The Reds have fired Manager David Bell effective immediately and have named Bench Coach Freddie Benavides as the interim manager for the 5 remaining games. Those games are all on the road with 2 in Cleveland and the final 3 in Chicago.

The Reds have underperformed under Bells leadership, but have had some interesting circumstances as well. The Reds have not finished higher than 3rd in the division in 5 out of his 6 seasons. He did lead the Reds to a post-season birth in the shortened COVID season, but they were promptly defeated in the Wild Card round. Not only were they defeated, but they failed to even score a run before being eliminated. He also guided the Reds to an 83-79 finish in 2021, but despite the above .500 record, the Reds did not make the play-offs. David Bell finished his tenure with the Reds with a record of 409-455. I did a full deep dive into David Bell earlier this year where you can find here.

“David provided the kind of steadiness that we needed in our clubhouse over the last few seasons,” Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said in a statement. “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.”

Currently the Reds are in 4th place in the National League Central, 13.5 games back from the Brewers. This season their current record is 76-81, last season they were 82-80 and the season prior they were 62-100. Bell was the 62nd manager in the franchise’s long history. His 409 wins ranks him 8th highest and his 456 losses put him 4th. Although he does lead the Cincinnati Reds in one distinct category, as he has had 32 managerial ejections, more than any other manager in the club’s history.

I’m interested into seeing who would be candidates for the job. The Reds have a lot of young talent and a superstar in Elly De La Cruz to work with. I will have more on candidates and the future of the Reds soon. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported shortly after Bell’s firing that Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker is on Cincinnati’s radar as a replacement.

Photo Credit; Cincinnati Enquirer, Blog Red Machine, Fox News

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