The Cincinnati Reds announced Sunday night they’ve replaced manager David Bell after almost six full seasons with the team.
Bench coach Freddie Benavides “will serve as the interim manager for the final 5 games of the 2024 season,” according to a release.
“David provided the kind of steadiness that we needed in our clubhouse over the last few seasons,” Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall stated in a release. “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.”
The Reds did not meet expectations this season of competing for a spot in the Postseason and have played below .500 for most of the year. Bell has led Cincinnati to a 76-81 record, getting eliminated from playoff contention in mid-September, and the Reds will move on from their manager who posted a 409-456 record since taking over in 2019.
Bell guided the Reds to one Postseason appearance in the shortened COVID-19 season in 2020. Cincinnati failed to score in both games and was eliminated in the Wild Card Series by the Atlanta Braves that year.
Bell had signed a three-year contract extension through the 2026 season in 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 in a press conference Monday. “But after reflecting on everything from this season, I decided that we needed to move in another direction with the leadership in the Major League clubhouse. That’s why we made the change.”
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Krall noted the Reds’ 15-27 record in one-run games and +14 run differential despite a sub-.500 record as issues where the team “should have been better.”
“I know what our projections were at the beginning of the season, but at the same time when you look where we are now and where we were over the last few weeks, we were — I thought this team should be better than it was,” Krall said.
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Among what is notable regarding Bell’s tenure as Reds manager include his three winning seasons in 2020-21 and 2023 and his passion for the players who played for him. Bell was ejected 32 times, and he passed Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson for most in Reds franchise history in 2024.
Bell led Cincinnati to its first winning record and Postseason appearance in 2020 with a 31-29 record. The Reds were led by National League Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer and Jesse Winker who led the team with a .255 batting average and third-most 12 home runs.
The Reds nearly made the Postseason in 2023 under Bell. They finished 82-80 and two games back of the final Wild Card spot behind a surging youth movement led by rookies Andrew Abbott, Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain and others.
“This was a very tough decision, but I believe this is what we need to do to move forward as a Major League team,” Krall said.
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