The upstart Reds have been one of baseball’s best recent stories. Cincinnati’s influx of young position player talent has pushed them to a 15-9 showing this month. They’re three games above .500 overall, battling for the NL Central title and positioned as surprising deadline buyers.
Given that performance, it stands to reason the front office and ownership are happy with the work of the coaching staff. Nevertheless, there doesn’t seem to be any urgency in hammering out a deal with manager David Bell. The fifth-year skipper is in the final season of a two-year extension he signed in September 2021.
“I think we’ll just talk about playing through the year and addressing (the contract situation) later,” general manager Nick Krall tells Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. “At this point, we haven’t done anything.”
Obviously, that’s not to say Bell’s in any danger of being let go. The GM expressed general happiness with the manager’s work, telling Sheldon that Bell has “done really well with the clubhouse culture.” One would expect such public praise from a front office executive, but the Reds have backed that up by retaining Bell through a handful of very tough years.
Cincinnati made the expanded 2020 playoffs in Bell’s second season at the helm, finishing seventh in the National League at 31-29. They’d missed the postseason in all three full schedules, going 75-87 in 2019 before narrowly coming up shy of a Wild Card berth in 2021. Amidst payroll constraints, the Reds embarked on a rebuild thereafter and lost 100 games last season.
The Reds stuck by Bell during those down seasons. With the club on the upswing, it’d seem likely they’ll try to get another multi-year deal done at some point. Krall’s comments suggest that’s not likely to happen until late in the season or after the year wraps up.
I love the ladies but I would have sex with the following ballplayers:
Kevin Kiermaier
Matt Olson
Trevor Richards
Those three are cute
Unless you would have sex with David Bell this isn’t relevant to the article.
I’m not buying the part about loving the ladies. No straight man would post something like this. Not saying there’s anything wrong with it, but don’t lie about your true preference. You’ve officially “come out” – it’s going to be fine.
I love MLB, but do not fantasize about having sex with ballplayers, that would be women and gay men, not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that, but be true to yourself.
TO Shemus::I thought we kept this off this site.?
A team that’s 3 games over .500 after decades of high draft picks and “seller” trades at the deadline is one of the best stories of the year? Man, that’s grim.
GM better do something about that 5+ team era or a playoff run really isn’t happening.
Is this really a story? Or is it the media putting their own timeline to create a nothing burger… Thanks again drama queen.
Anytime the manager is a “lame duck” it’s a story.
Going into the season, where did you have the Reds? That’s the reason for “better stories of the year”. The Reds and Cardinals have basically flipped where most would expect these teams would be at this point in the season. And I get teams coming off tanks build towards a year they target to contend again, but that is usually supplemented by free agency moves. This groups seems to have jumped that timeline a little. Which would be a nod to draft position and deadline deals from being continual sellers. But don’t forget market and ownership spending power. The Reds do not have it. They won’t sign Ohtani in free agency this year. That nullifies a great deal of the previously mentioned draft position and deadline deals. Respect what they are doing.
All that said, I do think managers importance can be overstated. It all boils down to how the team performs. You can’t make something out of nothing. But I do think some managers are better fits for certain groups. And some are oil and vinegar.
Anyways I’m just not having the crap on the Reds mentality. It’s fun to watch these guys come up, and taking note of guys they have yet to call up like CES. As an A’s fan, I’m pulling for the Reds this year. I hope they have support from ownership and continue to surprise folks.
GM could have done something about that 5+ team ERA in the offseason and chose not to get a veteran starter or two to add to the three young ones. Abbott might have been ready faster than they thought but that doesn’t negate his failure. Everyone knew the division was there for the taking but they chose to give the middle finger to the fans and the players who are fighting like hell for that matter. You think these kids won’t remember that when free agency beckons?
As for Bell, I think he has done a good job. These kids believe in themselves and that was instilled in them in spring. You think he didn’t have something to do with that?
If they fade down the stretch, that will be on the GM and by extension ownership for not getting them the help they need. Guys have already been out there better than the dumpster dive pitching options on the roster and they did nothing.
Sorry, but no one knew this division was for the taking by the Reds. Not that big of a deal they didn’t want to sign a “veteran” pitcher at the beginning of a rebuild year. Sounds like you wanted a more expensive pitcher. They can go get help at the deadline. They tried cheap veterans with Weaver and Lively but they have been bad. If they don’t address this at the deadline then your argument stands
Deadline may be too late, and if you didn’t think going in winning 85-87 games wouldn’t win this division, you were not being realistic.
