What to expect when you're expecting (Reds edition)

How I look watching the 2015 Cincinnati Reds

"Well, they finally did it. They killed my fucking car favorite team." - Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski

The inevitable and unenviable task of rebuilding the Cincinnati Reds has begun. With Walt Jocketty leading mission control from his retirement villa in Florida, the Reds face a very uncertain future as
the fire sale has been (hopefully) ignited.


The club is going to look drastically different in 2016 than it did last week. Obviously, Johnny Cueto is no longer twisting and turning opposing batters into the dirt while representing the Reds. And it's becoming more clear that other core pieces will be on the move shortly as the non-waiver trade deadline approaches this week. Franchise favorites including Jay Bruce, Mike Leake and Aroldis Chapman are obvious candidates to waive bye-bye. Other roster pieces heading out could include Marlon Byrd, Skip Schumaker and Brayan Pena.

If the Reds hope to contend within the next five years a major blowup is very necessary. Remember how exciting those days were in 2008 when the Reds had a very promising core of high-end talent? Joey Votto was 24 years old and just completed a 24-homer season. Brandon Phillips was 27, earned his first career Gold Glove award while putting up a 20-20 year. Bruce was 21 years old and homered 21 times in 108 games. Cueto and Homer Bailey were 22 years old and both were clearly the future of the rotation.

Ahh, those were fun times. Those exciting times were built by all those years of misery from 2001 to 2007. Watching those young men grow into very good ball players and become important pieces of the franchise's most consistent four-year run since the 1980s was certainly pleasurable compared to the atrocities of Jimmy Haynes, Paul Wilson and Eric Milton. But right there lies the point. Sometimes you've got to overhaul the complacency of the roster and front office to turn the page. That's what has to happen for the Reds to compete in what is the toughest division in baseball both today and what looks to be the future, as well.

St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Chicago aren't going anywhere any time soon. The Pirates and Cubs were real bad for a long time to get to where they are now. If Cincinnati wants to compete in the next 3-5 years then selling now isn't an option, it's required.