As a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, I understand the heartbreak many of you are feeling over the trade of your beloved Jonathan India.
I know, because on December 9, 1965, three days after my 13th birthday, I came home from school for lunch and my mother, innocently enough, dropped a bomb that shattered my faith in the Reds, at least for a time.
“I just heard on the radio that the Reds traded Frank Robinson to Baltimore,’’ my mom said, serving up a bowl of chicken noddle soup.
She did it nonchalantly, as if she were delivering a weather report — cloudy and cold tomorrow in Dayton, with a chance of snow flurries.
I was devastated. I actually cried. Big tears. My hero, to whom I had devoted many pages of my Reds scrapbook over the years. Gone.
Frank earned a rare honor the next year in Baltimore — the “Triple Crown,” leading the American League in batting average, home runs and runs batted in.
Four years later, he was part of a powerful Baltimore Orioles team which whipped his old team, the Reds, in the World Series — adding insult to injury.
RELATED: MLB to produce, distribute Reds TV games and expand streaming
In exchange for Robinson — a future Hall of Famer — the Reds got the baseball equivalent of six pounds of hamburger. Not even ground round, just plain old hamburger. Two pitchers and an outfielder who never contributed much to the team.
That’s not the case in the trade of Jonathan India to the Kansas City Royals.
With India, the rightly popular, 2021 National League Rookie of the Year, the Reds did get something in return — a serviceable young righthanded starting pitcher named Brady Singer — a former teammate of India on the 2017 Florida Gators team which won the College World Series
But Singer, while we hope he will rack up many wins as a Reds starting pitcher, will likely not be the most important consequence of last week’s trade.
That created the opportunity for 25-year-old Matt McLain — one of the most talented young players in baseball — to take over at second base come March 2025.
I believe Matt McLain will become one of the great ones in the long and storied history of the Cincinnati Reds.
I believe Matt McLain will be Cincinnati’s version of Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City’s superstar shortstop who won the batting title in 2024 with a .332 average.
He is that good.
Matt is a level-headed kid from SoCal who fits well into the Reds clubhouse — his teammates love him, just as they loved Jonathan India.
He brings with him no giant ego that the new manager, Terry Francona, will need to tame each and every day.
He is a mud-on-the jersey, heart and hustle ballplayer, just like India.
He’s just better at it than Jonathan.
Please don’t freak out over that. I love “Jonny Boy,” as I always call him when he comes to bat at GABP. He’s a great guy, a family man and girl dad who has given us some great moments, especially in his 2021 Rookie of the Year season.
McLain, in the long run, will give Reds fans more.
The fact is that this was a good trade for both teams.
Jonathan India will get a chance to play every day with the Royals, which is what every major league player wants.
With McLain at second base, India would be a man without a position and spend more time sitting on the bench than playing in games.
What good would that do India?
RELATED: Why you should give this young Reds team a chance
With McLain at second base, he will be reunited with his old friend, Elly De La Cruz. The two of them have played together as a shortstop-second base combo since they were Dayton Dragons in single-A ball.
Matt McLain will make Elly a better shortstop.
The question I hear most about McLain is this: Is he healthy enough to play?
I suppose that is a legitimate question to ask about a 25-year-old player who missed the entire 2024 season after shoulder surgery during spring training and a rib cage injury during the season.
The answer is simple — yes, he is ready to play.
The fact is that Matt was ready to play in August or September, but the Reds made a decision to let him sit out the rest of schedule rather than risking another setback.
Instead, the decision was made to send him to play in the Arizona Fall League in October, where he had a great run, mostly playing outfield.
If you are doubting that McLain is healthy now and will stay that way, ask yourself this question:
Why on Earth would the Reds have traded away India, if they were not convinced that McLain is ready to play every day?
That would be insane. And you may not like Nick Krall, the Reds’ president of baseball operations, but rest assured, the man is far from being insane.
Every ballplayer is subject to injury every time he walks to the plate or to his position in the field. And if the worst happened to Matt, be thankful that the Reds will have a talented infielder in Santiago Espinal to back him up.
The casual fan tends to have a short memory. In the case of Matt McLain, some forget that we saw plenty of him in 2023.
He came up from the Louisville Bats in May of that year, splitting 89 games between shortstop and second base. He had 108 hits in 365 at-bats — a .290 average. Sixteen home runs and 50 runs batted in.
And, after his very first taste of major league baseball in May 2023, he was named National League Player of the Week.
Not a bad start, I’d say.
RELATED: Marty Brennaman hired 50 years ago in Jan. 2024
I really hope Jonathan India is a great success in Kansas City.
What fans sometimes miss in their love for certain players — India is one of them — is that these are flesh-and-blood human beings. Extraordinarily talented human beings, but human beings nonetheless.
They have dreams and ambitions; they play because they love the game and give their own kids a good life.
Now, Jonathan India will have a chance to chase that dream in Kansas City.
And Matt McLain will have that chance in Cincinnati, too.
I’d say that is a win-win for everyone.
