If you can take three deep breaths and think back to life before 2020, you’ll recall that the Cincinnati Reds made something of a controversial decision in the midst of the 2019 Major League Baseball season.
It seems like a lifetime ago, admittedly. The 2019 Reds, trying to play relevant baseball for the first time in years, were doing pretty much everything they could to help dig themselves out of an early-season slump, one that dumped them to the bottom of the NL Central standings before the weather warmed at all. Their ascent was far from astronomical, unfortunately, but they did manage to eek their way out of the division cellar, and did so with enough aplomb to prompt the team’s front office to actually add, nee subtract, when given the opportunity mid-season.