“We are excited for Nick to assume the lead over our baseball operations,” said Reds CEO Bob Castellini in a press release. “His hands-on approach as general manager gives us the opportunity to reinstate that role as the top position in our baseball department and keep the years of hard work that happened under his purview producing stronger, more competitive teams.”
Krall’s job won’t change much, he said, other than now he answers to Castellini instead of Williams.
“I will be more of the head of the department and the person who will make the final decision for this department to take to Bob,” Krall said.
The Reds hired Krall in 2003 to oversee the team’s advance scouting preparation. Krall spent 15 seasons working alongside Williams. He took over general manager duties in 2018.
Among Krall’s priorities this offseason will be replacing anyone the Reds lose in the starting pitching rotation. Trevor Bauer and Anthony DeSclafani are free agents. There’s a chance the Reds could re-sign one or both, but there are no guarantees.
“We had a very good pitching staff this year,” Krall said. “We’re going to lose some free agents. We’ve got to figure out a way to replace those innings and get quality innings. Offensively, we underperformed somewhat, but there are some things we can work with to hopefully get our offense on the right path and get more consistent. I know this is cliche but we’re taking this one day at a time. We’re trying to figure out where we are from a budget standpoint, what we can do, how we can maximize the budget we have going into next year. This offseason is a little bit of an uncertain one."
The Reds ended a streak of six straight losing seasons by finishing 31-29 but were swept in two games in the wild-card series by the Atlanta Braves.
“We made the playoffs,” Krall said, “but that’s not your ultimate goal. Your goal in this role is to build a sustainable championship-caliber operation that can win the World Series for years to come.”
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