GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Before Thursday’s owners meeting in Florida, Phil Castellini’s title was president and CEO of the Cincinnati Reds. That didn’t change with Thursday’s vote to approve him as the control person of the team.
What has changed is that when team owners make a league-wide decision, it will be Phil Castellini, not his father, Bob, who casts the vote on behalf of the Reds.
As for the day-to-day runnings of the baseball team, president of baseball operations Nick Krall and general manager Brad Meador still report to both Castellinis.
“I deal with Bob and Phil every day, there’s nothing that changed,” Krall said Friday morning at the team’s spring training complex in Arizona.
In the absence of either Castellini, Krall was left to take questions about the transition from a small group of reporters.
Bob Castellini is expected to come to Arizona next week, he said.
Phil Castellini was named the team’s president and CEO in 2024, and, at the same time, Doug Healey was promoted to chief operating officer/chief financial officer. Since Phil Castellini joined the team following the 2005 season, when his father led a group of investors to purchase the team, he’s worked solely on the business side of the organization.
Krall said Phil Castellini was included in discussions about on-field decisions more than he had been previously.
“When there’s a large decision, we’re all going to talk about it anyway,” Krall said. “I’ll talk about it with Brad and (manager Terry Francona) and Doug and Phil and Bob just to make sure all of our ducks are in a row.”
Those discussions included the decision to extend the budget handed to Krall and Meador before this offseason to facilitate the signing of Eugenio Suárez.
In fact, it was the trade of Suárez, among other moves, following the end of the lockout that delayed the 2022 season that led to questions about the long-term direction of the team. It was Opening Day of 2022 that Phil Castellini, then holding the title of president and COO, infamously responded to fan sentiment by saying, “Well, where are you gonna go?”
Phil Castellini then doubled down on the message in a TV interview before issuing an apology later that same night. Less than a year later, he told an official Reds fan group, the Rosie Reds, at a luncheon that the organization was run “like a nonprofit” and that Major League Baseball was an “industry in crisis.”
Castellini also bemoaned competitive balance, insinuating that the Reds were eliminated from playoff contention before the season even started. That season, buoyed by an influx of young talent, including shortstop Elly De La Cruz and second baseman Matt McLain, the Reds contended for a playoff spot that Castellini had previously said was unobtainable.
Phil Castellini has been noticeably less visible since the pair of public incidents, but he was booed last month at a Xavier University men’s basketball game when the Reds’ new partnership with the university was announced.
Weeks later, the Reds front office signed Suárez to a one-year deal. Whether there was a connection between Phil Castellini’s role change, his being booed and the stretching of the budget to accommodate the addition of Suárez is something only the Castellinis can address. Interview requests for ownership at the time of the signing were denied, despite the opportunity for a rare instance of positive press for a besieged group.
When asked directly if Phil Castellini’s presence and new role had any impact on the Suárez signing, Krall said he didn’t know and that the question was one he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, attempt to answer.
“Honestly, you have to ask him that one,” Krall said.