The Reds Are Not the Rays, Brewers, or Guardians

So that, that article, Trent, that you put out, um, if you could just catch up everybody who hasn't read it, um, or has been living under a rock.

It was the biggest thing in Reds news-

[laughs]

... uh, really for, for maybe a couple weeks.

Well, I mean, just, like, the, the whole point was this is an organization that has its challenges, right? Every organization that's a little bit different and they have their challenges, and the market size is a legitimate challenge, uh, here.

So, um, the ownership, as would make sense, says, "Why aren't we the Brewers? Why aren't we the Rays?" And it wasn't that- I mean, this is simplifying it.

Um, and, and there are many little tangents and little parts of this.

But simplifi- simpli- simplify is, well, we know it's not that it's a mystery of what to do, it's just that it hurts to do it, and it is painful to do it.

I mean, like, I have some expense reports I need to file.

They're not-- I know how to do it.

It's just taking the time to do it and convincing yourself that it is something you need to do.

And, like, instead of doing something good, that's, I'm gonna spend the next hour doing that.

Um, and so it can be painful to do that.

And that's pretty much what Nick Kroll told, um, ownership was, "Hey, well, we have plans, and people before me have had these plans, and this is where ownership has stepped in and hurt those plans and not allowed those to come to fruition." So the reason we're not these teams is because there are things we have wanted to do and have gotten nixed at the ownership level, and that has not given us a chance to follow that model.

That's not saying it's the only model that there is, but it is the model of small market teams that have, uh, consistently put on, put together contending teams.

And you get to the point where right now your final four are the Guardians, Rays, um, the Brewers-

Brewers

... and Dodgers.

And Dodgers, the big money behemoth that everybody says has ruined baseball and is, is, is nobody else is ever gonna win again.

They're currently down three-nothing in the AL, NLCS.

So there are ways to do it, and this is following that method.

Um, so yeah.

And, and you-- for the front office needs to, and ownership needs to be aligned in what their goals are and, you know, what the pains are going to be, whether it is trading an Elly De La Cruz or instead of letting, you know, leaving up to the unknown, um, the longer you hold onto him, the less his value is.

Um, so it is knowing when to do that.

And like we talked about last night, you know, this is as popular a player as they've had since Ken Griffey Jr.