While the headline says what it says and this article comes on the day in which Kyle Schwarber chose to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, this isn’t exactly about the Reds not signing Schwarber. This is actually about why they were willing to try and sign the 2025 National League leader in home runs and RBI.
Cincinnati reportedly offered Kyle Schwarber a 5-year deal and $125,000,000 with what Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported as “room to grow”, but didn’t specify what that meant exactly. Performance bonuses of some sort, but what those entailed was not clarified. Schwarber would wind up accepting the Phillies deal for five years and for $150,000,000. At the very end of the article, Rosenthal added this:
“Unlike the Orioles, the Reds are not expected to pursue other expensive free agents. Their offer to Schwarber, a native of Middletown, Ohio, about 35 miles north of Cincinnati, was tied to their belief that his addition would help drive ticket sales.”
There is a whole lot in those two sentences to dissect if we assume that it’s the truth. Let’s start with the first part – the Reds aren’t expected to look at other “expensive free agents”. That’s a swift kick in the gut to fans thinking that if Schwarber wasn’t the guy then maybe Pete Alonso could be a good second option for the team to go after to add a middle of the order hitter that they desperately need.
But all of that gets to the second part, which has a million things going on with it. The only reason the Reds were willing to make that offer to Schwarber is because they believe that him being good and from Middletown would sell tickets. And hey, that’s probably true to the tiniest extent. But how many extra tickets are people really going to buy because “he’s from Middletown” versus if he were born in Montana and still hit 56 home runs last year? I’d venture to guess that it’s not enough extra tickets to pay one league minimum salary.
But what I really took away from that part of the quote is that someone high up, and maybe even the guy at the top of the front office, does not think that fans will buy tickets simply because the team wins a bunch of baseball games. The fact that they would be willing to spend money on Kyle Schwarber being based on selling more tickets, but not willing to spend the money on other “expensive free agents”, who would seemingly also help the team win more baseball games because otherwise they wouldn’t be “expensive free agents” tells us what we need to know. They want you to support a bad product before trying to use your money to make it a better product instead of them spending money to make a good product that you then want to buy (tickets, merchandise, watch, listen, etc).
Someone is making that statement. And if you’re a fan of the team it can’t leave you with all that good of a feeling knowing that the people in charge don’t think you will support a winner enough for them to “risk” money on trying to do it, but they do think you will support a hometown guy.
Which, of course, makes sense because that’s how this ownership group seems to run the entire organization. They hire local people and people they know.
When this ownership group took over one of the first things they did was fire the general manager. It wasn’t long before they moved on from the next guy, too, and brought in Walt Jocketty who had been the GM with the Cardinals with Bob Castellini was a minority owner with St. Louis. Under Jocketty, the team had their best run of success in the last two decade and provided the team with their only three seasons in the last 25 years that resulted in more than 83 wins.
When Jocketty was promoted to the president of baseball operations the team promoted Dick Williams, the son and nephew of two of the ownership group members, to GM. He later took over as the team’s president of baseball operations and Nick Krall, who had been with the organization since 2002, became the new GM. When Krall took over as the president of baseball operations when Williams stepped down, the Reds promoted Brad Meador to GM. Meador joined the Reds organization in 2009 after being an assistant baseball coach at the University of Cincinnati.
Lower positions in the front office have also similarly been very much “friends and family” or Cincinnati type connected, too. Multiple farm directors went to the same small college – Haverford. The assistant GM has been with the Reds organization since 2007. The director of amateur scouting (the guy who runs the draft) has been with the organization since 2004 when he was an intern after graduating college. The assistant director of amateur scouting just completed his 28th season with Cincinnati.
Now, while it is certainly possible that after doing tons of interviews and reviewing the qualifications for everyone that all of these guys were truly the best hires for the jobs. But it’s incredibly unlikely. There’s just a lot of “small town local business” vibes to who gets hired to run a billion dollar business with the Reds. Nearly everyone has been with them for 20 years or has a connection to the city, or both. It would be one thing if those 20-something years saw them running a dynasty. But as noted above, they’ve topped 83 wins in a season three times in the last 25 years.
Winning seems to be second fiddle to so many other things. And if the ownership group/front office/whoever doesn’t believe that winning is going to bring enough ticket sales in to make it “worth while” then it’s hard to see how or why they would ever truly try to take any real risk in trying to win. There’s probably a lot of people one can point fingers at for all of this. It starts at the ownership who states they try to break even every year and won’t invest money into the team beyond what the revenue was the year before. But Bob Castellini isn’t likely deciding on who the farm director is, or who is running the draft – those decisions are being made by people below him in the organization (which he likely did have say in hiring/promoting). The culture, wherever it has come from, just doesn’t inspire tons of confidence.
All of that to say that there’s no reason to believe that once you get below the ownership group that everyone isn’t trying to do the best that they can to turn the Cincinnati Reds into a winning organization. Nick Krall and Brad Meador aren’t sabotaging the team. Terry Francona isn’t making moves to lessen the chances the Reds win. The players surely aren’t just out there going through the motions. But once you get beyond the guys that step between the lines, nearly everyone above them has been around for a long, long time and working for a franchise that simply put – has been terrible for most of the last two decades, which also coincides directly with the amount of time that the current ownership group has been in place.
I’m tired of Krall and Castellini. He doesn’t care about putting a winning team on the field. It seems he cares more about his produce company instead of his Reds!
I’ve been following the Cincinnati reds ever since I was in like the third grade collecting baseball cards. listening to the radio. watching them on TV. Going over to Old riverfront and then Great American ballpark. Once in a blue moon they get lucky and do something and then tear it all down. Not interested and keeping a contending team on the field.
They run a MLB team like a local grocery store franchise. People keep coming because they’re hungry, but there’s nothing exotic or exciting on the shelves. They’ll never get gourmet. But this is BASEBALL, the Cincinnati Reds; the original major league baseball team. History and lore. But if ownership doesn’t care about any of that – not even passifying the fans who keep them breaking even – they don’t deserve … no, more than that, they don’t have the right, to own an MLB team. Sell it to someone who cares and loves baseball, and sees how big a deal it is to reach the playoffs; who desires and works toward winning a World Series, because that’s what fans want. That’s what owners – who really love and understand baseball – want. It’s what I want. If ownership keeps this up, it won’t be long before they won’t even be breaking even.
And at the same time, players’ egos won’t let them play for a little less. Heaven knows how hard it would to be on a simple $25M a year.
It is almost impossible to be the worst sports team owner in a
city where Mike Brown owns the NFL team, but “Produce Bob” and his nepo-baby heir “Born on 3rd Base and convinced himself he hit a triple” Phil, have done it. #SelltheTeamBob
That’s not fair. Bob is the nepo baby. Phil is a nepo grandbaby.
