Rob Manfred tried to make the case for a salary cap in the middle of the World Series, but for the Reds, that argument misses the bigger issue.
The MLB commissioner was in Milwaukee last week as the Fall Classic got started and used the Brewers as an example of why owners want a cap, plus a salary floor, in place.
"I think it shows that we leave a lot on the table in some of our smaller markets by not having them have an opportunity to compete on a regular basis," Manfred said as he reiterated the desire of MLB owners to impose a salary cap. "The Brewers have been a well-run franchise forever.
It's been 40 years since we're here. Once every 40 years is not enough."
That message probably lands with plenty of Reds fans on first listen. Cincinnati is closing in on a World Series drought that has stretched nearly 44 years, and the Reds themselves have not been back to the Fall Classic since their 1990 wire-to-wire title run, a span of 36 years.
But the Brewers’ story is not as simple as Manfred made it sound. Milwaukee was not a model of constant success. There was a 26-year gap between playoff appearances from the club’s 1982 World Series run until it returned to the postseason in 2008, and in that stretch it posted a winning record only six times.
Even after that, the climb was not immediate. The Brewers then went through a 10-year run in which they made the playoffs just twice, including a 4-2 series loss to the St.
Louis Cardinals in the 2011 NLCS. Since then, though, they have turned things around in a major way, reaching the postseason in eight of the past nine seasons.
A lot of that transformation traces back to the work of former general manager David Stearns, now heading Baseball Operations for the New York Mets, who took over from Doug Melvin in 2015. The overhaul was gradual but deliberate.
Farm director Reid Nichols was replaced by Tom Flanagan in 2016, then scouting director Ray Montgomery gave way to Tod Johnson a year later. Both have remained in those jobs even after Matt Arnold replaced Stearns in 2023.
That is where the Reds’ situation looks different, and not in a good way.
If Cincinnati fans are looking for the root of the problem, the easy targets are the players, the coaches, or ownership. They all matter. But the front office has been the same basic group for years, and that’s the part salary cap talk doesn’t touch.
Nick Krall, Brad Meador, Jeff Graupe, and others have been sitting near the top of the decision-making structure for more than a decade. Ownership has kept Krall and company in place, and that is its own issue, but a cap would not stop this front office from making poor choices.
Yes, spending matters. When the Dodgers, Yankees, and other big-money clubs load up on stars, the field tilts. But the Brewers and Rays have shown there is still a path for small-market teams if the organization knows how to use what it has.
With this Reds front office, a salary cap would not fix the core problem. It would just leave Cincinnati’s decision-makers with fewer resources and, if history is any guide, more expensive mistakes.
The clubs that already know how to operate well would adjust. The ones that keep getting it wrong would likely keep doing exactly that, only under a tighter budget.
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