Bob Castellini has been a pathetic failure to the Cincinnati Reds organization. 

He bought the franchise in January 2006, promising winning baseball. But that has turned out to be a blatant lie. The Reds have missed the playoffs 12 out Castellini’s 16 years, finishing higher than 3rd in NL Central just twice. And in the rare instance the Reds have made the playoffs, it’s been ugly, from not scoring a single run over 22 innings in the 2020 Wild Card game, to the disappointment that was the 2013 Wild Card game, to getting swept in the 2010 NLDS, to the colossal collapse in the 2012 NLDS against San Francisco. And mind you, these were all teams that made little to no trade deadline moves, despite heavy fan support to do so. And I won’t even get into the absolute chokejob that was the 2021 Reds season. 

During his tenure, the Reds have witnessed the departure of countless star players and fan favorites, whether through Free Agency or in a trade that netted a completely lackluster return. Johnny Cueto. Adam Dunn. Shin-Soo Choo. Todd Frazier. Jay Bruce. Aroldis Chapman. Scooter Gennett. Billy Hamilton. Raisel Iglesias. Zack Cozart. Trevor Bauer. And now, likely Nick Castellanos. He traded star prospects Josiah Gray + Jeter Downs for Matt Kemp. He chose Devin Mesoraco over Yasmani Grandal. He traded multiple young prospects (i.e. Josh VanMeter) for Archie Bradley, who was used for exactly 7.2 innings and subsequently non-tendered in free agency.

He almost traded Joey Votto in 2011 (ONE year after his MVP campaign where he posted a 172 wRC+ in 150 games) in favor of Yonder Alonso. He almost traded Sonny Gray this past offseason, despite having 3 years left of affordable team control and already having lost Trevor Bauer to the Dodgers. He extended Homer Bailey to one of the worst pitching contracts of all time. He signed Shogo Akiyama to a $21 Million contract and Mike Moustakas to $64 Million deal. And while there's still hope for Eugenio Suarez, he’s being paid $11 million annually and has been a below average hitter the last two seasons.

With Castellini at the helm, the Reds have made numerous head-scratching draft picks that came back to haunt them.  We drafted Phillip Ervin over Aaron Judge. Blake Trahan over Brandon Lowe. Alex Blandino over Jack Flaherty. Nick Travieso over Corey Seager and Lucas Giolito. Drew Stubbs over Max Scherzer and Tim Lincecum. And while Billy Hamilton quickly became a fan favorite speed demon, drafted only picks after was Nolan Arenado. His newest regime grossly misused former-top 5 prospect Nick Senzel as well, completely derailing his a bright career due to countless position switches. 

Oh but surely these are all just the shortcomings of having a poor general manager in charge at the time right? Well the Reds have had five different general managers and regimes since Castellini first bought the team. Who do you think hired Wayne Krivsky? Or Walt Jocketty? Or Dick Williams? Or Nick Krall? The same can be said about the five different managers the Reds have had since Castellini purchased the franchise. 

Why else do you think Kyle Boddy and CJ Gillman, the chief analytical minds behind the Reds’ best farm system in a while, “mutually parted ways” with the team, citing different organizational philosophies? When Boddy and Gillman were hired, the Reds farm system ranked as 28th in Major League Baseball. Now it’s ranked universally inside the top 10. Yet Bob’s front office believes they need a staff overhaul? After all, Driveline Baseball produced Jonathan India, Tyler Stephenson, Tejay Antone, Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Jose Barrero, Vladimir Gutierrez, Tony Santillan, as well turned Trevor Bauer from a fringe major-leaguer into a C Young Winner. Just read Boddy’s statement:

“The Reds are moving in a different direction in many areas of player development and I certainly wish them the best. It no longer felt like the best fit for either party. I’m exceptionally proud of the results we got in the minor leagues—our MiLB pitchers as a group went from sixth-worst to sixth-best in xERA (expected ERA) out of 30 organizations in just two years—with a number of notable prospects doing well and popping up on radars everywhere.”

It couldn’t be any clearer to Reds fans or benevolent spectators alike. Bob Castellini simply doesn’t care about the on-field product. He’d rather just cut costs and keep as much profit to himself as humanly possible, as made apparent in his international checking accounts, donations to political campaigns that have surpassed a million dollars since he first purchased the franchise, crying poor in the 2020 offseason despite boasting a net worth of $400 Million and overseeing Cincinnati’s fifth-largest private company, a produce distributor that brings over one billion dollars of annual revenue.  

Simply put, Bob Castellini just doesn’t care for the Cincinnati Reds and our die-hard hard fanbase, so please, from the very bottom of our perpetually-broken hearts, sell the team to someone who does.