Would have been nice to see KS give a little “home town discount”.
He was only in it for the big bucks. I am not defending Reds ownership because they are terrible.
Hometown discounts are not even a thing. And a $25 million gap is not little.
When Castellini fired Wayne Krivsky as GM, he said, “The losing must stop.”
That was almost 20 years ago. There has been a lot of losing since then. The Reds had pretty good owners and GM’s throughout my life (64 years as a Reds fan) before Castellini. He is the problem. The Reds will never be serious about winning until he is gone.
When Castellini fired Wayne Krivsky as GM, he said, “The losing must stop.”
That was almost 20 years ago. There has been a lot of losing since then. The Reds had pretty good owners and GM’s throughout my life (64 years as a Reds fan) before Castellini. He is the problem. The Reds will never be serious about winning until he is gone.
Once you get below the ownership group, yes, but ultimately, there is no getting below the ownership group.
Great post Doug. I agree with you RedlegScott. The guys with the money have most of the power and any GM would have to be a genius or be lucky enough to find diamonds in the rough every year to try and make a cheap ownership work. If he turned out to be a genius the Reds might be forced to let him walk because he would want more money.
Unfortunately Cincinnati has THE two worst sports franchises. It’s like Dumb and Dumber.
Well, the Bengals are just a few years from the Superbowl. And as lousy as they have been this year (without Joe Burrow), they are really not as bad and inept as the Browns. The Browns find new ways to lose almost every week.
There are some worse managed baseball franchises than the Reds. As much money and as big a payroll as the Padres and Mets have, the Mets collapsed, and the Padres have not really had a sniff of much of a playoff run, even though they have won in the regular season.
The Marlins appear to draft well, but are mired in losing. The White Sox are another badly mismanaged franchise.
David, The Bengals lucked into so many things. Being so bad they get Burrow. Chase sitting out a year and falling to 5. But they messed with Chase in 2024 and are now paying him 50% more than he would have signed for 1 year earlier. The same with Higgins. Ownership cost the Bengals a playoff spot last year. The Bengals have two rare talents in Chase in Burrow. Unfortunately, they screw it up year after year.
I’m 64 years old and have seen the Bengals lose in every way imaginable including this past Sunday. They have made 3 Super Bowls in my lifetime but not because it was the plan. They just happened across some good sometimes great players. Unfortunately long success never followed those SB’s. The Brown family are horrible owners who know little about football. They do know how to make money off of a bad franchise. In my lifetime the Reds have won 3 World Series. But not since 1990 and only a handful of playoff appearances since then. I would much rather be frustrated with a franchise that brings in good players but misses the playoffs than a franchise that has good young players but refuses to build around them. And then a few years later has a fire sale with the excuse “we are small market”. That approach has worn thin on me.
Fans of the Cleveland Browns might take issue with that statement.
We went to NYC over the weekend and at the airport on our way home on Monday we sat near a family from Columbus who were on the same flight. Our daughter is a HUGE Bengals fan and we had to find a place Sunday to watch the game. Anyway she was talking about the game and how the Bengals lost. The guy from Columbus said they were Browns fans and asked our daughter if she wanted to trade places lol.
It’s the hope that kills ya.
I don’t think this topic needed such a long article. It’s literally the same year after year.
We hear rumors Reds are interested in some high price free agent. Reds apparently try some lowball offer. Free agent rolls their eyes and signs elsewhere. Literally happens like clockwork every year.
Krall will go dumpster diving and hope to find some some reclamation project that might work out (that he will still paradoxically overpay for). Reds will be decent, but still one or two pieces away from being “good”.
Half-measures, over and over again. Never full-measures.
Where ya gonna go?
“I don’t think this topic needed such a long article”
So, now you’re Blutarsky, eh?
Wrong and won’t shut up? If the shoe fits. *looks at feet* The shoe fits.
P.S. Owner reminds me of Dean Wormer.
LOL.
Thank you for this, Doug. It used to actually be a little fun to be a Reds fan. I don’t want to be negative about anything in life — I’m too old for that — but it’s been clear ever since the day Krall was promoted what direction the franchise was headed.
We can debate all day about how good or bad a job Krall is doing, but the truth is he wasn’t qualified for that role. They installed a yes-man who would work within their constraints without pushback, and they liked his moneyball background. He immediately unloaded players and got next to nothing in return. I don’t blame him for taking the job, and I’m not questioning his work ethic — but the hire said everything.
No one in that ownership group seems to be “baseball people.” Krall and Meador haven’t embraced the fanbase or the rich history of this team. Phil C. made his feelings about the fans pretty clear, and in hindsight everyone should’ve believed him. At least Bob seemed competitive and put together some decent rosters. With Phil more involved, I’m afraid that within five years we won’t even recognize this team.
Meanwhile, an entire generation of kids in Cincinnati has barely seen a winner. And the ones who have are getting older.
This window is open now, but it won’t stay open long. They’re only a couple of pieces away — I think we all agree on that. What a bummer.
@Doug. I appreciate that you took that time to let it all hang out, just like one of us regular posters. And you are spot on. Frustrations are real.
“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! And it ain’t over now!”
“He’s psychotic, but absolutely right.” Bluto or Doug?
I really don’t think this is a Krall problem. He has a job to do, and it becomes very difficult to do with the Reds budget. I’m sure at some point he will do enough to find a job at a legitimate “Major League” team. Imagine his frustration. Put yourself in his position. Without new ownership I don’t see things changing. We are slow to catch on, but ownership is telling us every year, “Cincinnati get used to it”. It’s not going to change.
The Cleveland Brown situation is totally different. They have an owner that wants to throw money at the situation and meddle into the team when he is clueless to running a professional football team. He should stick to selling gas.
In short, the way this organization does business stinks and it’s not likely to produce a winner. Kind of pathetic. It evidently doesn’t embarrass them enough to change….and they should be GREATLY embarrassed.
Yep
A successful season for Reds ownership is to be in contention but miss the playoffs. Winning is expensive and they don’t want that. They also always have the ever ready “small market” excuse to trade players and dump payroll. They also love a good “rebuild” to start the whole process over again.
The Reds are a multiple ownership group who are businessmen who turn a good profit.
Sums it up well, Doug.
That pretty well sums it up Doug. Very frustrating.
I don’t think they had any intention of signing Schwarber. They just wanted it to look that way to satisfy the fan base and avoid the heat. By the way, this same article could have been written about the Bengals!
