CINCINNATI – On a day usually filled with holiday-like celebrations in Cincinnati, fans of the Reds spent Tuesday’s home opener more frustrated than anything.
Besides losing to the Cleveland Guardians in a late-inning slugfest, Reds fans endured a day of public comments from club COO Phil Castellini— first on the radio, then TV and finally via email. Castellini’s comments focused on public opinion about roster moves made by the Reds this offseason and calls by some fans for the Castellini family to sell the team.
“I apologize to Reds fans and regret the comments that I made earlier today,” Castellini said in a statement late Tuesday night. “We love this city. We love this team and we love our fans. I understand how our fans feel, and I am sorry.”
That written comment came hours after Castellini, son of owner Bob Castellini and the franchise’s president, went on 700 WLW to discuss the team’s home opener and the outlook for the 2022 campaign.
Castellini, whose family has owned the Reds since 2006, appeared to voice frustration with fans who disagreed with the decision to trade away several big-name players this offseason, including All-Stars Sonny Gray, Jesse Winker and slugger Eugenio Suarez. The team also traded away two-time Gold Glove catcher Tucker Barnhart and reliever Amir Garrett.
The Reds signed outfielder Tommy Pham to a one-year, $7.5 million deal.
After the transactions, Castellini asked fans to “have faith” in the franchise and the team’s general manager Nick Krall as they rebuilt the roster. The Reds have “tried a lot of things that didn’t work,” Castellini said, and the team is trying something new under Krall.
That didn’t go over well with many fans.
“Well, where are you going to go? Let’s start there. Sell the team to who?” Castellini told hosts Scott Sloan and Mo Egger on Tuesday.
“That’s the thing: You want to have this debate? If you want to look at what you’d do to make this team more profitable, make more money, compete more in the current economic system that this game exists (in), it would be to pick it up and move it to somewhere else,” he continued. “So, be careful what you ask for.”
Castellini feels the team is doing “the best we can do with the resources that we have.”
Nick Castellanos, an MVP candidate last season, opted out of the final two years and $34 million of his contract with the Reds in order to pursue a deal with another team. The versatile outfielder ended up agreeing to a five-year deal with the Phillies, believed to be in the neighborhood of $100 million.
“It’s just a classic example of ownership using organizations as profit,” ESPN reported Castellanos saying in a report about the competitive imbalance in baseball. “When … there are no consequences for losing, you’re not held accountable for your performance.”
“What sucks is in a great city like Cincinnati where the fan base is impeccable, it’s suffocating,” he added, “because of ownership. I’m not saying that they are bad people. The system is bad.”
As of Tuesday, the Reds 2022 payroll is just over $113 million, placing them 21st out of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams, according to Spotrac, a sports information website. That number is about $11 million higher than the payroll for the Seattle Mariners, to whom the Reds traded Winker and Suarez.
For more comparison, there are six teams spending over $200 million this season, and eight spending less than $100 million, with the Baltimore Orioles coming in last at $44 million.
The league average is just over $145 million.
Forbes ranked the Reds as the 26th most valuable franchise in the MLB at $1.19 billion. They have an annual revenue of $266 million, per the Forbes report.
During an announcement for the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade in late March, Castellini defended the roster changes and the team’s commitment to winning.
“We’ve never been more proud and more dedicated to being stewards of what we believe to be one of the community related assets that there are,” he said. “The Cincinnati Reds belong to the fans, belong to the fans of Reds Country. We’re dedicated to this team, we’re committed to winning and we’re in it for the long haul.”
On Tuesday, Castellini doubled-down on that commitment, stressing that no one in the organization is content with losing.
“We’re no more pleased with the results than any of the fans. I’m not sitting here saying anybody should be happy,” he said. “I’m not polishing trophies in the office right now, and that’s what we’re here to do.
Castellini and the Reds received swift social media backlash for the comments.
Jesse’s story today is awfully timely seeing as the first words Reds COO Phil Castellini used earlier today to answer a question about why fans should maintain faith in the organization were: “Well, where are you gonna go?”
The answer would seem to be: Not to Reds games. https://t.co/g4dtk4QFGH
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 12, 2022
Prior to the home opener, WLWT-TV reporter Brandon Saho interviewed Castellini on the field and asked him to respond to the feedback.
“Are you going to abandon being a Reds fan? Are you going to abandon following this team? We haven’t abandoned it. We haven’t abandoned investing in the team and the community,” he said prior to the 4:10 p.m. showdown at Great American Ball Park.
Castellini said his team works hard every day, and they looked good in their season-opening series on the road against the Atlanta Braves, the defending World Series champions. They also saw the emergence of Hunter Greene, 22, who shined in his big league debut.
Castellini hopes fans continue to show support to Greene and his teammates this season.
“You can hate on us all you want. We’re not going anywhere. … What I mean is, stay loyal to your team and the players that give you 110% effort (on the field),” he added.
