Reds Need to Consider a Completely Different Direction This Offseason
· Yahoo Sports
Throughout Major League Baseball, there were two major front office shifts with the Miami Marlins and the Houston Astros. The Marlins fired most of their professional scouting operation, and the Astros fired their general manager, Dana Brown, and informed manager Joe Espada that he would not get a new contract next season.
Both of those teams have better records than the Cincinnati Reds and are in a better spot in their respective divisions. Bryce Spalding on X points out that the Marlins have about half the payroll the Reds do, are over .500, and have had more playoff success than the Reds in recent history.
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Meanwhile, the Reds haven’t hired a general manager from outside the organization since hiring Walt Jocketty in 2008. During that time, the Reds haven’t advanced in the playoffs and have won just two division titles in 2010 and 2012. Despite having MVP Joey Votto, franchise second baseman Brandon Phillips, power-hitting outfielder Jay Bruce, and stellar pitchers like Johnny Cueto, Hunter Greene, Sonny Gray, and Trevor Bauer, no one has been able to turn this Reds team into a true contender.
Now, Cincinnati is in danger of wasting the careers of both Elly De La Cruz and Sal Stewart. Very few of the trades Nick Krall has made have worked out, as the players he got in return for guys like Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, and others have amounted to very little.
Also, they traded Dodgers top prospect Mike Sirota for one season of Gavin Lux, who made very little impact. Krall also sent Sammy Stafura to the Pirates for Ke’Bryan Hayes, who has also done just about nothing for the Reds in more than a full season.
The Reds botched the potential signing of Kyle Schwarber and instead shifted to Eugenio Suarez, one of the most disappointing free-agent signings in recent memory. Speaking of disappointing free-agent signings, do you remember Jeimer Candelario?
The front office has also had poor injury luck, with key pitchers like Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo unable to stay on the field for a full season. Now, with Greene likely to miss the overwhelming majority of games next season, Cincinnati could be looking at another rebuilding effort.
So, will the Reds move on from Krall? In my opinion, yes. The fact that the Reds have the hardest remaining schedule in the league, per TJStats, doesn't help Krall's case.
They’ve shown all the signs that they’ll eventually fire Krall. I think the lack of activity at the trade deadline is a signal. There were obviously players on expiring contracts that would have made sense to trade. Yet, the Reds were surprisingly quiet. Also, Bob Castellini storming into a postgame press conference to tell the media everything is fine might give people the idea that it’s not.
It might be time for the Reds to go in a completely different direction. That might mean hiring someone completely outside of the family, which many people don’t think will happen.
Could they hire Votto? He teased the idea on MLB Network, saying he’d accept the job if offered. It sounded like it was a little tongue-in-cheek, but this is exactly how these kinds of things start.