“All of that to say that there’s no reason to believe that once you get below the ownership group that everyone isn’t trying to do the best that they can to turn the Cincinnati Reds into a winning organization. Nick Krall and Brad Meador aren’t sabotaging the team.”
They’re not very good at their jobs unfortunately.
Krall and Meador have limited resources, as dictated by the Ownership group. And they are not clever enough to make good trades and personnel moves to build up the team with their “limited resources”.
They do good things, then do stupid things (I give you Jeimer Candelario and Ke’Bryan Hayes).
I am sure that in one of the next few years, with EDLC still on board, they might catch some lightning in a bottle and have a winning season. But it will just be dumb luck.
We’ve heard for years about “the plan”. There is no plan except drafting pitchers with the #1 pick. So you have gotten Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Rhett Lowder, Chase Burns. Andrew Abbott was a second round pick, heh.
I sort of feel sorry for Terry Francona, living out the last years of his coaching career leading a team that may have some enthusiasm in the club house, but the ownership has no real intention of trying to win something.
It’s not really Schwarber, it’s the repeated pattern of the last few years. Dumpster diving for “comeback” players (Austin Hays) and signing marginal pitchers and players, hoping someone will rise above their career mediocrity.
Hope is not a plan.
Perfect summation with respect to the second part of that quote.
No reason to go all the way from being willing to offer $125M for “local kid” to less than $30M (or some other pittance) for anyone else just based on where they grew up. There is less-than-premium talent that would still be a big upgrade.
The Reds continue to fail at putting any avaialble surplus into a single asset. They would rather get four-$5M guys instead of one $20M star.
But they already have a young, largely cost-controlled core. That’s when you need to go all-in and get one free agent who can move the needle from 83-85 wins to 90+.
Krall was just interviewed on Baseball Tonight from the winter meetings and absolutely nothing only saying the EDLC trained in Cincy and is healthy and they are expecting improvement from McLain. THAT IS ALl….
That is what he is paid to do. Stay away from controversy and deflect and answer in vague or cliche ways. Everyone knows that the problem is the ownership but they are the ones with the (little bit) of money. If Krall ever gets tired of it year after year ownership will just tell him, well there is the door and be sure to take a Reds bag on your way out that I think has Jeimer Candelario’s signed jersey in it. Next.
I guess I would have expected him to say something like “We couldn’t make it work on Schwarber, but we still need a bat or two because our is not good enough to compete right now.” He just talked a about the Reds’ “great year,” Elly working out in Cincy and they think that McLain will improve
Spot on Doug! The idea that somehow another star won’t be a ticket boost is just ludicrous.
Schwarber has signed, not expected to go after Alonso, Naylor already signed. Those represent the best “big bats” on the market that are in the DH/1B range. Safe to assume if it’s a no on Alonso it’s probably a no on Tucker or Bichette as well. Who’s that leave? O’Hearn as sorta something close to a big bat? Trade market? Twins said Buxton is staying put. Oh…feeling another offseason of disappointment.
Sad read and deadly accurate.
Wondering if the 2027 shutdown will effectively kill the game.
I wonder the same thing, Mark.
I kind of hope it does. If you are the dodgers you dont want anything to change. If you are the reds you want the whe whole thing to collapse
Rednat, There maybe a lot more teams that will want the whole thing to collapse besides the Reds if the Dodgers win another World Series. You might even have several medium and large market teams joining on a complete lockout. As far as the Reds go this type of incompetency is not just one issue but ownership is probably 80 percent of the problem.
Imagine how the players feel today?
To get a message, loud and clear, they are not worth the investment.
Left for dead.
I would also point to this as Exhibit A in the discussion as to whether this is a desirable place to sign.
“Yes we will give our incremental raises. No, we won’t invest in a better product”
That is, except when we gave a hair brained idea that the one and only reason to expand payroll is to drive ticket sales from Middletown, OH.
Q: How are the Reds a team the better and best players want to play for? A: They aren’t. And won’t be until ownership changes.
Kyle Schwarber must be a really decent guy. Not so much because he entertained signing here, but because he didn’t allow this charade to continue.
Ding … Ding … Ding!!!
Even in the days where “greed” has a high value, clubhouse and organizational chemistry still mean something.
Trade for Jarren Duran.
Thanks for laying it out with the FO personnel so clearly – excellent insight and opinion that is based on the facts, as always. Maybe we get a xmas miracle? Doubtful after reading this.
I am disappointed for sure. I heard the Pirates offered 4 years at 125 million according to MLB.com So even the Pirates offered a better overall deal even though it wasn’t for as long. I like everyone else here truly believes that there won’t be an alternative that could help this team get to 88 to 90 wins or more.
Like I have stated in my past posts. Reds you have until the end of spring training to do something worth my time. Otherwise until this team is sold to an owner that wants to support a playoff team I will be checking out and watching my Blue Jays.
Has anyone ever seen Bob Castellini and Mike Brown together?
You don’t need Schwarber when you have Sal Stewart is the thought process of our beloved ownership.
I’d love to sit ownership down and say “Hear me out: What about Sal Stewart AND Schwarber, TOGETHER?”
It would probably cause their heads to explode to even consider such an absurd thought.
But but but but, they don’t get enough free money compete!!! It’s those dastardly big market teams that are too blame!!! Not a stagnant ownership group with no direction and a lack of talent in the FO. Haverford College Sports Management degree is second to none sirs. We hire the best and brightest, it’s all MLB revenues fault.
Who’s blaming the large market teams? They are all playing by the agreed upon rules. I am always intrigued by the number of Reds fans who seem satisfied with their franchise playing in a league that overtly favors some franchises over others. The problem is that tean revenues have diverged to the point of absurdity for a multi billion dollar professionally run league. Look at the revenue growth rates over the last 10 or 15 years among the NFL, NBA, and MLB and you will see that fans are increasingly voting for those other leagues with their dollars. MLB is getting its butt kicked compared to it’s industry peers.
A group of people owning a baseball team just to get rich without caring about sporting success is a sad story and really sucks.
Not sure there are many large businesses where nepotism hasnt come into play in their management. Sons are always put in place to take over dad’s company. It’s been that way Im baseball just like all other industries. Not sure that will change especially in smaller markets like Reds, Twins, etc.
Well I think we feel a little spurned by Schwarber! I’m not surprised he didn’t sign with the Red, but a little surprised he thinks the Phillies are his best chance for a World Series after how they’ve fallen short the last few years, but his signing is good news for the Phills organization and their chances. I think he is kind of the heart of that team, more so than Harper or Turner. Realmuto will probably be gone. They are probably going to make some other big moves and maybe they will feel they can compete with the Dodgers for the title next year.
