The Sad State Of My Reds

As I drove home from work tonight I was listening WLW 700 AM, the flagship station of the Cincinnati Reds and as usual they were on the short end of the score. This as you know isn't news, but I did hear some news that just didn't sit well with me. First I do love my Reds and although my favorite years come from the "Big Red Machine" years I am still a baseball fan and the Reds are still my team. Back to the news, I heard a sound bite of Ken Griffey Jr. talking about finishing his career back in Seattle. Ok, is this the right time to be jumping ship and is this way you want to leave your hometown team. Griffey will be a Hall of Famer and he will probably wear a Mariner hat on his plaque. But he is in Cincinnati right now for goodness sakes. I really think Jr. thinks there is nothing to play for here and I understand he wants a ring before he retires, but right now with all the young guys on this team he needs to just shut up and play. If Griffey throws in the towel the first week of May how does that look to the young guys looking up to him. Griffey did give the Reds a hometown discount to come here in 2000 as a lot of his money is deferred and isn't even included in this years payroll. I think the Reds promised to build a team around him and we all know how that has worked out. But tell me why I should pay $40 for tickets, $15 for parking, and $7.50 for beer,.....yeah watching them does make you want to drink sometime. But again why do I want to spend a small fortune to see these guys when the person that should be the Captain of the team wants out of town.

I have said it before and I say it again "the Reds have no leadership and the manager seems totally lost as to what the next move should be. I know what my next move should be and that is to go to Louisville if I want to see guys working their asses off to make it to the show. Right now I say you can see as good a baseball game at Louisville Slugger Field watching the AAA team of the Reds, the Louisville Bats, as you are getting from the Reds right now.

How do you pay someone $13 million a year to be nothing more than a pretty good DH. If this was New York he might be worth it, but the Reds could do a lot more with this money. I think Dunn is receiving 18% of the Reds payroll this year and does anyone think he is putting up 18% of the production for this team. Is it time to panic, well who knows, Dusty sure don't. Maybe we ship Griffey back "HOME" and try to trade Dunn's big contract to to the Yankees or the Red Sox and call up Jay Bruce and Homer Bailey from Louisville. If this does happen take a chance on either one of these guys because you can bet your ass that they will give it their all when they step on the field.

Come on Reds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!