Krall after firing of Bell: Reds ‘should have been better’

Bell did help the Reds escape the basement in the National League Central Division, and he guided them to the playoffs in the 60-game 2020 season. He also presided over the first 100-loss season in 40 years and ultimately couldn’t reverse the fortunes of a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff series in 30 years.

At 10:01 p.m. on Sunday, the Reds announced the firing of Bell. He received the news from President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall around 6:30 p.m., hours after the Reds lost 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates in their final home game of the 2024 season.

Krall wanted to give Bell time to tell his family and friends about the news. That’s why Krall said the Reds waited until late Sunday night to make the announcement public. Krall then appeared at a press conference Monday morning at Great American Ball Park to talk about the decision.

“First I would like to take this opportunity to thank David Bell for his contributions to the Reds organization,” Krall said. “David is one of the nicest, most genuine, caring individuals I have worked with in 25 years in baseball. He brought that caring attitude to the ballpark every day in his interactions with players and staff members all around the organization. We’ve made many improvements to this organization because of David.

“When he came here in 2018 and over the last few years, he was the right person for this job. With that said, I didn’t take this decision lightly. This was a very tough decision, but I believe this is what we need to do to move forward as a Major League team. I said a few weeks ago that everyone in this organization needs to be better — myself included — in order for this team to take the next step and perform like we’re capable.”

The Reds fired Bell 14 months after extending his contract through the 2026 season. That would have been his eighth season on the job. Instead, he’s out of a job after posting a record of 409-456 in six seasons.

“We made the decision to extend David last season because I thought we were moving in the right direction as we promoted a younger core of players to develop in the big leagues,” Krall said. “But after reflecting on everything from this season, I decided that we needed to move in another direction with the leadership of the Major League clubhouse. That’s why we made the change.”

Bench coach Freddie Benavides will serve as interim manager for the final five games of the season. The Reds also fired infield coach/game planning coach Jeff Pickler.

The Reds were off Monday. They play two games on the road against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday and Wednesday and finish the season over the weekend with three games against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The Reds (76-81) need to win their final five games to avoid their third losing season of the Bell era. Bell is the seventh of the last nine Reds managers to finish with a losing record. Jim Riggleman (64-80), Bryan Price (279-387), Jerry Narron (157-179), Dave Miley (125-164), Ray Knight (125-137) and Bob Boone (190-238) all were under .500.

Dusty Baker (509-463) is the only Reds manager this century to manage the team for multiple seasons and have a winning record. Pete Mackanin (41-39) finished above .500 as the interim manager in 2007.

The Reds entered the 2024 season with high hopes after improving from 62-100 in 2022 to 82-80 in 2023 but fell out of contention with an eight-game losing streak in May. They were still in the thick of the wild card race in early September but never made a serious run at a playoff berth.

“We’ve had one-run games that didn’t go our way,” Krall said. “We have a positive run differential with a below-.500 record. We’ve had a lot of different reasons. We’ve had issues with certain players not playing to their capability. When you look across the board, I thought we should have been better. I know what our projections were at the beginning of the season, but at the same time, you look at where we are now and where we were over the last few weeks, I thought this team should be better than it was.”

The Reds made the move now, Krall said, so they can start the process of finding a new manager. As of Monday morning, he did not have a list of possible replacements for Bell. He said the Reds would start building that list on Monday.

“We’re looking for somebody that can lead this clubhouse,” Krall said. “We’re looking for somebody that can develop the young players in this clubhouse as we continue to build through scouting and player development.”

Bob Nightengale, of USA Today, reported Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker would be on the Reds’ radar. Schumaker played for the Reds in 2014 and 2015. He was 84-78 in his first season with the Marlins but is 57-99 this season.

Krall said he wanted to hire a new manager as soon as possible but would also conduct a thorough search. In 2018, the Reds hired Bell on Oct. 21, three weeks after the season ended. He replaced Jim Riggleman, who served as interim manager after Bryan Price was fired with a 3-15 record early in the 2018 season.

Whoever replaces Bell will be the 11th Reds manager, not counting interim managers, to lead the franchise since it last won a World Series under Lou Piniella in 1990. Eighteen different franchises have won the World Series at least once since the Reds last won it all.

The new manager will inherit a team with promising young players, including starting pitcher Hunter Greene and shortstop Elly De La Cruz, both first-time All-Stars in 2024.

“We have a good core of young players,” Krall said. “We’ve got a lot of guys in their first full season in the big leagues. We’ve got Hunter Greene under contract for a longer period of time. We’ve got a solid group of players in the minor leagues.”