At 73-77 going into Sunday’s schedule of games, the Cincinnati Reds qualify as a disappointment for 2024.
Coming off an 82-80 campaign in 2023 and with an impressive young core in place, the expectation was that the Reds would contend for a playoff berth in 2024 – especially given their presence in what looked like a winnable National League Central and with three wild-card spots in play. Instead, they presently find themselves 14 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the division and nine games out of the final wild-card spot. That’s why SportsLine at present gives Cincy a flat 0.0% chance of making the postseason for the first time since the abbreviated campaign of 2020 (and for just the second time in the last 11 years). No, David Bell’s squad has not yet been eliminated in the mathematical sense, but they have been by any non-technical standard.
On Friday, Reds general manager Nick Krall addressed the current state of disappointment surrounding the club and more specifically addressed Bell’s job status. Via MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon, Krall said of Bell and other organizational matters:
“He’s got a contract for next year. 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.”
Bell, who was hired in October 2018, is signed through 2026, but it would hardly be unprecedented for a team to move on from a manager who’s still under contract. As such, this amounts to a fairly hollow endorsement from Krall.
As for those forthcoming evaluations, they may focus on the defensive struggles of the team, as well as the performance of the offense. On that latter front, the Reds presently rank a middling eighth in the NL in runs scored and a sub-par 11th in OPS despite playing their home games in a ballpark that significantly aids hitters. On the positive front, the Reds have managed a positive run differential, which suggests that bad luck may be a key driver in their sub-.500 record. As well, the club has been hit fairly hard by injuries this season, particularly in the rotation of late. According to Spotrac data, the Reds rank eighth among MLB‘s 30 teams in total days lost to the injury list and also eighth in total players requiring IL stints.
Given those mitigating circumstances and Bell’s contract status, the manager probably figures to be back in 2025 for his seventh season as Reds skipper. If that’s the case, though, then his seat may be warm from the jump.
