this team to make it more competitive? It would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else. Be careful what you ask for."

Good lord.

[Wonderful Monds]

fans get pissed off at cheap owners to the point they start buying billboards taunting them to sell the team…..



Hmmm wonder what the best course of action to respond to this would be?

Ah yes, better call them ungrateful and say there’s nothing more you could possibly do to compete. I’m sure that will calm the pissed off fanbase!

[Wonderful Monds]

These people are brutally incompetent lmao

[FlightRick]

I don't think the Castellinis are dealing very well with #selltheteambob.

They just sent their representative onto the radio ON OPENING DAY to do his own quasi-billboard of #shutupandspendmoremoneyorwemovetheteam

GENIUS~! What the actual fr@ck is wrong with these people?

[Wonderful Monds]

If they’re this pissed off about the billboard though, just goes to show how much it was worth every penny