Watch the Implosion of Baseball’s First Team!

The Cincinnati Red Stockings were our first professional team way back in 1869. They have had many years of success, the largest of which was the 1970’s Reds. The Big Red Machine was sold for spare parts years ago. Joe Morgan was sold to Disney/ESPN for future considerations (100 season tickets and 2 national broadcasts per year). Ken Griffey was sold for a player to be named later (his first born). Johnny Bench was sold outright for the royalties earned in The Baseball Bunch television show and two dozen boxes of Krylon spray paint. Pete Rose was sold to Las Vegas for 14% of the profits from his memorabilia business and a lifetime suite for Schottzie, the St. Bernard of then owner Marge Schott.

Shortly after the sale of Pete Rose, Mrs. Schott and Sweet Lou Piniella put together a winner in Cincinnati. In 1990, a surprisingly athletic, running team headlined by their 3 headed hydra of a bullpen, won the World Series. Steady players of their generation Barry Larkin, Paul O’Neill and Eric Davis were the stars, with a supporting cast of Chris Sabo and Mariano Duncan. The only ace of the staff was Jose Rijo. Tom Browning had a nice year, but was far from dominant. The playoffs were the place where the tri-fecta of Rob Dibble, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers would shine the Cincinnati sun in the eyes of the opposing batters. This was the Reds last great highlight, the city of Cincinnati is forced to look back positively on the departed Mrs. Schott, Schottzie and all of her bigotry. The last 20 years of Reds baseball has been one baffling blunder after another in terms of organizational management, and on field management.

Yesterday, Johnny Cueto was put on the disabled list. Two weeks ago, they traded two young mid 90’s throwing arms under the age of 25 to Toronto for an aging Scott Rolen (because they wanted a veteran presence to help this playoff bound team?) A month ago, they put Edinson Volquez on the disabled list and he will be out for at least a year and a half. A year ago they traded their one draft “success” Adam Dunn, for Micah Owings and Owings is now on the disabled list. Three days ago they signed their first two draft picks Mike Leake and Brad Boxberger. If I were Leake and Boxberger, I would have called up an insurance agency on Tuesday morning to take out a large claim on my arm.

Yes, all these things just happened in just the last year in the Cincinnati Reds organization. The previous 20 years have been comparable. One would think that over the course of 20 years, you would have at least a couple of draftees that have turned out, or made some good moves to improve the organization, but it’s hard to see any improvements. Over 20 years of drafts and the highlights are Aaron Boone, Brett Tomko, Austin Kearns, Adam Dunn, Jeremy Sowers (whom they didn’t sign) and Joey Votto. We all know that the best of these guys are average at best. Adam Dunn is the highlight of 20 years of drafting. They have a possible decent young player in Votto and then draft Alonso in 2008 and he plays the same position.

The Reds have not drafted well, they have not made any free agent transactions to improve the team in the long term, and only have two trade successes (Brandon Phillips and Aaron Harang) in all this time. I’ll give them a pass for signing Ken Griffey Jr. since one couldn’t have predicted those injuries. However, that being said, committing all that money in to one player is never a great idea for a team that doesn’t generate the revenue of a New York or Boston. They also randomly throw a lot of money around on a player like Francisco Cordero who doesn’t really help the team long term. Transactions such as this prevented the team from drafting players that would cost over slot money. This cheap tradition has continued even up to this year when they drafted Mike Leake over the more expensive, more talented high school lefty Tyler Matzek.

They were given a gift in the resurrected Josh Hamilton and they turned him in to Edinson Volquez with a trade to the Texas Rangers. A potentially great young pitcher, whom scouts compared to a young Pedro Martinez. The Reds quickly tore apart his arm jumping him up to 196 innings pitched in his rookie year (age 24). Cueto was a little bit better managed moving from 160 innings in minor leagues to 174 in his rookie year (age 22), but now his arm is torn up as well. The only pitcher that has held up through their system has been Aaron Harang (who actually was in the Oakland farm system) and he, like the aforementioned Volquez and Cueto had his innings pushed up to 200 IP his first season in Cincinnati. It’s not just the innings that cause these problems, it’s letting these young men continue to throw when their bodies are struggling. This is in game management. Knowing when to give these young arms rest is something Dusty Baker has struggled with during his career. The Reds decided to hire him to help the team rebuild. Under the watch of Dusty Baker, many big time talents have been dismantled. These fallen men are Russ Ortiz, Shawn Estes, Kirk Rueter, Robb Nen, Jason Schmidt, Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, and now Micah Owings, Volquez and Cueto. Homer Bailey better take out an insurance policy along with Leake and Boxberger.

This once storied sports franchise has imploded by businessman owners making poor investment decisions rather than smart baseball decisions, hiring management that looks to save money rather than draft talent, spend large money on mediocre free agents, and hire management that is unable to manage young talented players. Finally, a baseball man, Walt Jocketty was hired as the GM in 2008. The rebuilding process has been a long time coming and the Cincinnati fans deserve something more for their city’s baseball history, but I can’t take his reign seriously until he dismisses Dusty Baker and develops a pitcher who doesn’t have surgery before the age of 25.

The Cincinnati Reds implosion can be viewed nightly at Great American Ballpark. You too, can go to fabulous Cincinnati to see such stars as Chris Dickerson and Laynce Nix and watch aspiring stars… um… Drew Stubbs. The Reds not only owe their fans a team worth watching, but they owe baseball itself. Baseball should not have to watch its original team be drowned in the tears of its fans. The legacy of the Big Red Machine is rusting in those tears. The talent is out there, the money is available, and the fans are waiting. It is time to bring Cincinnati back to glory. It is time for the Reds to take the rubble from this 20 year implosion, and like the hard working laborers of Cincinnati, build this franchise back up, brick by brick.

- J Filth