The Cincinnati Reds will start looking for a new manager right away after firing David Bell following six seasons, according to president of baseball operations Nick Krall on Monday.
The team announced the decision on Sunday night, just hours after losing 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bench coach Freddie Benavides has been named interim manager for the last five games of the season. Most of the other coaches will stay on until a new manager is found.
Krall pointed to issues like inconsistency, differences in philosophy, players not reaching their potential, and young players not developing as quickly as expected as reasons for the change.
“When you look across the board, I thought we should have been better,” he said.
David Bell, 52, was hired by the Reds in October 2018 and had a record of 409-456 during his six seasons. His contract had been extended in July 2023.
“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 this season, I decided we needed to move in another direction with the leadership in the major league clubhouse. That’s why we made the change.”
With only a week left in the season, the Reds have a record of 76-81 and sit in fourth place in the NL Central, 13 and a half games behind the division champion Milwaukee.
Cincinnati will finish the season with five away games, starting with a two-game series in Cleveland on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by three games in Chicago against the Cubs.
“If we make the decision now it allows us to meet with everybody (in the organization) on the last road trip, it allows us to start this process and it gives us a week head start instead of waiting when you know what the decision is going to be,” Krall said.
