MLBBy Sean Keeley on

The Cincinnati Reds had their first home game of the 2022 MLB season on Tuesday and fans flocked to the ballpark to support their favorite baseball team in spite of the franchise’s recent struggles. Phil Castellini, president and chief operating officer of the team, not to mention the son of principal owner Bob Castellini, made it clear beforehand that if Reds fans don’t like the direction of the team, they can kick rocks.

Aside from a wild card appearance in the truncated 2020 season, Cincinnati has missed the playoffs every year since 2014. And while last season’s 83-79 record gave fans some hope, there are still plenty of concerns about the long-term ability of the team to compete with their divisional rivals, let alone get back to the World Series for the first time since 1990.

Plenty of players have even been critical of the franchise and former players have voiced their displeasure for ownership and their inability to spend money. Many fans have taken to asking for the Castellini family to sell the franchise to other owners who might be able to accomplish more.

Castellini appeared on the Reds’ flagship station WLW before the game on Tuesday and let loose one of the most tone-deaf responses possible to those concerns.

“Well, where you gonna go?” said Castellini. “Let’s start there. I mean, sell the team to who? I mean, that’s the other thing, I mean, you wanna have this debate? If you wanna look at what would you have this team do to have it be more profitable, make more money, compete more in the current economic system that this game exists, it would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else. And, so, be careful what you ask for. I think we’re doing the best we can do with the resources that we have.

We’re no more pleased with the results than the fans. I’m not sitting here saying anybody should be happy, I’m not sitting here polishing any trophies in the office right now. And, that’s what we’re here to do. But, the bottom line is I do think we’ve had to shift the discipline, we’ve tried a lot of things that didn’t work. They came this close to working and didn’t, nobody’s gotta tell me they didn’t work. So, I think we’ve learned from those things. Trust me, [general manager] Nick [Krall] is a guy on a mission.”

Can you imagine the CEO of a company chastising customers for not being happy with the product that is being offered? Sports offers one of the rare instances when an executive feels comfortable shaming their own consumers for not being happy with what they’re doing. It’s wild.

And for the record, since the Castellini family bought the Reds in 2006, they’ve had a losing record 10 times, gone 0-4 in playoff series, and 2-9 in playoff games. So if the question is whether or not other owners can do better, it’s hard to see how they could do much worse.

Castellini’s comments went viral fast and, perhaps in an attempt to smooth things over, he spoke with WLWT reporter Brandon Soho from the ballpark. And the second attempt did not go much better.

Castellini’s smug demeanor at the beginning of the clip sets the wrong tone right away. And then he essentially doubled down on his original statements.

“Are you gonna abandon being a Reds fan?” Castellini said. “Are you gonna abandon following this team? We haven’t abandoned it, we haven’t abandoned investing in the team and the community. The point is, how about everybody just settle down and celebrate and cheer for the team. You can hate on us all you want, we’re not going anywhere.”

“You can hate on us all you want, we’re not going anywhere” might be the perfect summation of how many fans feel about the billioinare owners of their favorite sports teams. And if he and his family thought they were disliked in Cincinnati and around the MLB world before today, these comments have clearly sent that sentiment into a new stratosphere.

If nothing else, Phil took what was supposed to be a festive celebration day and turned it into a day that encapsulated every reason Reds fans want him gone and his family to sell the franchise.

[Cincinnati.com, Brandon Soho]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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