Attitude and performance of owners of Reds and A's is outrageous
Oakland Athletics' Frankie Montas pitches against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, May 4, 2022. Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
Looks as if all the hate for Hal Steinbrenner was a bit premature. Then again, maybe hate is too strong a word. Dissatisfaction probably is a better fit.
Such is life as owner of the Yankees. You don’t deliver a Carlos Correa or a Freddie Freeman or even a Trevor Story and fans get that much angrier about the 12-year World Series drought, regardless of the $260 million spent on the 2022 roster.
All that spring training noise (full disclosure: some of it broadcast from this space) has quieted significantly with the Yankees sitting atop the AL East with MLB's best record (18-7). Bypassing Freeman for Anthony Rizzo (.938 OPS, 21 RBIs) and skipping Correa for Isiah Kiner-Falefa (11th in WAR among MLB shortstops) haven’t been the worst crimes. Let’s see how it goes from here.
But we bring up Steinbrenner mostly to illustrate the difference between criticism over checkbook management and what legitimately qualifies as despicable behavior by other ownership groups at this early juncture of the season, specifically in Cincinnati and Oakland.
As if MLB’s owners didn’t come off bad enough during the winter’s bitter CBA negotiations — you may remember that 99-day lockout orchestrated by Rob Manfred, essentially their captain — the Reds and A’s chose to flip off their own fans beyond the insulting offseason. If any loyal customers of these two franchises wondered how they were viewed by the people in charge, they got an answer, first through the gutting of their teams and then by getting publicly mocked for caring.
It’s hard to stomach. Rather than try to win back disenchanted fan bases, the Reds and A’s went to war with them, a not-so-subtle reminder that MLB continues to have issues that exist beyond settling for an uneasy labor peace in March.
The worst offender has been Reds president/CEO Phil Castellini — son of principal owner Bob (shocker) — who had the nerve to taunt/threaten fans upset by Cincy bailing on the 2022 season before Opening Day.
The Reds' winter fire sale included Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez, Tucker Barnhart, Sonny Gray and Amir Garrett. Nick Castellanos opted for free agency and Wade Miley was allowed to walk on waivers. Predictably, fans lashed out against the ownership group for dealing away a group of not only talented but popular players. When asked about it during a radio interview last month by the team’s flagship radio station, WLW, son of Castellini was not having it.
“Well, where you gonna go? Let’s start there,” Castellini told the station. “I mean, sell the team to who? I mean, that’s the other thing. I mean, you wanna have this debate? If you wanna look at what would you have this team do to have it be more profitable, make more money, compete more in the current economic system that this game exists, it would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else. And so be careful what you ask for. I think we’re doing the best we can do with the resources that we have.”
The Reds were founded in 1882 and are one of only four 19th-century teams that still play in their original city, along with the Phillies, Cubs and Cardinals. So we’re not talking about uprooting the Rays or Rockies here. For the Queen City, it was an incredibly offensive thing to say, which is why Castellini eventually apologized — five days later — in a hollow statement that contained little more than sorry.
But as insulting as Castellini’s comments were at the time, the Reds’ on-field performance has been just as repulsive, if not more so. Before winning on Saturday, the Reds were 3-22 and on pace to shatter the 1962 Mets record for futility (40-120) — without the excuse of being a first-year start-up. At that .120 clip, Cincy would be on pace for roughly 20 wins, and the motivation for this group isn’t likely to improve much. Before Saturday's 9-2 win over the Pirates, the Reds’ minus-87 run differential was the worst in baseball by a lot (the Royals were next at minus-39). They ranked 30th overall with a puny .585 OPS despite having potential Hall of Famer Joey Votto (career 146 OPS+).
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David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
