Cincinnati Reds: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season

The Cincinnati Reds upgraded their roster this offseason. But although talented, they may have some underlying organizational issues they need to work out.

The Cincinnati Reds had quite the lively offseason spending big money and reeling in a pool of talent to which they are on a lot of people’s radar to get a playoff spot as a result. But is this a playoff-ready team, or will their culture hold them back once again?

I have a bit of a different take on the Reds than some of you might.

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Culture matters in sports. Particularly in baseball, culture is what makes franchises competitive even when their talent isn’t exactly up to par. You need a good front office, a manager who guys want to play for, and a roster of players that are committed to winning and nothing else.

Unfortunately, I look at a team like the Reds and I see a big issue with their culture, which is why even though they loaded up on some very nice players and proved to have a solid pitching system in place last season, I just can’t see them breaking through into being a playoff team this year.

I know, I know, on paper this is one of the more talented teams in the bigs, but the Cleveland Browns were very talented too going into this past season and look what became of them.

Remember last season where they brawled on multiple occasions with the Pirates? Remember Derek Dietrich instigating those brawls with his showboating? Remember Amir Garrett charging at the Pirate dugout?

How about just this Spring when Trevor Bauer was tipping his pitches intentionally to troll the Astros, knowing he went 2-5 with a 6.39 ERA when he joined the Reds last season? Is this really a team that’s just going to turn it around all of a sudden and win a division? I have to say no.

These are key players with a lot riding on them to perform and they’re behaving so out-of-control with a manager in David Bell not stifling any of it.

And on top of that, you have Joey Votto coming off probably the worst season of his career (maybe trending downward?), you have a newly-signed Mike Moustakas for 4 years/$64 million to play second base even though he’s proven to be a liability at the position, and you have your best player in Eugenio Suarez nursing a shoulder injury.

These things alone would make you take pause, but now add them to poor culture and you’re looking at another disappointing season for this historic franchise.

So, all in all, I don’t particularly love the Reds this season as you could probably figure out by now. But let me get to what I like about them because I must admit, though they’re very undisciplined, they do have a very good thing going on right now with their pitching staff and now they’re starting to spend that big money to bring in free agents.

I don’t feel all that good about the Cincinnati Reds in 2020, but I can see the wheels starting to turn in a positive direction. They just might need to drop a few bad apples.