Reds exec snaps back at unsatisfied fans: 'Be careful what you ask for'

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Cincinnati Reds team president Phil Castellini harshly brushed off questions over why fans should still trust the front office’s decisions after only making the playoffs five times since their 1990 World Series championship.

Castellini appeared on WLW Radio on Tuesday and rhetorically asked where fans were going to go.

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Cincinnati Reds left fielder Tommy Pham steals second base against the Braves on Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

"Well, where are you going to go? Let’s start there. I mean, sell the team to who?" said Castellini, who is also the team’s chief operating officer and the son of Reds chief executive Bob Castellini. "That’s the other thing – you want to have this debate? If you want to look at what would you do with this team 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.

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Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto breaks his bat as he fouls off a pitch against the Braves on Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

"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 polishing trophies in the office right now, and that’s what we’re here to do. But the bottom line is – and I do think we’ve had to shift the discipline. We’ve tried a lot of things that didn’t work. And they came this close to working and didn’t. Nobody’s got to tell me it didn’t work. So I think we’ve learned from those things. And trust me, (general manager) Nick (Krall), he is a guy on a mission. And he is a bull in a China shop that has his way to do it and that way’s to grow your own and he’s doing just that."

Cincinnati finished 83-79 in 2021 after making the expanded postseason during the coronavirus-impacted 2020 season. Cincinnati let Trevor Bauer go after the 2020 season and before the 2022 season, the team unloaded Sonny Gray, Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez and Amir Garrett.

After Tuesday’s loss to the Cleveland Guardians, the team fell to 2-3 to start the year.

Phil Castellini pumps up the crowd before The Budweiser All-Star Concert at Paul Brown Stadium on July 11, 2015, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Preston Mack/MLB via Getty Images)

Castellini later backtracked on his remarks and apologized in a separate statement.

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"I apologize to Reds fans and regret the comments that I made earlier today. We love this city, we love this team, and we love our fans. I understand how our fans feel and I am sorry," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.