Castellini knows you don’t want to hear from him.
GOODYEAR, Ariz. − Bob Castellini loves the core group of young players the Cincinnati Reds have assembled, and the team owner is committed to the plan the baseball people have set forth to get the club back to winning eventually.
That was my impression from an hourlong discussion Castellini and I had sitting in the sun behind home plate during a Reds’ spring training game here.
Castellini asked that our conversation remain between us. I get it. I respect it. He knows talk is cheap, especially after the wire-to-wire disaster in 2022. Castellini knows all fans care about is winning. They don’t want to hear or read about how much he wants to win. They’ve heard and read enough of it. No talk. No excuses. Just win.
Castellini, 81, wants that as much as anyone. He hasn’t done many media interviews for years. It’s a policy he started long before last season. He simply wants the focus to be on the team, not on his comments about the team. Just win.
The Reds are having a quiet spring training, a year removed from a tumultuous camp that started with a massive salary dump and snowballed into the “where-you-gonna-go” Opening Day embarrassment, a rash of injuries and 100 losses.
Everyone here is working hard, going about their business and keeping quiet. That’s exactly what a man who runs a trucking and warehousing company expects of himself and his employees. That’s what Greater Cincinnatians expect of their teams, major institutions and leaders. Work hard. Stay humble. Shut up.
But no one wants to hear how hard the Reds are working. Castellini gets that. Just win.
Castellini is doing what he’s always done since he and his business partners bought the Reds 17 years ago. He’s with the club throughout spring training. He gets to the complex early for meetings. He goes to most spring training games. He spends most of the game in a private box with player personnel staffers discussing the roster.
But Castellini doesn’t hide from the fans. He spends a few innings in the stands at games. After we talked, Castellini spoke to a group of seasonticket holders on the right-field terrace at Goodyear Ballpark.
There is a difference in Castellini, I believe. He seems to have finally embraced that small-market clubs have to stay committed to a plan to build from within, remain patient and resist the temptation to go for a quick-fix, high-dollar free agent. Whether the economic situation or the embarrassment of last year forced Castellini to embrace this plan doesn’t really matter.
I commend Castellini for staying the course and being open to change. But Castellini knows you don’t want to hear that. Just win.