Cincinnati Reds fire manager David Bell after 6 seasons and 1 playoff appearance

Posted by author September 23, 2024 Sports

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David Bell’s time in Cincinnati has come to an end.

The Reds fired their longtime manager after six seasons on Sunday, shortly after the team’s 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Reds have five games left in the 2024 season, and they will miss the playoffs for a fourth straight year and the fifth time in Bell’s six seasons with the team.

“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.”

The Reds will miss the playoffs for the fifth time under David Bell's tenure this fall. (Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) — The Reds will miss the playoffs for the fifth time under David Bell’s tenure this fall. (Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)

Bell, 52, was hired ahead of the 2019 campaign, and he led the franchise to the playoffs during the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020, though the Reds were knocked out in the wild-card round that year. That was the only postseason berth the organization has seen in more than a decade.

Bell finished with a 409-455 career record as the Reds’ manager, which marked his first head job in Major League Baseball. He finished over .500 twice, though his best campaign was an 83-79 finish in 2021, when Cincinnati missed the playoffs.

The Reds are fourth in the NL Central and 13.5 games back from the Milwaukee Brewers, who clinched the division last week. The Reds will wrap up the regular season this week with a two-game series against the Cleveland Guardians and a three-game run against the Chicago Cubs.

Bench coach Freddie Benavides will lead the team the rest of the way.