Maybe the Reds dodge a bullet in some sense. I think if they signed Schwarber they weren’t going to make any other moves. I could see a scenario where they had him, and Friedl, De La Cruz and others aren’t getting on base like we’d hope, and Schwarber is having a season where he hits 35 Homers, Drives in 82 RBIs and bats .218 partially because the lack of Offense around him.
You wonder what moves Krall is going to make. Surely he can’t just hope and think that this team is going to blossom into a good Offensive team with the current roster and maybe an addition like Austin Hays similar to last year? Although that did kind of happen with the Blue Jays…but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bichette became Superstars, along with a Veteran All Star George Springer and others.
I don’t see that happening with this Reds roster…unless Stephenson has a career year, Steer has a career year, etc. Marte becomes a superstar? Perhaps all of it happens, but that’s kind of been Krall and the front office’s plan for 2-3 years now supplementing with Free Agents like Candelario, Wil Myers, Austin Hays.
Ultimately not signing Schwarber is disappointing but expected. I’m not convinced it was just only about the money. I think if the Reds had won a World Series in the last 10 years, or made it farther in the playoffs recently they’d have had a better chance of signing him. I think he probably didn’t think the Reds were serious World Series contenders, and then they probably didn’t quite want to match the 150 million as well.
Kind of wonder what Pagan was told when he hinted at some better things coming in the future for the Reds. I am paraphrasing here but that is basically what he said during his interview. Wonder if the Reds will go after another good talent and hopefully make it happen. I still think the best chance this team has to improve offensively is via trade.
I agree Jay on a trade being the Reds best option for them to approve. I hope Krall senses the need for somewhat substantial changes in the lineup still.
I wonder about Suarez . I think he could be a big bust honestly, but maybe if you could sign him for 2 years for 50 million, it’d be not quite the risk and maybe he has a few 40 HR seasons still. I assume he’ll look for 3 years 75 million or so though.
You wonder what moves Krall is going to make. Surely he can’t just hope and think that this team is going to blossom into a good Offensive team with the current roster.
It’s exactly what Krall is planning on
“ They’re all improving. As they get into their prime, you expect some step forward with that group.”
I don’t feel spurned by Schwarber whatsoever. He has a well earned (and union) right to make his money and do what is best for his family. He was not in any way obligated to even listen to this … whatever it was.
I don’t think i feel mislead by the Reds in this instance fits either. I didn’t feel mislead when Krall screwed up the Hunter Greene question about trading him, or when Krall screwed up the EDLC issue with his quad injury. So why would I feel mislead with Krall concocting some loggerhead rationale as to why the Reds would bid (low ball) Schwarber and not bid on other premier FA’s?
It’s not really misleading when competence is a greater issue, is it? I mean, offering 5/125 (with incentives!) when it was in all likelihood known he had been offered and would require 5/150 isn’t deception. It’s poor performance, with stupidity being a component of incompetence. And if Bob and Phil devised this nonsense, shouldn’t Nick Krall have informed them of its stupidity, let alone of the PR disaster to follow?
Hey, Bob, hey, Phil. Where we gonna go? Whatever.
Doug I can not tell you how much I appreciate this article. All of 2025 I did my best to stay positive. I kept hoping the Reds would use the $21 million they paid to Nick Martinez last year to improve the offense next year. I should have known better. You can’t expect this organization to change. They are small town cheap and always will be.
My wife and I were planning a trip to Goodyear this Spring. After the news came out that Schwarber signed with the Phillies we booked a trip to Mexico instead. We won’t be attending Redsfest. In 2024, we attended two Reds game. Last year we attended 20. We will be back to 2024 attendance next season. What a sad joke this organization has become.
The only positive thing that can happen now is for Bob Castellini to sell the team. I am willing to risk a new owner moving the team.
Yep … I’m not going to plan a Goodyear trip either. Actually started to look up flight options. But that’s not gonna happen at this point.
Hey, Votto4Life, if there were ever a year to go to Goodyear, this year is it — go watch the AZ Complex League Reds this year. They are going to be loaded. And I just priced a round trip direct flight from Seattle to Az, on a good airline, for under 200.00.
Have a good time Dave! I will be in Cancun. Maybe I will make it there one day when the Castellinis are gone.
I’ll be thinking of you all from whatever trip my wife has us booked on for our late winter travels abroad.
I vaguely recall saying. “Sounds great to me.”, when she asked if I was OK with the itinerary and date. I realized several weeks later that I had just written off a couple of weeks of spring training.
Such is life when we are challenged by the team Pres. to find other things to do.
Anyone consider that if Reds offered 150m$ for 5 years that Schwarbers agent would just take that to Phillies and have them beat it. He was never coming to Cincinnati.
And he was never going to Pittsburgh either – they knew that. And leaked it to appease their fans.
I think you’re likely correct, but $25M is a big gap.
The 25 over five years is a 4% difference.
@Dave, from Scharber’s perspective, leaving $25M on the table would have been a big ask, even to play at home.
@davect is looking at it correctly. Let’s put this in normal man’s dollars. It is like turning down a 100,000$ job near home to take the 104,000$ job in another state. A state with higher income tax, likely higher property tax and, of course, in the lively city of Philadelphia.
If the player can’t take a 4% cut to play near home, then he never wanted to play near home. He and his agent just wanted the highest $ contract they could get. Cincinnati will never offer the highest $ contract under current CBA model.
5 years for 125M$ was a very significant offer. Reds are a lot closer to contending than Baltimore or Pittsburgh. MLB needs a salary cap (and floor)
Both Ohio and Pennsylvania have state income tax rates around 3.1 percent. And y’alls math is way off. If we want to scale his contract to $100K, Schwarber turned down the Reds offer at $100K, while the Phillies offered $120K and Schwarber didn’t have to move. That’s a difference of 16.7 percent. I doubt that many of us would move our families to make less money, especially when we’re talking about $25M and we know our career is over in five years and we can move home then.
I read somewhere that Pittsburgh is kind of entering the ring more so because they are being threatened to be sued, or something to that affect? That they aren’t serious about big signings, but they are just kind of entering the conversation to show MLBPA they could potentially increase their payroll, that they tried? I wonder if that was true, or just kind of a rumor I was reading.
I hope Schwarber wasn’t using the Reds for leverage just for the sake of money. Who knows, but I think this is what was expected for him to get, and returning to the Phills at the end of the day was mostly predicted.
I posted it the other day. There was a story in the athletic.
There’s certainly that speculation, but the union has filed similar grievances before and they haven’t been settled to my knowledge. Grievances are not lawsuits, and get filed even within good labor relationships, not than any reasonable observer would call MLB labor relationships good.
