The powers that be want you to be able wander the streets with your booze on Opening Day. The Ohio Legislature is looking at a law that would allow cities to create permanent open-container districts, and the Reds, The Banks, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce have all written in to try to get them to pass the bill before Opening Day rolls around. This is clearly the best idea ever, and maybe also the worst idea ever. (In any case, the law will still probably pass before the All-Star Game.)
In notes from Spring Training: Chapman addresses the Mat Latos comments, Donald Lutz has been working on his opposite field hitting, and Bryan Price was impressed at how a lot of the Reds pitchers were doing (as of last Friday), but had this in particular to say about Johnny Cueto:
"It was everything, It was the full turn, the half step and fire. With cut, with sink. Slider. The slow curve. Do you see anyone enjoy pitching more than Johnny Cueto? It's a palpable celebration of how much fun he's having. It's great. I really enjoy it."
I'm pretty into Johnny Cueto, but maybe not as much as Bryan Price is into Johnny Cueto.
Bryan Price is less into getting statistical reports about the Reds' baserunning last year, because his eyes told him enough. I'm hoping/guessing he means it in a more figurative way (I mean, no reports? none?), but you didn't really need an in-depth data analysis to tell you that the whole baserunning thing didn't go, like, super well in 2014.
You really don't want your team to come up in a Vice article on "The Most Dangerous Game: Death Threats in Sports", yet, here we are.
Assistant General Manager Dick Williams spoke to the Florence Rotary Club, noting that "[r]oughly $125 million of the Reds’ $175 million goes into player salaries". He also emphasized Bob Castellini's motivation to build a team Cincinnatians can be proud of.
Over at Fangraphs, Craig Edwards tracks how market size, attendance, and TV revenue correlate across the league. The Reds don't come up specifically, but the general trends are interesting to consider, especially given the TV revenue deal coming up. Also at Fangraphs, the Reds came in as having the fourth-smallest largest free agent signing - Coco's $45 million deal. Our payroll is growing, but the signings are all coming from inside the house contract extensions.
And finally, the Reds are about 2/3 of the way through replacing 39,000 seats at GABP.