Joc Pederson besmirched Reds ownership and others with eye-opening social media post

World Champion Joc Pederson hopped onto Twitter yesterday and took aim at owners like Bob Castellini. The Cincinnati Reds have been criticized early and often this spring for shedding payroll; a sentiment shared by Pederson and other players throughout the league.

While Pederson didn't name names, and didn't call out the Reds specifically, he did address perennial basement-dwellers. Pederson compared the payroll of the top three teams in baseball to the bottom three teams in the sport. While Cincinnati didn't appear among those listed, by the end of the season, they might be there.

Joc Pederson called out low-payroll ball clubs like the Reds.

Joc Pederson is not known for being silent, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the newly-signed San Francisco Giants' slugger made his opinion known yesterday. Pederson's Twitter posted listed the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, and New York Yankees as the teams with the highest payroll heading into the 2022 season.

The Dodgers, Pederson's former team, have a whooping $270M committed to the 2022 season. That shouldn't come as a surprise after inking former Atlanta Braves first baseman, and Pederson's former teammate Freddie Freeman to a six-year/$162M contract a few days ago.

Joc Pederson took aim at the Cleveland Guardians ($35M), Pittsburgh Pirates ($35M), and the Baltimore Orioles ($30M); the three teams in Major League Baseball with the lowest payrolls in the sport. According to Cots Baseball Contracts, the Cincinnati Reds have a payroll of $99.6M heading into the 2022.

That amount is good enough for 21st out of 30 major league teams. If you took away the combined contracts of Joey Votto ($25M) and Mike Moustakas ($16M), Cincinnati would be on the hook for approximately $58M in 2022, that would rank them just ahead of the cost-cutting Oakland Athletics, who are currently projected to have a payroll about $52M.

in his tweet, Joc Pederson expressed embarrassment for those fanbases whose teams don't seem committed to winning and/ or competing for a World Championship. For those who are curious, Pederson's new team ranks 12th in spending ($152.2M).

Pederson is the latest player to take aim at cheapskate owners who seem more concerned about their bottom line than they do about bringing competitive baseball to their fans. Nick Castellanos and Jesse Winker sounded off recently, and the latest trend among Cincinnati Reds fans online is #SellTheTeamBob. Joc Pederson would probably agree with the majority of Reds Country on that one.