I agree with the sentiment that the Reds could use new blood in multiple areas, but this kind of hiring is pretty common in sports franchises. That said, the results simply don’t justify giving ownership the benefit of the doubt.
I do see why Schwarber would have been worth some additional risk/investment on the part of ownership. IMO, best hitter available. Primary DH, so perhaps lower injury and aging risk. Known clubhouse leader. Local legends have garnered big crowds in the past. He checked all the boxes and no one else really does. I’m excited that the Reds seriously considered making a 5-year, nine figure deal. I didn’t expect such an offer.
At the end of the day, the availability of elite talent must change in MLB or it’s hard seeing baseball remaining viable in Cincinnati when the teams lease expires in 2037 and the Castellini ownership team has done too little to inspire hope for making the Reds more viable.
It seems that all the top free agents seem like risky signings to me based on the amount of money they’ll probably want. Tucker I think is injury prone, Bichette as well, Bichette not very good defensively, I feel like he could be a bad contract waiting to happen…Bellinger up and down career. A lot of these huge contracts anymore seem to not be worth it, unless you’re the Dodgers and you can sign 5-10 big contracts like that, because you’ll hit on some of them.
Here are recent free agent signings:
Tommy Pham 2021 1 Year
Donovan Solano 2021 1 Year
Wil Myers 2022 1 Year
Curt Casali 2022 1 Year
Luke Maile 2022 1 Year
Emilio Pagan 2023 2 Years
Nick Martinez 2024 1 Year + QO
Austin Hays 2024 1 Year
Brent Suter 2024 1 Year
Scott Barlow 2024 1 Year
Keegan Thompson 2025 1 Year
Anyone see the theme?
Yeah, Martinez screwed Krall by accepting the QO. That was never the team’s intent
Krall probably says, ” I’ll NEVER do that again.” 😀
“Ach! What a dumbkopf I was!” – Nick Krall
Kinda cherry picked the list without shogo, moose, Candy and Castellanos, even pagan.
I think the thing everyone is missing is that the Reds made an offer they knew wouldn’t be accepted. It was always a show. We knew it was never real. Odds are that Krall’s moves this off season will make us wish Hays was still here. Sell the team, move them to Nashville, and start winning.
Exactly. It’s time to stop supporting this garbage front office. If they move then they move but keeping them in Cincinnati under this ownership is just wasting your life supporting and watching. I for one won’t be. After 57 years I’ve had enough. I’ll still be a phone but I got better things to do than tune in every game to watch a team trying desperately to win without the support of these joker owners.
Fan not phone.. ugh
“The phone call is coming from inside the stadium!!! Run for your lives!”
“No, that’s just Nick Krall making another lame player acquisition”
(from “Nightmare on Pete Rose Way”)
The ownership has become Lucy to the fans Charlie Brown, they set the ball up then pull it away.
This was a well written article. Thank you, Doug. I am struggling to find the words to express my disappointment with this organization right now. A lot of comments here show the frustrations that I am feeling. I guess I bought into the hype and was hoping they would sign a guy like Schwarber. I should have known better.
Why is Cincinnati not linked to Ketel Marte? Are they worried about clubhouse drama that was reported regarding him in Arizona? Because a) they have a Hall of Fame manager to deal with it, and b) the Reds have multiple Dominican players already.
Reds offer 5/125 million and the narrative is they are cheap and hopeless. 2 other teams in mlb offered more. Fact. But let’s not focus on that.
Let’s just fast forward a year from now to the nuclear winter that is MLB. Dodgers signed worst contract in MLC last year…$70 million for Scott who was injured and stunk and they double down and sign Diaz for $70 million more. The Dodgers just make up the rules as do the Phillies and Blue Jays and Mets and Yankees.
Anyone saying the Reds are cheap for not signing Nick Castellanos for $20 million more in 2026???? Phillies cant get rid of him to anyone
I’m rooting hard for the nuclear winter. It sure is not fun being a fan of a small market team. Blow it all up!
I’m saying that they are generally “cheap” and when they do spend , it’s stupidly Moose, Candelario type deals. There’s nothing like paying players not to play. They just got a 3B that they will also have to eat a contract on in a couple of years.
It’s less money but it’s still not smart.
Either way, tight wads and poorly run.
Welcome to the club of had enough ,Doug. Need to get GoFundMe going to put up billboards to sell the team and pointing out what a fraud Flea Market Bob is.
Sorry that you have to go through this crap and try to write something good every day about the Reds and paint a rosy picture to all of it. It’s tiresome I’m sure but don’t worry I’m sure they will say they are in on Alonso for 5 yrs/ 75 mil. Big Bob always looking for a deal.
Doug, thank you for an incredibly articulate comment! This long-standing situation is so frustrating. The team will never be any good unless ownership is willing to take risks. Historically, that’s the way the American economy works. The timid inherit nothing. The bold succeed or fail spectacularly. In professional sports, if owners a don’t have the guts to take the risk, they need to get out. The Schwarber fiasco demonstrates conclusively that the Reds ownership has no business continuing. They need to take their profits and sell to someone who is willing to play the game the way it has to be played. (Reds fan since 1969.)
A lot to unpack. I think a lot of talk is premature. The Phillies were always the favorites to sign him. At the end of the day we don’t know what Schwarbers priorities were. I feel like we put a lot of faith in vague comments where players express a desire to “come home”. Everyone would love to come home but that’s only part of the equation. We talk about the Reds only being a player or two away from competing for the division and ultimately maybe a World Series. Well the Phillies have already been to a World Series and are already winning their division. A players desire to play on a team that actually wins vs team that would improve with your presence might have been the biggest factor. Outside of having a having a HOF manager (and proximity to Middletown) is there anything the Reds would have better than the Phillies?
And to the tragic idea of “signing him to sell tickets” it would be nice if they realized the opposite is true too, that when you don’t improve your team you will sell less tickets. Sadly attendance will never be low enough to send a message to ownership that we won’t take losing anymore because they get enough money from media and revenue sharing to care.
“Sadly attendance will never be low enough to send a message to ownership that we won’t take losing anymore”
Not as long as bobbleheads are around? 😉
I think I have about 7 different variations of Joey Votto figurines/bobbleheads. Tell me your team has no good players without telling me you have no good players.
Jeff Carr on Locked On Reds, “There were multiple reports that Schwarber would get five years at $30 Million. The Reds said cool. We’ll offer $25 million.” hahaha 😀
Steven Offenbaker, “We LEARNED that the Reds CAN make a modern competitive five year offer”.
He’s right. The cat’s out of the bag now. 🙂
“The only reason the Reds were willing to make that offer to Schwarber is because they believe that him being good and from Middletown would sell tickets.”
