The Cincinnati Reds fired manager David Bell on Sunday night after six seasons.
The team made this announcement a few hours after losing 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Pirates, naming bench coach Freddie Benavides as the interim manager for the last five games of the season.
“David provided the kind of steadiness that we needed in our clubhouse over the last few seasons. We felt a change was needed to move the Major League team forward. We have not achieved the success we expected, and we need to begin focusing on 2025,” President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall said in a statement on the Reds’ website.
With just a week left in the season, the Reds have a record of 76-81 and are in fourth place in the NL Central, 13 1/2 games behind the division leader, Milwaukee. Cincinnati will finish the season with five away games.
They will play a two-game series in Cleveland on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by three games in Chicago against the Cubs.
David Bell, who is 52 years old, was hired by the Reds in October 2018. He has a record of 409-456 over his six seasons.
In 2020, under Bell’s leadership, the Reds made it to the postseason in his second season, which was shortened to 60 games because of COVID-19.
The Reds ended the 2021 season with a solid record of 83-79, placing third in the National League Central. That year, second baseman Jonathan India also won the National League Rookie of the Year award.
In 2022, Cincinnati lost 100 games for the first time in forty years. However, they improved to 82-80 in 2023, even with players missing a record 650 games due to injuries.
This season started with high hopes that Bell and the Reds couldn’t achieve. In May, an eight-game losing streak left them five games below .500. They managed to win seven games in a row in June, bringing them back to just one game under .500, but they couldn’t keep that success going.
This struggle with consistency continued throughout the season.
The Reds swept the Yankees in a three-game series in New York from July 2-4 but soon lost their momentum again.
They seemed capable of making a postseason push when they swept the Cardinals from August 12-14, bringing their record to 60-61 and tying for second place in the NL Central with St. Louis, while also being within six games of a wild-card spot.
However, inconsistency returned, and Bell lost three of his top starting pitchers—Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, and Andrew Abbott—to injuries. Cincinnati has a record of 12-8 in September.
During Bell’s time as manager, the Reds developed a talented group of players expected to help the team succeed again, including India, Greene, Elly De La Cruz, and Matt McLain. Still, Cincinnati couldn’t get over the hump.
Bell is now the third manager to be fired this season. The Chicago White Sox let go of Pedro Grifol and three coaches on August 8, just after the team ended a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record.
The Seattle Mariners fired Scott Servais on August 22, in the middle of his ninth season with the team.
Krall plans to talk to the media on Monday at Great American Ball Park.
