"We will bring championship baseball to Cincinnati."
It's now been 21 baseball seasons since Bob Castellini proudly made that pledge after he and his group of investors took ownership of the Cincinnati Reds.
We're all tired of hearing and reading that quote. It's become a joke. It hasn't happened. And there's little hope that it's going to happen on Castellini's watch.
Perhaps nothing is more damning of that unfulfilled promise than this: With the Chicago White Sox winning their wildcard series this week, the once-proud Cincinnati Reds are now the only team in Major League Baseball to not win a postseason series in the time period since Castellini took over in January 2006.
And so, yeah, it's time. Sell the team, Bob (and Phil).
It's the right thing
to do for the People of Cincinnati. It's OK to admit it didn't work out and let someone else come in with fresh ideas and more resources to lead baseball's oldest franchise and to try to bring Cincinnati its first World Series title since 1990.
Take a chance on an outsider, if necessary. Something must change.
Yeah, I know fans have wanted Castellini to sell the team for years. But Bob Castellini deserved some time to see if the strategy the Reds deployed in 2022 would work. It hasn't. And there's no evidence that it's going to. Time's up.
Unfortunately, a sale isn't going to happen. We already knew that after the Reds completed a miserable, 75-win season last week, but Reds president and CEO Phil Castellini confirmed it on Oct. 1 in his first public comments this year about the state of the franchise.
"We're here," Phil Castellini, Bob's son, told local baseball writers. "We’re going to be here. This is about getting it right in the community, for the community, by a leadership and ownership group that is predominantly from and lives in this community."
The goal, Phil said, remains the same: "Championship baseball. Period."
Oh, please.
No one expected Phil Castellini to say otherwise. But it still landed like another slap to the fans' faces. He didn't intend it as an insult. But everyone's tired of hearing it. Everyone's tired of the Castellinis owning the Reds.
Bob Castellini is an honorable man who's done wonderful things in this community. He cares about the Cincinnati Reds. More important, he cares deeply about Cincinnati. I respect him tremendously. I'm sad that championship baseball hasn't worked out for him. Bob Castellini has done a great job of making the Reds fan-friendly and part of the community. The Reds Community Fund has transformed the lives of a lot of families.
But most of the fan goodwill from all that expired when Phil Castellini insulted the fans with his "where you gonna go" comment on Opening Day 2022 after the Reds traded away star players and supposedly went all in on a build-from-within strategy. And whatever leftover benefit-of-the-doubt the Reds had, they lost during a 2026 season in which they did almost nothing right on the field. The Reds now have 14 losing seasons under Castellini.
What's more frustrating, Phil Castellini continues to act like he's doing everyone a favor because he's from Cincinnati.
"It is a business, but for us, it’s a stewardship of a community asset," he said. "We have a commitment to this city, and I’m a fourth generation Cincinnati guy. We are passionate about this community and improving this community."
That was a much more polished way of saying: Where you gonna go?
Cincinnati Reds aren't going anywhere no matter who owns them
Bet most Reds fans would be willing to roll the dice with a new owner at this point, even if the person or group is from out of town. The Milwaukee Brewers, one of those teams the Reds envy, have been owned since 2005 by a guy who lives in Los Angeles.
It's hard to imagine the Reds going anywhere – or that MLB would let them. Local ownership was critical for the Reds at one point. Cincinnatian and broadcast pioneer Powel Crosley Jr. bought the Reds in the early 1930s coming out of the depression to save the club from bankruptcy and moving elsewhere.
Local ownership is still nice, but there aren't many places to move a franchise to today. The Reds make money. Baseball would rather keep a team in Cincinnati and expand to a couple more cities because it'd generate billions in expansion fees. And it's rare for baseball teams to move. Only two have moved in the past half-century.
Forbes values the Reds at $1.6 billion. Castellini and his group bought the club for $270 million. At least do a capital call and let other prospective owners join the group to inject more resources into the franchise. To his credit, Phil Castellini said there's no plan to do that right now but he's open to the idea.
Make no mistake, the Castellinis want to win. But clearly, they don't know how to win – and nothing Phil Castellini said inspired any faith that they're going to suddenly figure it all out after two decades.
Bob Castellini, 85, has a long history of meddling in baseball operations from vetoing trades to steering free-agent moves. He'll continue to be involved in the decision making, despite Phil Castellini officially taking over the role as the face of club ownership in February.
"Ultimately, the responsibility for everything related to this franchise is a ‘we,' " Castellini said. "It’s still me, dad, (baseball operations bosses) Nick (Krall) and Brad (Meador). We need to let the baseball guys make the baseball decisions."
Great idea. We've been waiting nearly 21 calendar years for that to happen.
Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Guardians have winning blueprint
You know who let's the baseball guys make baseball decisions? The Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians.
The Reds want to be like those small-market darlings, but they haven't been willing to follow the blueprint the Brewers, Rays and Guardians use. Those clubs are fantastic at maximizing limited payrolls, drafting and developing their own players and then trading some of that homegrown talent when it reaches peak value.
They rarely waste money on veteran free agents. Those teams have owners who've been successful at setting the franchise agenda and then fully letting their baseball people do their jobs. Those owners generally aren't emotionally attached to players and don't worry about ticket sales when the baseball guys want to trade them.
The Rays, who had the best record in the American League this season, have made 10 postseason appearances, including two World Series, in the time Bob Castellini has owned the Reds. The Brewers and Guardians have also made 10 postseason appearances since 2006. Milwaukee won 100 games for the first time in franchise history this season.
Meanwhile, the Reds have made just four playoff appearances in full seasons under Bob Castellini's stewardship. The Reds have wasted the generational talent of Joey Votto. And they're about to do it with the entirety of Elly De La Cruz's time in Cincinnati, too.
Artie Moreno bought the Los Angeles Angels three years before Castellini purchased the Reds. The Angels haven't been to the postseason since 2014 and have never made a World Series under Moreno, who wasted the generational talents of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. But Moreno finally called it quits and last month agreed to sell the Angels for a reported $4 billion.
Take a hint, Castellini family. You say you want what's best for the community. Then cash out and give the gift of hope back to Reds fans.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Bob Castellini needs to sell Cincinnati Reds | Williams