The Reds ought to get an award for saying some of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard. Are they even smart enough to BE embarrassed?
“It’s getting tougher to believe the Reds will ever commit to winning.” Nuff said.
Sell your ownership shares Castellinis, Williams, et al. You have failed again and again and again. You only exist to provide yourselfs with nice dividends at the end of each season, not to build a championship baseball team that you all pledged to do in 2006. The fans are tired of your duplicity and arrogance.
Big Bob & Son sure are building a wonderful legacy for themselves as Reds owners aren’t they? hahaha They will be remembered fondly….by none.
Had season tickets for 22 years before moving out of the country. Still watch(ed) as many games as possible and always rooted for the Reds. I did my part. Ownership has not done theirs in my eyes. Frankly not at all surprised by how inept ownership has been. They’re an embarrassment to the fans, the city and the players who deserve better. The errored on a franchise altering move that could have been a win across the board. They’ve got the pitching to compete and could have and should have added that power bat that could have propelled them into annual division championships for the next 4-5 years. Ownership is a disgrace. You play in the most hitter friendly park but can’t figure out how to add quality bats to your club. Then a local product hits free agency, says he would love to play for your team and you find a way to mess that up. You can’t make this stuff up.
Where you gonna go they asked? Well this fan has thrown in the towel. More important things in life than rooting for a franchise that gives you little reason to do so.
Well written, Doug. I particularly liked the closing section recounting the circling of the wagons around a closed inner circle.
I’ve been of voting age for going on 60 years. The first time I voted, the Reds still played their home games at Crosley Field. Over this time, the Reds have gone from being a legitimate regional team to a self-made “small market victim” team.
The best seats I ever enjoyed at a Reds game were at Riverfront, when it was still Riverfront. They were in the first 5 rows of Blue seats directly behind home plate. And how was I fortunate to sit in these seats several times? They were part of a full-season package held by a business in the Greenville, OH/ Darke County area. A friend of my father had a line on using the tickets on days the business had not otherwise distributed them.
For those not familiar, it was about a 90-minute drive to Riverfront from where the business that had the tickets was located. Yet the owner perceived the tickets as a valuable premium for his customers.
When I saw the Reds Country Caravan for this year was deep sixed because of an alleged conflict with RedsFest, my first thought was that someone with the Reds was totally out of touch with the potential goldmine outside the I-275 loop and too ignorant.
Yes, the Reds will never be a megamarket, but over my lifetime, they have frittered away a huge potential market from West Virginia, up to Columbus, over to Indy, down to Louisville and Lexington, then back over to West Virginia.
This is just one way that the Reds made themselves into the mess they are today.
Jim that’s an interesting perspective how the Reds have lost some of that regional appeal on a broader scale they used to have. I’m in my early 40s and grew up in SW Ohio, parents born in Cincinnati, so to me I loved the Reds because of that super close proximity. But always thought it was neat that there were older Reds fans from all around the country due to the big Red Machine, and many fans in West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky as you mentioned. I think Tennessee too?
It reminds me a bit of how Steelers fans are annoyingly everywhere especially in Ohio! And of course Cowboys football fans. The Reds kind of had that Steelers/Cowboys broader appeal in the region it seemed, but I hadn’t thought that even that is waning now as you mentioned.
Ours were in row 20 in Section 103 (I think) of blue seats behind home plate.
In the glory days of the BRM and Riverfront Stadium, most Reds fans came from outside of Cincinnati area. Parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana.
The Reds still sell over 2m tickets and have tv money. It is disappointing that regional fans are not as interested in the product. I am in the minority that thinks the Reds spend enough money. The Brewers Guardians and Rays have success and spend less. These teams have more players making less than $1m but pay a few stars like Ramirez and Yelich to lead the team. What they don’t do is pay Steer Lux Trevino $5m. So, I would prefer to see a Schwarber get paid, have rookies like Hinds and CES learn the game from Schwarber. And, I think Schwarber would bring in more regional fans.
Jim, I agree about shrinking the market draw from surrounding areas. Another contributor to fan support is the cost of taking the proverbial family of four. Purchasing tickets, parking, feeding them and a couple of souvenirs is now a small fortune. Where families might have gone several time a year historically, it’sprobably once a year, if at all, for folks a couple hours away.
And where does all that extra income from stadium sales go At these horribly marked up prices?Profit for owners. Another captive market strategy that hammers away at the long suffering fan base.
The Bengals eventually hit their low when fans stopped going and they couldn’t sellout the stadium which meant no local broadcast. We need a seminal moment for the Reds.
Their attendance ticked up slightly in 2025. I wonder how they would react if it dropped a couple hundred thousand in 2026.
Free Agency was the death knell of this franchise.
Free Agency was the death knell of this franchise.
The Reds ownership group refused to participate in it in 1974 and they still resist it 50 years later.
Almost every team draws from a region, this is not unique to the Reds. More importantly, there are many, many, many more entertainment options for Americans than fifty to sixty years ago. A number of those options include sports. Comparing the Reds market opportunities from five plus decades ago to today is an apples to sardines comparison.
Losing has done a ton of damage to the Reds franchise, and ownership bears responsibility for that. The fact that teams don’t have comparable access to talent is the main culprit that is ruining baseball. The fate of the Reds is playing out in multiple other markets and there are many other places to go for entertainment and to watch good baseball.
People that have the money to jump into a fund comprising ownership of a professional sports franchises, are not broke.
They don’t slide their 25Mil across the table, leaving only a $100 bill in their pocket, and put it all on black. They have diversified and invested in other money-making ventures…how is it on the consumer to be responsible for the financial success of the product they own? Better yet, have they even increased its value?
Who runs a business that cultivates its own assets, and then turns around doesn’t find a way to get maximum value for said assets, while at max value?
It is just maddening to think that a genuine product of the city of Cincinnati, on so many levels, is not their most important asset. It’s a living, breathing, thing…give it oxygen, and the flames only rise.
My soul genuinely gets hurt by this team a lot, and I’ve lived on the other side of the country for over a decade and never miss a game…I have other options.
To quote a song I love… “Is this what you wanted? (NO!!) Do you want some more? (YES!)”.
I’ll keep wearing the uniform of fan for this team, but every time I do, every time I walk by a person in a Dodger’s hat, and he sees my Red’s cap…I’ll just shrug and say you were the better team.
It’s strange to be surrounded by baseball fans of another team that have so little to complain about. And to feel their pity.
I got nothing. Maybe tomorrow.
Like many I try not to get overly excited during the off season. As you hear rumors etc etc.. Great article Doug and I dont know if I could do what you do in relation to the Reds.
