Cincinnati Reds: Mat Latos' Comments Call Bryan Price's Leadership into Question

The Cincinnati Reds had a bombshell dropped right on their front doorstep this week when Mat Latos opened up to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal in a Q&A session regarding a number of topics ranging from his time spent in Cincinnati to his future with the Marlins and free agency.

The interview began under normal circumstances, with Latos discussing the frustration he experienced in dealing with an injury early in 2014. However, the interview turned ugly in a hurry when Rosenthal asked Latos about a trend within the Reds' organization (players "rushing" back from injuries):

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Q: Are they rushing guys back?

A: I won’t touch any of that. I was told that I needed to start doing activities at a minimum of 10 days after surgery. They had me throwing on the fifth day after surgery. Then they had me running the seventh day after surgery. Then I was already lifting 10 days after surgery.

"

Latos said he wouldn't touch any of that, but in the next back-and-forth, Latos had this to say of the Reds' training staff:

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It’s kind of obvious when you’re looking at it and the (physical therapist) is looking at it, and this knee looks like a water balloon and this knee looks like a regular knee, don’t you think you would say, 'Hey, let’s get some of that swelling down before we do anything?' But there’s nothing I can do about it. I went along with it because I wanted to be out there. I figured they knew what they were talking about.

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Latos then went on to criticize the team's lack of leadership, citing numerous instances in which the clubhouse seemed to teeter out of control:

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You look at the Reds after we lost Bronson (Arroyo, after the 2013 season). Everything went to s--t. You look at it after we lost Scott Rolen (after 2012). Everything went to s--t. When Scott was there, we had guys doing exactly what they were supposed to do. After Scott left, we had guys with two years in the big leagues, in the clubhouse, on their phones, laying down in the video room, just hanging out during games, not in the dugout, not cheering their teammates on. Our dugout looked like a ghost town.

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 On the team's lack of leadership, Latos stated:

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After Bronson, the same exact thing. We had starters in there roping our (clubhouse attendants), like, cattle-roping our clubbies. Guys on their computers, buying stuff, hanging out in the clubhouse. We had a guy with a year-and-a-half in the big leagues wandering around the clubhouse, hanging out. We had a closer in there sleeping until the seventh inning. We lose that veteran leadership, that’s what happens. You can’t have that ... it turns into a circus.

"

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the training staff, the coaching staff or the players.

With all these accusations of players sleeping, roping clubhouse attendants, overuse of cell phones, tablets and other devices and just a general lack of investment in the team, it starts to call into question the idea of Bryan Price being the right man for the job.

After letting go of Dusty Baker—a well-known player's manager—many, including myself, wondered how the team would react to a new manager. Unfortunately, Price did little to quiet concerns last year, as he led the team to a disappointing 76-86 record, including a disastrous 25-42 record in the second half.

In the past, we've seen where this kind of situation can lead to a complete collapse of a clubhouse and manager.

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

One need look no further than the 2011 season, when Terry Francona lost control of his Boston Red Sox clubhouse. That team, which sat an impressive 31 games over .500 (82-51) after an Aug. 27 doubleheader against the Oakland A's, went on to post an 8-21 record over its final 29 games.

If Latos' accusations are true, that group, the infamous chicken and beer group, isn't too far off from the current state of the Reds' locker room.

The Red Sox had something then that the Reds don't, though—an experienced leader.

By the time the 2011 Red Sox went into their epic spiral out of the AL East lead, Francona was a two-time World Series champion. Price doesn't have the luxury or the benefit of the doubt that Francona had, and even he was unable to survive the brutal letdown in 2011 (Francona was fired after the season). 

Price went into damage control mode and fired back at the accusations, calling them "tabloid BS," while also saying that "this is something we didn't see coming" and "it doesn't have any validity to it," per WCPO.com.

In a tweet referenced in that article, Reds GM Walt Jocketty was quick to dismiss Latos comments as untrue:

Fortunately for the Reds, Price and Jocketty weren't the only two to refute Latos' claims, as numerous former teammates of Latos came to the defense of the organization.

In interviewing Reds backup catcher Brayan Pena, Joe Danneman of Fox19.com received this response to Latos' accusations:

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It was sorry to read that. If you had an issue, you have to go out there and face it like a man. Don't hide behind a newspaper or a mic.

