The Reds have a bigger problem than losing games and it should scare them into action

Life isn't easy for a Cincinnati Reds fan, let me tell you. The Reds haven't won a playoff series since 1995. (Read that again.) Cincinnati hasn't advanced in the postseason in 32 years. It's the longest active drought in professional sports. That's a long, long, long time to be down in the dumps.

Unless Cincinnati goes on a magical run during the month of September, they will have missed the playoffs for the 11th time in 13 seasons. In the 32 years since Cincinnati has last won a series in October, they've been to the postseason just five times — and that includes the expanded tournament during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

The Reds have effectively ushered in an entire generation of fans who haven't seen winning baseball. They've heard stories of the Big Red Machine of the 1970s, and they've probably seen YouTube videos of the 1990 wire-to-wire champs.

But the closest the newest generation of Reds fans has ever come to seeing their favorite team advance in the playoffs ended the moment Buster Posey capped off a six-run inning on October 11, 2012 with a grand slam to put the Giants up 6-0 in Game 5 of the NLDS.

Since that time, Reds fans have seen the organization essentially waste the Hall of Fame talents of Joey Votto and are seemingly preparing to do so again with the Elly De La Cruz. The Cincinnati faithful have endured two full-blown rebuilds since 2014, and they might be staring down a third once this season comes to a close.

This Reds franchise may be headed down a dangerous path. While Cincinnati is (and always will be) a baseball town, they're beginning to lose the trust of even some of the most ardent Reds fans. A large segment of the fanbase is quickly approaching the point of apathy. In other words, they just don't care anymore. That should scare the Reds into action.

The Reds need to regain the trust of the fanbase — it's time to clean house

There's been a fragment of the Reds' fanbase who've been clamoring for years to, "Sell the team!" That's a nice slogan for a t-shirt or even a billboard, but in the real world, that's not going to happen. Whether you like it or not, Reds fans, you're stuck with the current ownership group.

But that same ownership needs to take a flamethrower to the front office. It's time for Nick Krall, Brad Meador, and anyone else who's been associated with this debacle for the last half-decade to pack up a U-Haul and vacate their offices at Great American Ball Park.

Who are you going to get to replace them, you might ask? Frankly, it doesn't matter at this point. This is as much about optics as it is about actual change in the front office. Some fans might advocate for a lower-level front office exec who has experience with small-market operations. That's cool. Still others might want to go after a big fish like A.J. Preller or Mike Hazen. Even better. The point is, Krall and Co. can't be in charge anymore. Period!

But what about Terry Francona? That's entirely up to him. No one doubts Tito's credentials. He's a Hall of Fame manager. While some may argue that the game has passed him by, he's forgotten more baseball than the even the most hardcore fan has ever known, and he was able to take last year's team to the postseason. His résumé speaks for itself.

That said, he's got to be on the same page with the new leadership — and that might mean another rebuild. Does Tito really want to stick around for that?

Now, I know I just used the R-word (rebuild) and that makes fans nervous. I get it. We've all seen the pathetic returns on investment that trading away Luis Castillo, Jesse Winker, Sonny Gray, and others have brought back to the organization. But if you look up and down the roster, outside of Elly De La Cruz, Chase Burns, and Sal Stewart, the Reds are lacking top-tier talent.

Unfortunately, things in the farm system don't look much better. Alfredo Duno, Steele Hall, and now Justin Lebron all look like pieces this organization can build around. But all three are (probably) at least two years away.

If the word reset is used instead rebuild, does that lessen the pain just a bit? No one knows what's on the horizon with the upcoming CBA negotiations, but 2027 is looking more and more like a year for Cincinnati to hit the reset button while turning their full attention to De La Cruz's final two arbitration-eligible seasons in 2028 and 2029.

But all of this talk of the future is somewhat meaningless if the Reds' ownership group doesn't do what's necessary at the end of the 2026 season. Reds fans are ready for a fresh start. The owners must respond to that need or else some fans could look to spend their time, energy, and money elsewhere.

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