So the Reds offered Kyle a 5 year deal yet couldn’t go higher than 120-125 million. So this tells me they can spend money, they just choose not too. Truly hard to be a fan of a team/organization that truly doesnt seem to care. They are wasting away the talent of De La Cruz, and the young pitching core they have by not surrounding them with good hitters.
I dunno, hard to describe my level of annoyance with this ownership.
This is what the homers don’t get.
The Reds CAN but WONT!
A. Sign 4 big question marks at 5 mil each.
B. Sign a red flag at 15 mil and a 5 mil guy.
C. Spend an extra 10 mil, get real talent.
Which 2 ways do the Reds do business?
The answer is obvious and it’s frustrating!!!
I’m officially out. Not because we didn’t sign Schwarber (I knew we wouldn’t), but because of the two sentences from Rosenthal. This ownership only views this storied and passionate franchise as a way to make some extra cash on the side, and it really is quite sad. The fact they couldn’t offer another $5 mil a year for a lineup changing bat truly blows my mind. This ownership has lost and driven away TWO generations of fans. Do you know how hard it is to get that back? I don’t go to the games anymore, so that won’t be a problem (I go to Dragon’s games with my kids as its closer and more fun for them). Finding another team will be tough, but I’m comparing this to a broken divorced relationship – years of neglect, poor communication, and unwillingness to compromise and change. Watching another team shouldn’t be hard has I won’t be blacked out of anything.
If anyone can help me decide on a new team I’m all ears. Hopefully one that is smart analytically, not a rival of the Reds (THAT hatred won’t change), and one that actually tries (FA signings, trades). I’m all ears.
The Savannah Bananas???
Seems like Reds are always late to the show, waiting for players to sign elsewhere, they must be proactive not reactive. Same old story
It’s not that they are late, it’s a consistent strategy to dupe gullible fans that they’ll actually do something meaningful when they have no intentions of following through.
+1000, or they are actually just too inept to follow through effectively.
Thank you, Doug, for your great post, and all the other posts over the years to keep us Reds fans informed. It all starts at the top with ownership.
ESPN mentioned the Reds could trade Hunter Greene to LA for a package including Mike Sirota. Mike Sirota is the prospect who had a .452 OBP for the Dodgers Triple A team and whom the Reds traded (and got fleeced) to get Gavin Lux. I realize ESPN makes this stuff up half the time but it would be a classic modern Reds move. Trading a top 5 starting pitcher for a guy you already traded away for a .250 hitting bad defensive utility player with no power. How could the Dodgers even keep a straight face when dealing with the Reds brass.
Dodgers executive assistant: “Sir, you have a call.”
Executive: “Not now. I’m late for my daughter’s graduation.”
Assistant: “It’s the Reds.”
Executive: “Give me that call! Tell my daughter I’ll see her at the party.”
Sirota never played above High A last year and he got hurt and missed the 2nd half of the season which was an issue he had in college as well. If the Reds traded Greene to LA (why not, it’s not like we are competing for anything more than a playoff spot) than someone like Sirota would be the third piece. It’d be for something like Dalton Rushing, Jackson Ferris, and Mike Sirota.
But yeah, I hated that trade when we made it, let alone now. I understood it, but I hated it.
This would end my life time fandom.
I have to say to Mr. Gray, in an age when media members have become nothing more than mouthpieces for profitable agendas (see ESPN), it sure is nice to read an honest, well-researched piece driven only by truth. Beat writers haven’t done this for years because their bosses partner with the teams they cover. Most blogs are just opinion pieces begging for clicks. So, thank you for digging into facts and letting the dirt fall wherever it happens to land. A+
100%! I suspect Mr. Gray will get some heat from a few places because of his honesty.
I second this…it’s a pleasure reading your
Honest coverage Doug.
Ken Rosensthal is reporting the Reds are now in on Keyes Marte. More propaganda from Pete Rose Way.
https://clutchpoints.com/mlb/cincinnati-reds/mlb-rumors-reds-ketel-marte-trade-mix-125-million-kyle-schwarber-offer
Ketel
“Their offer to Schwarber, a native of Middletown, Ohio, about 35 miles north of Cincinnati, was tied to their belief that his addition would help drive ticket sales.”
Wow, I hope Krall doesn’t actually believe that. If so, apparently the Reds need to spend a few bucks on a marketing expert. I’m no expert, but I could tell them that Schwarber being from Middletown is not what would drive a large increase in attendance.
You know what would have driven up attendance? Signing a guy who will hit 40+ bombs over the next 5 years. That could be Kyle Schwarber, but it doesn’t have to be just him. Most Reds fans won’t care where the player is from, whether it’s just down the road, or the other side of the globe.
Perhaps there is a small segment of the fanbase that would come to see him play purely out of desire to see “the local kid”. But that would be a VERY small segment.
This is very disappointing to hear. Because if the Reds’ front office believes they could afford an extra $25 million because of increased ticket sales, then they should be willing to pony up for Pete Alonso, or whoever. Build a good team, and fans will come.
You and many others are reading a ton into Rosenthal’s one-sentence summation. First, it’s a summation, not a quote. Second, Rosenthal never stated that the Reds pursued Schwarber solely because he was from Middleton. Significant liberty has been taken in drawing that conclusion.
The summation never said they pursued him solely because he was Middletown. It just said that it was “tied to” their belief it would drive ticket sales, and specifically mentioned his hometown. Read between the lines, and the implication is they thought the local connestion would rive up attendance.
Now, did Krall and co. actually believe that? Who knows. I just said that if true, it was very discouraging. I hope they realize that signing good players, wherever they are from, should increase fan turnout.
Go back and with objective eyes reread Rosenthal’s quote, He in no way implied that there pursuit of Schwarber and only Schwarber was a byproduct of his local ties. Part of the equation? Absolutely, but Schwarber checked a number of boxes (I described some of them above). Other free agents are not as good of hitters, have less consistent production, or need to play a defensive position at an age where they are likely facing diminished skills to bring comparable value. Some are younger and would command an even longer and larger financial commitment. A couple are coming from Japan and have significant risk in adjusting to MLB and are also quite expensive. Schwarber presented a unique opportunity and it had far more to it than his local ties. Many writers explained those details; Rosenthal didn’t need to rehash them.
I don’t suppose we’ll ever know for sure, but it was always my theory that Schwarber’s agent would leverage whatever any other team offered him into prying the maximum payout from the Phils. What would make the story really interesting is if it came out that the Reds (or anyone else) had matched or exceeded the Phils’ offer, but they are the Reds so of course it was never going to.
