The Cincinnati Reds appointed David Bell as manager ahead of the 2019 season. Over the past six years, he’s posted a record of 406 wins and 453 losses. During this time, Cincinnati has only reached the playoffs once, in 2020, when they finished 31-29 in a shortened season that allowed eight teams from each league into the playoffs. That year was one of Bell’s three winning seasons with the Reds. While this season still has the potential to be a winning one, the team would need to go 9-2 or better to achieve it.
In an interview with Reds.com’s Mark Sheldon, Nick Krall, the President of Baseball Operations, commented on Bell’s future and the team’s coaching staff for 2025.
“He’s got a contract for next year,” Krall said when asked about Bell before Friday’s game. “As of right now, we’re going to evaluate everything at the end of the year and see what we have to do to move forward.”
That’s not exactly encouraging news for David Bell or his coaching staff.
The Reds have failed to meet expectations this season. While injuries likely played a role, the coaching staff could also share some of the blame. Of course, the front office and ownership deserve criticism as well, but the focus right now is on the team’s underwhelming performance in 2024, rather than building a roster capable of competing for division and league titles.
At the start of the season, most projection systems had the Reds hovering around the .500 mark, but it’s looking unlikely they’ll reach that unless they go on a major run over the next two weeks.
There’s an old saying in baseball that a manager is only as good as his players, and that’s largely true. You can’t win with an underperforming roster. This isn’t football, where you can scheme your way out of talent gaps. Cincinnati’s front office hasn’t exactly assembled a strong team during Bell’s tenure, aside from maybe 2020, but even then, we didn’t get to see how they’d fare over a full season.
Still, at some point, someone will have to be held accountable for the team’s lack of success. Even when they’ve had winning seasons, it’s been just barely over .500. That’s certainly better than the 62-100 record in 2022, but the goal should be making the playoffs and competing for a World Series, not just scraping by.
The Reds have fallen short of that goal for a decade now. How much of the blame falls on David Bell and his staff is a valid question, and how much rests with the front office is another. But ultimately, it’s the front office that will decide who’s “responsible,” and Bell and his coaches won’t be the ones making that call.