Why the Cincinnati Reds need to know their next step after firing manager David Bell

Now that the Cincinnati Reds have done the easy part and fired manager David Bell, they should know better where they are going.

You should know exactly what you are looking for.

If not exactly who.

Because history is full of cautionary tales of overcorrection and misjudgment in crucial moments of dissatisfaction, such as this one with this team.

For example, it's easy to say that the Washington Nationals' dramatic demotion of young All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams on Saturday is exactly what the Reds are missing.

Nats President Mike Rizzo, an old-school tough guy who doesn't tolerate fools and won't tolerate less than professional performances from his players, found that 23-year-old Abrams had spent the Friday night before a day game in Chicago in a casino until after sunrise and was no longer playing in the major leagues by noon.

By the time anyone reads this sentence, Abrams should already be in Florida, spending the final week of the season working out after technically being sent to Triple-A Rochester.

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Bell's critics have been wondering all year what it means for a player to sit on the bench for a few hours for clowning around in a game or committing some other serious athletic misconduct – let alone a public admission by the officials that there is something wrong with such things.

But many players in the clubhouse supported Bell, especially those who had known him for years. He really is one of the good guys in the game. And his sometimes over-the-top compassion, which he constantly expressed publicly, even in response to questions about minor-league meltdowns, came from a sincere place.

But if the team loses (and continues to make mistakes), it is a bad sign for the fans and the players.

During his 12-year major league career, Bell was undoubtedly one of his team's most competitive and tenacious players, and the first substitute to defend his teammates in a fight during his playing days (and at least once during his managerial career).

In that respect, he's similar to Mike Rizzo, a former underachieving, extremely competitive minor leaguer who wasn't willing to back down from someone twice his size when he pushed the boundaries. These are guys who aren't intimidated.

Apparently, in at least one case, this even applies to dropping a hammer. Or at least to transmitting messages.

On this point, Rizzo and Bell couldn't be more different.

Of course, a message only matters when you're losing. When that young core makes little progress, when collapses keep occurring, when losses pile up so much in May that a season is buried in August, when so much excellent pitching is wasted in the many months leading up to the trade deadline – all of those other things put a manager's job in jeopardy.

But firing the manager is easy.

If team president Nick Krall and general manager Brad Meador can't get the next part right, it'll be on them to keep the Reds from getting anything out of the next five years (or less) they have left with several of the best players from this young core.

Be careful what you wish for?

The best recent example of making big moves and missing them occurred less than 11 months ago in the same division, when the Cubs persuaded manager David Ross to hire Milwaukee free-agent manager Craig Counsell a month after he had praised him highly.

They spent $40 million to hire the supposedly best manager in the game and fielded a nearly identical team again this year. They are on track to finish with the same record as last year and miss the playoffs by a wide margin.

Given the financial uncertainty and stress surrounding the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings of Bally Sports' parent company, there is a very real chance that the Reds could field a team in 2025 that is very similar to the one they fielded in 2024.

Matt McLain will probably come back. Nick Martinez probably won't.

This managerial change should have a much bigger impact than the Counsell trick in Chicago, otherwise the Reds will have to prepare for the same “wait until next year” crap again.

And stare at even more empty seats.

He said it

“Managers always get criticized. And that's part of their job. But what they can't say, I will say. The players have to make the plays. They have to play at a really high level for six months to beat some of the best teams in the league. Everyone in this room knows that when you look at what's happened this year, the bottom line is that the guys in this locker room haven't played well. I'm at the top of the list.”

*Reds catcher Luke Maile.

Tale of Tape: Hunter Greene vs. Nick Martinez

The Reds' best pitcher this season? That has to be All-Star Greene, who broke out this year with his first All-Star nomination and was eyeing the Cy Young trophy until he landed on the injured list last month with his sore elbow, right?

Not so fast.

Martinez has filled every role except closer for this team this season, posting a 10-6 record and a 3.22 ERA, and since returning to the rotation full-time last month because of injuries, he is 5-1 with a 2.60 ERA in 10 starts – 4-0, 0.73 in his four starts in September.

