I don’t know about you, but I needed this #Reds off day. I’m tired of watching this team and saying “what was that?” I’m flat worn out by this organization. With the exception of late inning heroics on Tuesday night, the Reds appeared a combination of dazed, tired, disinterested and lacking energy vs a woeful Kansas City team. The slivers of moments offered like Tuesday night simply aren’t enough. Hell, the slivers of moments offered since 1995 aren’t enough. This is a franchise that has not won more than 83 games in a season since winning 90 in 2013. Butler math makes that 13 years ago. This franchise not only hasn’t won a single home playoff game in the existence of GABP, it hasn’t won a playoff series since 1995. This organization is broken. It’s been broken. And I have zero confidence in anyone being capable of fixing it, Not ownership. Not the President of Baseball Operations. And I didn’t figure to say this, but not the Hall-of-Fame manager to be. This organization continues to spin the wheel of transactions. Cycling guys up and down, onto the roster, off the roster, into the lineup, out of the lineup. They DFA’d three pitchers inside of 24 hours this week. Exactly what kind of organization building is Nick Krall doing when the answer is Yunior Marte? Stop it. Yesterday, Triple-A Louisville pitchers walked 14 batters and allowed 18 runs. Low-A Daytona is 19-34 and has been outscored by 90 runs. Please, stop it. Meanwhile, Terry Francona continues trying to force square pegs into round holes, and appears unwilling to uproot the flag of loyalty he’s planted for too many players. But this truly is a ‘team’ effort. While this roster no doubt lacks enough MLB talent. There is no question multiple players are simply not holding up their end of this. As for injuries, the Reds can get in line. Every team in MLB is hurt. The week started with 255 MLB players on the IL, and 13 teams had more IL players than the Reds. What’s most galling is that all of this appears to be acceptable to the organization. I continue to wait for someone, from the front office up, to come out and publicly declare what is happening as 'unacceptable'....and that the fans deserve better. Last week, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of a poor outing by rookie pitcher Brandon Sproat: "We're not going to tolerate too many duds like this, that's for sure. If he's not going to step up — we're trying to win. We're not rebuilding." So refreshing. Guardians GM Mike Chernoff recently told MLB Radio that he won’t use the MLB economic system as an excuse: “Whatever the system is, we have to find a way around it. We have to do things differently. We have to find a way to win. We’ve made the playoffs 7 of the last 10 years, with a World Series appearance, and an ALCS. What a concept. People often asked me, ‘How do the Rays and Brewers find ways to win?’ Survey says: Because they know what they are doing. The model for the Reds is driven by hope. Hope to stay healthy. Hope to eliminate the peaks and valley’s. Hope to get to the .500 range. Hope to grab the sixth and final playoff spot each season. I need a nap. Wake me up when the Reds decide to get serious about winning.