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Bronson Arroyo, who Latos cited as a source of leadership in the Reds clubhouse prior to his departure, also had this to say of the 27-year-old, further adding to the idea that Latos is prone to blowing things out of proportion, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Cincinnati Enquirer:

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Mat speaks his mind. Mat's also a guy who, depending on the day you catch him, you can get completely different answers, because if he's agitated by something, he's going to let you know how he feels at the time and it doesn't always encompass how he feels every single day.

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Newcomer Marlon Byrd also came to the defense of the Reds' medical staff in an interview with the Rosecrans:

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Kremchek has done my knee and my shoulder and I'm going on 38 this year and my 14th year in the big leagues. You can't question him. At all. You can question your work ethic coming back and your rehab coming back. But to question the doctor who did the surgery? I don't see how that goes hand-in-hand. The rehab is the part that happens. You do the surgery, the surgery holds, your rehab is the important stuff. He has to put that on himself.

"

It's an interesting dynamic, and while it may sound like Latos has a case of sour grapes, what does he gain by lying about his experiences?

If he's lying, or at least embellishing, as Price and Jocketty have insisted, all Latos has done is burn a bridge. It also makes him a less attractive addition for a team looking to sign a free-agent pitcher at the end of the 2015 season (Latos' contract runs out after this season).

So at what point do we get the actual truth? Probably never.

The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle, and whether Latos was "rushed" back can be a matter of perspective.

However, Latos claims about the lack of leadership and cohesiveness in the locker room aren't going away, and neither is that ugly 76-86 record from 2014.

Joey Votto, like many others in the Reds organization, struck back at claims that the team lacked leadership.

The former MVP and four-time All-Star told The Cincinnati Enquirer's John Fay and C. Trent Rosecrans that he's rather tired of the whole lack of leadership narrative that's been plaguing the team since Rolen left:

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We're a group of guys who have come up in the organization together at different times. As we grow, we're doing it collectively. So there's not going to be one focal point. We're doing it collectively as a unit.

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Votto is correct. However, it doesn't dismiss the claims of clubhouse misconduct and lack of care displayed by some of the team's members.

Looking more in depth at the claims Latos levied against the Reds, one can't help but wonder if he doesn't have some valid points.

Latos raises the question of the level of appropriateness associated with "a closer"—possibly Aroldis Chapman—sleeping in the clubhouse until the seventh inning.

Whether the team gave the player the green light to sleep until the seventh inning is irrelevant. Sleeping during the game shows a lack of investment in the team and shows that your only concern is when your number might be called.

John Locher/Associated Press

Taking Latos' word at face value can be difficult as a Reds fan, but doesn't this allegation at least make you wonder whether the 26-year-old Cuban native is truly invested in the Reds and his future with the team?

The comments regarding cattle-roping seem to be directed at Homer Bailey, but the underdeveloped circumstances surrounding the "incident" would lead one to believe that it was just in good fun.

Cellphone use is a hot topic in a number of fields, and my personal experiences as a teaching candidate leads me to believe that there is a time and place for cellphones. That time and place does not include the clubhouse just prior to games.

Now, every team is different, and their rules surrounding the use of electronic devices surely differ. It's hard to imagine a player being fully focused on the task at hand when he is busy tweeting or shopping. My opinion on the matter lies much closer to that of Kevin Garnett than it does to a lot of the younger guys in a locker room, but when you get to the ballpark, your focus should be on winning games.

The onus of responsibility in corralling these different personalities, and the behaviors that these players exhibit, falls on the manager. Depending on the validity of Latos' claims, Price has some, or a great deal of, work to do.

If he is going to put these claims to rest and show that he is in fact the man for the job, Price will have to prove it this season, leading a Reds team who PECOTA has projected to finish dead last in the NL Central with a second straight season under the .500 mark, per Baseballprospectus.com.

Price will have to pull his group together and at least put a respectable, and somewhat competitive, product onto the field game in and game out for fans to forget the fact that their locker room is mired in controversy.

Beyond that, however, is the fact that Price's job security could quickly come into question if the types of behaviors detailed by Latos become an issue again in 2015. If the Reds struggle, and Price so much as appears to have lost the clubhouse, his time as manager will be over.

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