Reds Owner Threatens To Move Team; Then Recants

It's bad enough that the Cincinnati Reds thoroughly dismantled a competitive team this offseason, but when the team president went on the team's flagship radio station before Tuesday's game to ask fans for patience, things spiralled out of control. 

As reported by C. Trent Rosecrans in The Athletic, when Reds president Phil Castellini was asked why the team deserves the fans' patience, he proceeded to kick Reds fans while they were down:

Well, where you gonna go? Sell the team to who? 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 (in), it would be to pick it up and move it somewhere else.

Be careful what you ask for.

Yikes. Threatening to move the team out of Cincinnati? After 140 years, move the original, oldest major league team? That, as you might expect, did not sit well with Reds fans. 

Castellini obviously got wind of the damage his words had wrought amongst the fan base, and just a few hours later issued an apology via a statement through the Reds PR department: “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.”

Over the course of the offseason, Reds fans had to watch their beloved team trade away the likes of  Sonny Gray, Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suárez, Wade Miley, Tucker Barnhart and Amir Garrett, while allowing slugger Nick Castellanos to walk in free agency. 

It's going to be a long rebuilding process in Cincinnati. On and off the field.

Photo Credit: Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK