Carl Lawson and William Jackson, and ef- in moving on from players who aren’t per- consistently stumbled
tently stumbled with putting the
fectively replaced them with players from
other teams. They’ve moved on from play-
ers who had years left on their deals, which
was something they used to never do.”
The Reds were among the very last
teams to fully embrace analytics, and in
many ways they still lag behind most other
MLB franchises. They also appear to be roll-
ing back the radical player development ef-
forts instituted under Williams. He’s never
spoken publicly about the reasons for his
departure, but shortly after he left Cincin-
nati’s minor league pitching (Boddy) and
hitting coordinators (CJ Gillman) resigned
on the same day. Both cited the fact that the
Reds were “moving in a different direction in
many areas of player development.”
If the Reds intend to build from within,
it’s imperative that they embrace cutting-
edge player development and not rely on
old-school philosophies of the past. They
should be aggressive in the international
market, and Krall should also be ruthless
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forming, regardless of how much they’re
being paid. The release of Moustakas over
the winter, despite being owed $22 million,
was a refreshing decision. There’s no room
for sentimentality in professional sports.
Except where Joey Votto is concerned, of
course.
4. NEVER STOP TRYING TO IMPROVE ON THE
MARGINS.
One of the most impressive things about
the Bengals’ resurgence is how aggressively
they’ve addressed weaknesses on the field.
In March 2022, Tobin worked overtime to
improve the struggling offensive line, but
you can see similar efforts all over the field.
Most of the Bengals’ roster was acquired in
the last three years.
Here, the Bengals have an advantage.
They were able to exploit the fact that they
have a franchise quarterback on a rookie
contract, providing additional cap space to
improve the team. But the Castellinis have
 
A P R I L 2 0 2 3 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 7 3
finishing touches on a competitive roster.
Think back to 2020 when, in response to a
pandemic-related dip in revenue, ownership
panicked and actually downgraded the roster
to save money. If they’d been aggressive in
improving the team, the Reds almost cer-
tainly would have made the playoffs in 2021.
We can also look back to the 2010 and
2012 division champion Reds, both good
teams with clear flaws. Instead of address-
ing those flaws, the Reds largely decided just
to run it back with the same players or take
flyers on those they could get on the cheap.
It didn’t end well either time.
You can’t build a roster on prospects
alone. At some point, the Castellinis will
need to open up the checkbook again and be
intentional about filling roster holes.
5. REBUILD THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR
FANS.
Elizabeth Blackburn, Mike Brown’s grand-
daughter (and daughter of Katie and Troy),
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