Reds are dreadful, just a year after being decent

Imagine a major league team with Nick Castellanos, Eugenio Suarez, Jesse Winker, Sonny Gray, Wade Miley, Tucker Barnhart and

Amir Garrett.

A pretty good start, right?

Then add in a few other players, maybe a Joey Votto ,a

Tyler Naquin ,a

Kyle Farmer ,a

Jonathan India, the reigning National League rookie of the year. Sounds like a decent team.

That’s just what the Cincinnati Reds had last season, a Reds team that finished 83-79 and played good, watchable baseball.

The Reds are 3-22 so far this year, already 141⁄2 games behind Milwaukee in the National League Central.

The Reds were just swept by the Brewers and have lost nine straight.

Their prized rookie pitcher Hunter Greene (above), who is very good at hitting 100 mph on his pitches but not so good at hitting his spots, gave up eight runs and FIVE home runs Thursday in a 10-5 loss in Milwaukee.

Remember this is the franchise whose team President, Phil Castellini, threatened to “pick up (the team) and move it somewhere else.” (The Reds are 1-20 since that remark.) He later apologized, but you get the idea. The Reds aren’t at the bottom of the list of MLB payrolls, ranking 21st at $117 million. And they only lopped off $8 million from the 16thranked payroll of 2021.

But what if they had kept some of their free agents? What if they had spent a little more?

Their fans sure are wondering.