Valuable? Martinez, 34, will likely get a free-agent contract for at least three years and $50 million after opting out of his contract with the Reds.

He and Greene both rank among the Reds' top three in WAR according to baseball-reference.com, and Greene (3.7) and Martinez (3.2) rank 11th and 12th, respectively, among all National League pitchers with at least 100 innings.

Greene has a 9-4 record, 2.83 ERA and a higher strikeout rate (through Sunday) in a few more starts and innings. Martinez has a much lower walk rate, 26 relief appearances in addition to his 15 starts and has not spent a day on the IL.

The big number: 1

That's how many catchers in the major leagues have played at least 90 games this season and posted a higher OPS than the Reds' Tyler Stephenson's .803 through Friday's decisive game against the Pirates, in which he went 3-for-5 with 6 RBIs (among 27 catchers who have played at least 90 games).

Only Milwaukee Brewers All-Star William Contreras (.841) is better.

Stephenson, who has caught more innings than anyone in the major leagues since the All-Star break, had a .265 batting average with 19 home runs, a .344 on-base percentage and a .459 slugging percentage in 131 games through Friday.

Speaking of Nick Martinez

This might sum up what Nick Martinez has meant as the linchpin of the Reds pitching staff this season:

When he pitched six scoreless innings against the Pirates on Friday night, it was the fourth time this season he had a scoreless start of at least five innings. He has also made three scoreless relief appearances of at least four innings this season.

Since 1893, only one other Reds pitcher has accomplished both of these feats in the same season: Elmer Riddle in 1941, when he went 19-4, led the National League with a 2.24 ERA and finished fifth in MVP voting. Riddle was voted an All-Star later in his career.

Rematch between Rhett Lowder and Paul Skenes put on hold

Fifteen months after what some consider the greatest pitching duel in College World Series history, Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft, and Rhett Lowder, the No. 7 overall pick, are in the major leagues, playing for the Pirates and Reds, respectively.

Lowder hasn't looked at the Pirates' pitching schedule for last weekend's series, but “some people came to me and asked if we would play each other, but it didn't work out.”

Missed it by one game.

Lowder (1.40 ERA) made his fifth major league start on Saturday, pitching five scoreless innings against the Pirates. Skenes (1.99) pitched five scoreless innings against the Reds on Sunday in his 22nd career start.

“It would have been cool,” Lowder said.

The matchup was missed because Lowder was moved up to Saturday so Hunter Greene could come off the injured list and throw on Sunday.

Skenes' LSU Tigers eventually beat Lowder's Wake Forest Demon Deacons 2-0 by walkoff in the 11th inning after both had scoreless starts in a game that put LSU in the championship round.

Wait, what!?

Aside from another loss to their arch-rival Brewers this season, the Reds have a 15-7 record against all other top teams in the Major League and have won all four season series against the Yankees (3-0), Astros (3-0), Phillies (4-3) and Dodgers (4-3).

They are 1-1 against the Guardians, with two games left to play in Cleveland starting Tuesday.

Against everyone else, the record was 61-73 (including 4-9 against Milwaukee).

Did you know

Elly De La Cruz, who has the most strikeouts in the major leagues, broke Drew Stubbs' 2011 single-season franchise record with 206th place on Friday night.

OK, you probably knew that.

But did you know that his teammate Will Benson has been far more productive in that regard this season, leading the majors with a 39.8 strikeout rate (minimum 350 at-bats)?

Benson's 152 strikeout rate in 382 PA would result in 267 strikeouts in De La Cruz's playing time (through Saturday). That would beat the major league record by 44. One week before the end of the season.

Those two hitters account for more than 25 percent of the team's strikeout total, which ranks third in the National League behind the lowly Rockies and Pirates, highlighting one of the larger areas among many that need improvement next season.

More red: “I put on the uniform for one reason only: to step up and kick your ass”: Lou Piniella

Why the Cincinnati Reds need to know their next step after firing manager David Bell

ByVanessa

He said it

Tale of Tape: Hunter Greene vs. Nick Martinez

The big number: 1

Speaking of Nick Martinez

Rematch between Rhett Lowder and Paul Skenes put on hold

Wait, what!?

Did you know

By Vanessa

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