The Reds are going to have to go the trade route to bring in headline-making talent. I don’t think Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger are interested in signing, even if the money was the same. Team is going to have to trade for some talent, succeed, and then leverage that success into making the team more desirable for free agents. Which they’d then have to pay competitively, of course.
I just can’t see any of this happening without a new CBA that puts limits on salary and deferrals. A floor and a cap, and some method of enforcement with teeth. Bring on 2026 I suppose; get improvements from the young core and pray for rain. Same as it ever was. Maybe I should be saying “bring on 2028.”
I think Baltimore set the market by offering Schwarber 5/150. Schwarber probably gave the Phillies a chance to match it which they obviously did.
To quote a former player: Of course other teams were given a chance to match it. The agent would be fired immediately if they didn’t.
I get that, but my point is kind of what if the Reds had? Then we’d get to know how serious Schwarber was about coming back to Cincy. I think that was always a passing fancy, and never a strong possibility.
If the rumors that we are looking at Brandon Lowe as a DH, I can understand that. If we are looking at him as a 2B, they need to change who is in charge right now. He was at -14 DRS last year. Only Luis Garcia of WAS was worse and they are moving him to 1B. He is at -20 DRS over the last 3 years. Only Garcia and Altuve were worse. Altuve even moved off 2B to LF last year.
If CIN is taking a defense doesn’t matter approach, why get Ke’Bryan Hayes? Why even worry about position players at all? Just get 9 Pete Alonso’s.
I’m hoping this just isn’t true. Otherwise, they are doubling down on Candelarioism.
Jim Bowden was able to put together some competitive teams on a shoestring budg. He seemed to embrace it. Definitely difficult to do these days. Krall is basically middle management in the MLB world working for “frugal” individuals at the top. Seems he’s taken on an impossible task.
Marge gave Jim large budgets (and cut minor league/development spending). The 1995 team had the 6th highest payroll in baseball. To put it in today’s terms (to be the 6th highest payroll last season), the Reds would have had another $105 million to spend.
I think the Reds’ ownership structure is fundamentally flawed. It is comprised by what amounts to an investor committee of sound, affluent local business people, or people with Cincinnati ties. Wealth isn’t really the issue; as a group, they have plenty of money.
The issues are (1) committees are no way to run a baseball franchise; and (2) the investors agreed to participate more out of civic duty — to keep the franchise in Cincinnati under Cincinnati ownership — than as a mission to win or even to make money.
(1) George Steinbrenner ran the Yankees via a limited partnership. As one limited partner (investor) famously said, “There is nothing so limited as being a limited partner of George Steinbrenner.” That’s pretty much what is missing with the Reds. Bob Castellini is a figurehead, but one who under the unique structure of ownership has been determined to be the principal owner of the Reds, to comport with MLB requirements. The Castellini family doesn’t even own as much of the Reds as the Williams family does, so I don’t see how Castellini — even if he were so bold — can really dictate how aggressive the Reds can be with payroll.
The group seems to be governing by consensus, which works against trying bold moves on spending money. They need one owner with unquestioned control and authority to act. If the Reds had offered another $5mm/year to Schwarber, he would have accepted it, or perhaps the Phillies would have just upped their bid. But $5mm/year more to a wealthy ownership group really isn’t that much of a risk.
(2) Krall stated that the Reds put all the revenue back into the operation and try to break even every year. Unlike some of you, I think that the owners probably do not take any distributions from the Reds, primarily because none of them need what is likely chump-change cash flow from the team. They invested in the Reds for civic (or ego/status) reasons, expecting to make a profit down the road when the group sells the franchise.
I think that “trying to break even,” meant that Reds would budget the payroll to accomplish that. It’s not unreasonable for them to avoid capital calls every single year to meet payroll. Nobody expects Kroger to price its bacon and bread at a loss, and Castellini as managing partner has a fiduciary duty to his minority partners. But that is the problem. A bolder ownership structure, with one primary investor and one person in charge, is not so conservative. That person would recognize that certain situations – like Elly, Greene, Burns, Marte etc. all hitting their prime — requires getting out of the financial comfort zone. “Breaking even” doesn’t have to occur every single year, especially considering how much money they could make if they actually contended consistently.
These guys are collectively quite wealthy, but it doesn’t appear that any of them individually have the wherewithal to buy the others out. So, I hope that they find a new principal owner capable of taking full command and getting the franchise where it ought to be. If that person wants to buy 60% of Reds, and let the existing ownership keep 40%, that would be fine.
The Reds under the present circumstances do have constraints on them that the Dodgers, Yankees, etc. do not have. The collapse of the cable TV is a problem, because management cannot accurately predict its revenue. I hope the new CBA will help. There are several things that could be done to help. For one example, I think a large, specified portion of the “luxury tax” money should be paid to a pool to be distributed to the players on the smaller-market teams. There is now a pool that is used to make direct payments to high-performing pre-arbitration players like Elly and Skenes (who got more than $3mm this year from that pool). Having players on a team like the Reds or Royals get an extra $500,000 from such a pool would be excellent.
I would also eliminate the penalty on smaller-market teams for signing a free agent who received a qualifying offer. The Reds would have lost a 2nd round and 4th round pick for signing Schwarber. That’s a silly rule to apply to a team like the Reds. I believe the CBA needs to recognize the enormous advantage that the big-market teams have in acquiring veteran talent, and at least partially balance that by giving the smaller-market teams a substantial advantage in acquiring amateur talent. A team that often goes way over the luxury tax should forfeit first and second-round picks, with a corresponding smaller signing allotment, as well as a much smaller international allotment for signing international players.
We all wanted Schwarber, but nobody has died here. They made the playoffs last year with much the same roster, and they have several guys (Elly, Marte, McLain, Steer, Stephenson, Stewart, and probably even Hayes) who are more likely to improve than regress this coming season. Anyone can be a Dodgers fan; it takes strength of character to be a Reds fan.
That was an absolutely awesome post Old Big Ed, thanks for sharing. So nice to see someone else who gets it and not whining and venting at every opportunity. A big ole tip of the cap to you sir.
Excellent summation. I couldn’t agree more. I favor a cap/floor/revenue sharing model because it is working well for all parties in other leagues. However, you noted some areas of the CBA that simply don’t work as advertised. These are starting points for change if the union wants to maintain the status quo. Your points about the confederation that leads the Reds exposes a lot of pitfalls to this type of leadership approach. Thanks for sharing your well thought out insight.
Very well put OBE. Thanks for the post.
The Phillies offer was better. Extra $25m AND a yearly opportunity at a WS ring. The Reds offer was $25m less AND the prospect that signing meant the Reds wouldn’t extend their top prospects AND maybe 1 more post season (of two and out). This was a no-brainer.