Cincinnati Reds: The horrible mistake of non-tendering Archie Bradley

Not tendering a contract to Archie Bradley says more about the Reds organization than the player’s performance.

It seems like every time that the Cincinnati Reds seem to take one step forward, they find a way to take two steps back. Cincinnati prevailed in doing just that again when the list of players to be non-tendered was released and Archie Bradley was among them.

Bradley was one of, if not the most sought-after reliever at the 2020 trade deadline. The fact that the Reds were even in the mix of this happening was shocking, but they seemed to start acting like a competent franchise who cared about winning for once.

The Cincinnati Reds traded away struggling Josh VanMeter that was the model of what fans had become accustomed to rooting for, and a decent outfield prospect in foamier second-round pick Stuart Fairchild.

Bradley saw a total of seven games on the mound for the Reds including his loss in the playoffs against the Braves. The Reds could have kept Archie under team control for one more season, coming off of a year where he had a 2.95 ERA and 18 punch-out through as many innings. Instead, the front office let Bradley go and for nothing.

That may be the most annoying, but most Reds thing, about this. Dick Williams is gone for five minutes and the front office already forgot what an asset is. To trade Bradley would have been frustrating, but to just non-tender him, is an irresponsible decision.

If Bob Castellini cannot afford to pay a sought-after reliever under one more year of team control, then perhaps it’s time to put a for sale outside Great American Ball Park.

The worst part about this is that fans are so use to stuff like this happening that there will be justification within the community to it. We just got to December and it looks like the Cincinnati Reds aren’t trying hard; they’re unlikely to re-sign Trevor Bauer, likely making Michael Lorenzen a starter, and non-tendering Archie Bradley.

Non-tendering Archie Bradley was a mistake. With the NL Central up for grabs, there is a legitimate window for the Reds to compete right now and they seem to be doing everything they can not to take advantage of it.

The inability to spend money and laziness not to shop Bradley around shows a lack of commitment from the front office and owner’s box. The Cincinnati Reds cannot stay idle the remainder of the offseason, and must find other ways to fix this team heading into 2021.