Mad Dog Russo takes unnecessary swipe at Reds during manic Aaron Boone rant

Baseball has long been about the haves and the have nots. As the only one of big-four sports league to not have a salary cap, Major League Baseball has always seen the biggest disparity between the big-market and small-market organizations.

There's also a tremendous amount of big-market bias among the national media. If you question that, just take a look at the teams who are always platformed during ESPN's Sunday Baseball. It's almost a given that one of the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, or Philadelphia Phillies will be part of baseball's premiere primetime slot.

So it should come as no surprise that the biggest mouth in baseball media — Chris "Mad Dog" Russo — leaned into the notion that the biggest and brightest stars belong in the biggest markets. The Cincinnati Reds and manager Terry Francona were strangely looped in to Russo's latest rants when discussing the New York Yankees' managerial situation.

Mad Dog Russo’s manic Aaron Boone rant takes unnecessary swipe at Reds

During an appearance on The Show with New York Post columnists Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, Russo ran down his list of managers who are better than Yankees' skipper Aaron Boone. Russo claimed that there are eight managers in MLB who are better than the former Reds infielder, and named Francona among them.

Russo isn't wrong, per se, but the loudmouth radio host took things a step further when discussing Francona's return to baseball after taking a year off in 2024. Russo invoked the typical New York media bias, insinuating that if given the option, Francona would've chosen the Yankees over the Reds.

"These are the New York Yankees...Francona gets a job again," Russo said. "(Are) you telling me that Boone is a better manager than Terry Francona? Are you freaking crazy? How did Francona end up with the Reds? Did the Yankees put a call in?"

There's a purveying thought among most in the media that managing for the Reds is some sort of penance that one must pay before getting a "real" job. Yet, the likes Sparky Anderson, Lou Piniella, and Dusty Baker all sat in the manager's chair in Cincinnati. Did Russo forget that Francona spent over a decade in the Cleveland Guardians' dugout? That's a franchise that hasn't won a World Series since 1948.

Furthermore, most baseball experts and pundits would probably put managers like Kevin Cash (Tampa Bay Rays), Pat Murphy (Milwaukee Brewers), and Torrey Lovullo (Arizona Diamondbacks) in the upper echelon of MLB managers. All three manage in what most would consider small-markets.

The notion that only big-market ball clubs deserve the very best is nonsense, and quite frankly, it's tiresome. Russo's latest rant, though directed at Boone and the Yankees, unnecessarily looped in the Reds — the first franchise in professional sports.

To be fair to Russo, Cincinnati has not been to the MLB Postseason — during a 162-game season — since 2013. But with Francona at the helm, the Reds are looking to change that this season.

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