At a 83 million payroll for a team that had spent in the 130s at one time, they could have made some more targeted investments in the offseason. We saw a lot of good established major league pitching talent going for minor league deals even that could have made that club easily.
No small market team is going to be able to sign Ohtani. Let’s get real.
“All that said, I do think managers importance can be overstated.”
pd14athletics;
Depends….
On how the manager is being used.
The few true organizations today are the Rays, Astros, Phillies, Braves, Dodgers, Orioles and maybe one or two others. In those set-ups people are on equal levels based on their responsibilities laid out by the PoBO and signed off of by ownership. They determine those that are empowered to make decisions. The manager is a part of the process and will be in sync with the way the FO, scouts, coaches, minor league instructors, etc. are acquiring players and working with them at all levels. The quality organizations have departments that are in sync with one another. This can take years to build as people at all levels tend to move around some and it takes time for everyone to understand where the others are coming from.
Most MLB operations don’t have true organizations built. They’ll push and pull where sometimes the PoBO (or even owner) starts dictating how to address issues – including who to play, who get traded for and from; the manager may be making calls that contradict what his coaching staff is doing….which may be because the coaching staff is doing a lousy job; the manager may be a figurehead and be carrying out directives from somewhere. Etc.
A team like the Reds is hard to figure. For sure the scouts and people that do the drafting have excelled the past 5 or so years. But how David Bell has fit into that is not easy to figure from the outside. It does appear that when they recently renewed him that he’s more of a caretaker, and others are determining the roster, who’s being called up and when, etc. This is opposed to someone like Francona in Cleveland that has a large say in his roster and how players in throughout the organization are being brought along. .
Like any business job titles can mislead, as upper management and ownership will create a ‘Roles and Responsibilities’ for each department that’s unique to how the franchise will be administered – and each franchise is going to do it their way.
To Samuel: Good stuff. But how do you determine how much responsibility He is given on Roaster decision? Thank You!
Easy…..
Work for he Reds, then listen to the gossip and decide who you’ll believe.
Still, that’s just a sad story of several teams underperforming, not really an accomplishment for the Reds. I’m not particularly surprised they’re doing alright with that young base of offensive talent but I’d be shocked if they made the playoffs without a complete turnaround of the pitching staff.
I say the rest of the teams in the Central performed to their talents, despite what some of their fans were buying of the propaganda their teams and national media types were throwing out there.
As far as the Reds, the pitching staff failures lie at the feet of the kid GM who sat on his hands all off season while teams were snapping up starting and especially bullpen depth.
I said it at the time and will keep saying it.
Do not retain him. What has he done? All the SP are on the DL. They brought up young energetic players? So Bell gets credit for that? Bring in Larkin or a new young manager. Honestly, I wish Skip Schumacher old #55 wasn’t with Miami. It ‘s a new era.. Sorry, Bell time to go!
I wouldn’t be quick to sign him to an extension either. I would definitely wait and see the final standings and decide if Bell is the guy to take the team to the next level coming out of the mini rebuild
Don’t be like the Pirates and hand out a extension after 1 good month.
They’re not talking about an extension b/c ownership has found out it’s way more profitable to lose and cash those revenue sharing checks – ftw.usatoday.com/lists/cincinnati-reds-castellini-…
An extension? Let’s pump the brakes. While injuries aren’t his fault but somehow the managers are responsible, for being 5 games over .500 for the first time during his tenure minus the pandemic year which was a joke is not reason to hammer a deal out. It’s a great story but let’s see how it all plays out. The franchise may be headed in the right direction for the first time in a long time but that doesn’t mean he’s the reason or the answer for the future.
Guy should be dumped today and replaced with an AI manager.
An AI GM would help the most. The CPU in The Show does a better job of actual team building.
I don’t believe Allen Iverson would be a good choice to manage the Reds, but I’m open to listening to your rationale.
Reds management typically don’t take care of these things until the end of the season or right before. It was the same with Dusty.
Two weeks ago, the Pirates were the feel good story of the year. Who’s to say the Reds don’t wind up right where they are next month? The kids are good, but the league has to adjust eventually.
The blame falls on the ownership, Bob Castellini, he goes cheap on pitching and tear the team down.
I’ve always felt that the Reds find success in spite of David Bell, not because of him.
I tend to agree with move with caution. They are playing great this year! But He has also lost a lot of games in his other 4 years. I do realize he has been forced to change his team by salary dumping!
Patience will be a virtue in the lead up to deadline as far as making sure not to deal great assets if the realistic ceiling is winning a bad NLC. They’d need several pitchers to beat the East/West teams this year.