Reds Day Two Filled With Hype Castellini Shows His Willingness to Invest Long Term

The Reds hired cover band The Rusty Griswolds.  They had the team walk a red carpet to greet fans.  They treated the frist night game like opening day, celebrating the first night game of the season.  It also helped that MLB finally came up with the brilliant idea of starting the season on a weekend.

Remember that the opening day was originally scheduled for Good Friday but Red fans complained and it was moved up a day to "Fairly Decent" Thursday.  With the customary day off the Saturday night tilt with the newly named Miami Marlins played to a sold out Great American Ball Park crowd.

Bob Castellini does not poor mouth like the previous owners used to do.  "This is a small market wo is me."
Instead they have been putting their money where the poor mouths used to be.  First they brought in veteran Scott Rolen, they signed Aroldis Chapman for $30 million even though he may be a setup guy the rest of his career.   They signed a closer, Ryan Madson, who unfortunately may never close a game in a Reds uniform.  They traded for and signed to an extended contract, Sean Marshall, who may be the best lefthanded bullpen guy in the game.  Just this week they did what all the experts said they would not, could not do.  They locked up Joey Votto for 14 years for well over $223 million.  They are near an extension for Brandon Phillips, who has matured into one of the best secondbasemen in the game.

There are far two many businesses in this country that act like welfare mothers, expecting the government to subsidize their growth and legislate favorable labor laws so they don' have to work as hard to select and pay the best employees.

Whether the Reds win their division or not, the early return on investment is two full houses that they have drawn to date.  Every one loves a winner but a lot of people really respond to the effort.