Look, I first have to preface this by saying that I really appreciate the letter that went out to Reds fans. No, I'm not being sarcastic. I think it was a nice gesture. However, I can't remember the last time I felt this horrible about my favorite team, and so I'm going to take it out on the letter.Dear Fans
and ex-Fans,
Thank you for your loyalty and support of the Cincinnati Reds
up until the trade of Dunn. You are extremely vital to the success of the Reds, and it is important we share with you the thinking behind our recent personnel decisions.
Since taking ownership of this franchise, we have
aggressively tried to improve our Major League roster for the purpose of restoring championship baseball to Cincinnati had three more losing seasons to bring the streak to eight. We have sought and signed
proven players
who should not be allowed to wear a Major League uniform, like He Who Has Bad Photos of Dusty, Manos de plomos, Mike Stinkton, Ryan Ranklin, Rolls Royce Hands of McClayton, etc, etc. We have extended the contracts of select current players
and ate the contracts of many other stupid signings. We added Dusty Baker, a proven
winning manager
who had Barry Bonds on his team for a lot of years. And, we have capitalized on our burgeoning younger players like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto,
though we left Bruce down there too long, continue to let Josh Fogg start games while younger guys sit in the Minors, and won't go to a six man rotation to save the young arms of Volquez and Cueto.
We had high expectations for the 2008 season. Unfortunately the team has not played up to our expectations and we have sustained injuries to
key replaceable players within our starting lineup and rotation.
Oh why has your arm forsaken us, Aaron? Maybe throwing in relief on three days rest and then making your regular start two days later?We opted to trade Ken Griffey Jr.
for nothing and Adam Dunn at this time
despite his 270 career homers at age 28, his annual league leaders OBP, and the 160 runs he is responsible for by himself every year because we
believe it provided the best outcome for the long-term success of the don't know how to run a winning organization. By executing these inevitable changes now, we secured more
players as part of our focus towards building a deeper, stronger inventory of young talent losing seasons for the foreseeable future.
We are pleased that the trades allow Griffey and Dunn the opportunity to play for teams in tight division races,
and we created many new Diamondbacks and White Sox fans from what used to be a Reds fanbase. Both Ken and Adam made significant contributions to the Reds and we are extremely proud and grateful they wore the Reds uniform.
While the run production generated by these two veterans will not be quickly replaced, we chose to endure the short-term ramifications for the sake of building a strong, competitive team
for 2009 and many seasons to come when the next ownership group comes into town.
The vast majority of our 50 draft picks were signed, culminating last week with first-rounder Yonder Alonso and a pair of talented pitchers.
Our expanded scouting operations also signed Juan Duran from the Dominican Republic and Yorman Rodriguez from Venezuela, who are arguably the best amateur free agent position players from their respective countries.
As we near September, we will continue to provide valuable playing time to
our young players and new acquisitions who we feel can become significant contributors at the Major League level Corey Patterson. We ask your continued trust and patience as we build the roster that will get us back on top. We appreciate your support and
look forward to seeing you at the ballpark hope you enjoy the freedom from baseball watching for the rest of the season and beyond.
Sincerely,
Bob Castellini
President & CEO
Walt Jocketty
President of Baseball Operations & GM
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