Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a great start.
I could not help but think, as I watched the Cincinnati Bengals dismantle the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in the NFL’s Divisional playoff round, if that city’s other major league franchise, the Reds, would achieve the same status in that city as the Bengals. After all, the Red Stockings have been around since there was major league baseball. In recent years, however, they have become a laughingstock in the sport, criticized as ownership has run that once, glorious franchise into the ground. Mind you, the Reds’ staff (administrators, coaches, scouts, etc.) work hard and know their stuff (Confession. I know some of them.) but their bumbling ownership keeps getting in the way.
The Bengals were once that way, as recently as three years ago. Then they drafted quarterback Joe Burrow and things have turned around. The team, founded by the legendary Paul Brown in 1967, is one win away from its second straight Super Bowl appearance. As of this writing, the Bengals are one-point underdogs at Kansas City for Sunday’s AFC Championship game. I was leaning toward Kansas City, but I am now picking Cincinnati to beat the Chiefs for a second straight season in the conference title game. That is how good they are. That is how dominant they were against Buffalo in the Bills’ backyard.
So why am I thinking about the Cincinnati Reds, one of MLB’s signature franchises, who cannot seem to get out of their own way? Well, poor ownership, combined with baseball’s archaic infrastructure, makes it less likely the Reds will ever duplicate the Bengals success.
The Reds are a small market club, operating under a system that does not have a salary cap. That means, now more than ever when it comes to baseball, unless you have savvy ownership, you start out with two strikes against you.
In the NFL there is no such thing as big market vs. small market teams, because of that salary cap and the even split of television revenue. Every club starts out on an even playing field. Certainly, that is not a guarantee of success, but it doesn’t hurt, when you are attempting to rebuild an NFL franchise.
The MLBPA will never agree to a salary cap, meaning the Reds do not have the wiggle room of the Bengals. It also means fans of all the NFL teams have hope that someday their team can reach their sport’s pinnacle. The Bengals are at that point, a point the Reds may never know.
No baseball today; there’s a soccer match
Nestor Cortes has become a favorite of New York Yankees fans. The southpaw pitcher has fought his way to the top, after being cut and traded by several clubs, including the Yankees, to become a mainstay of that team’s starting rotation. He has a big following on Twitter, and a Tweet he sent out last week has caught the attention of more than 700,000 Twitter users.
It seems Cortes was wrapping up a work out at a baseball field near Miami, when he was chased away, because the baseball diamond had been reserved for a soccer match. It led to this Tweet:
Wow! Don’t think Nestor’s Tweet didn’t catch the attention of the baseball poobahs.
Kudos to Red Sox ownership
The Boston Red Sox held their first winter caravan since COVID over the weekend in Springfield, MA. The club, with the highest ticket prices in baseball, is being raked over the coals by its fanbase, for not spending enough money on free agents or failing to keep their players, when they become free agents. Rafael Devers, of course, is the exception.
On the first night of the event, Red Sox owner John Henry and GM Chaim Bloom attended and were heavily booed. To their credit, however, Henry and Bloom did show, answered questions and took the heat.
Who knows? Maybe they are building something sustainable in Boston, doing it Henry’s and Bloom’s way. Give ‘em credit for not being no-shows.
Wouldn’t Jacksonville-Cincinnati have been fun?
I would have loved to have seen a Jacksonville vs. Cincinnati matchup in the AFC title game. The Bengals have a running back named Joe Mixon. The Jags have a wide receiver named Jamal Agnew. I am thinking the media would have had a field day with a Mixon-Agnew matchup.
Well that is it for this week’s newsletter. As always, thank you for your support and have a terrific week.
SPORTSCASTER DAN