David Bell fought for his players, and occasionally (32 times) with the umpires. But it was his “inconsistency”, and not the organization’s, that got him fired. (Press Pros File Photos)
The Reds did Monday what all baseball organizations do when their incompetency and ego overcomes the realities on the field. They fired the manager, David Bell.
There are two ‘C’ words to describe the absurd way the Cincinnati Reds disposed of manager David Bell: Classless, Clueless.
The organization couldn’t wait five days, until after the end of the season, to tell Bell to leave his company iPad on the desk, clean out his stuff and depart post haste.
What they seemed to want to do was publicly embarrass a guy who worked hard for the organization for six years under near-impossible conditions.
It was bad enough they did it with five games left in the season. It is worse that Bell didn’t deserve the push out the door.
Hall of fame writer Hal McCoy covers the UD Flyers and Ohio State baseball for Press Pros Magazine.com.
David Bell has class. And David Bell has a clue. Coming from a baseball family, he has more baseball acumen in his left pinky finger than the paper shufflers in the front office have in their entire pink bodies.
His grandfather is former Reds outfielder Gus Bell. His father is former infielder/manager Buddy Bell. Buddy was fired from three managerial jobs at Detroit, Colorado and Kansas City.
So he knows the managerial gang plank and probably prepared David. And Buddy was an advisor in the Reds front office until he resigned last year under philosophical differences.
That probably was clue number one for David to not make any dinner reservations for next spring in Goodyear, Ariz.
The man who fired him, President of Baseball Operations (And Screw-ups) Nick Krall, said the reason for the back-stabbing was inconsistencies in the team’s play this season.
“We played some good games and we played some bad games,” said Krall.
Well, duh. That’s baseball. Games and teams are always inconsistent. Even the Chicago White Sox can beat the New York Yankees once in a while.
What really happened is what always happens to baseball managers. They are hired to be fired. They are fall guys. When things do not go as the general manager or owner wish, they step on the manager.
Bell’s father, and former Reds’ infielder, Buddy Bell left the Reds organization last year over philosophical differences.
They can’t fire an entire baseball team and they certainly are not going to fire themselves. So it’s, “Goodbye, Skipper, leave your uniform folded neatly in the corner.”
Bell had no chance this season and Krall & Company put additional pressure on him after the young 2023 team finished strong in September and finished 82-80, two games out of the playoffs.
“We expected to do a lot better this year, our expectations were high,” said Krall.
A manager cannot hit. A manager cannot pitch. A manager cannot play defense. The way Krall seems to think, he better hire a manager who can hit and pitch.
Is it fair that Bell was fired? Absolutely not. Not only was he hadn’t a short deck, the cards he was dealt were marked.
Expectations?
How can expectations turn into reality when Bell lost his entire rotation? Five starters were lost to injures and one was traded. He lost Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Graham Ashcraft and Brandon Williamson to injuries. Frankie Montas, his Opening Day starter, was traded.
Expectations?
How can expectations turn into realities when early in the season he loses two starting position players for the entire season — second baseman Matt McLain and first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
And third baseman Noelvi Marte missed the first 80 games serving a suspension for using performance enhancing drugs? He also lost semi-regulars Jeimer Candelario, Stuart Fairchild and Nick Martini to injuries.
Center fielder TJ Friedl, right fielder Jake Fraley and second baseman Jonathan India all occupied the injured list during the season.
Expectations?
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How can expectations turn into realities for a manager with an unsettled bullpen, also beset by injuries to TeJay Antone, Sam Moll and Emilio Pagan. And Lucas Sims was traded.
Expectations?
How can expectations turn into reality when the manager had to use 30 different pitchers, many of them not deserving of a promotion from Triple-A?
The Reds wore out I-71 between Louisville and Cincinnati shuttling so-called pitchers whose names were only recognizable to immediate family?
Remember Evan Kravitz? Or Lynn Richardsson? Or David Buchanan? Or Alex Young? And what did Casey Legumina, Alan Busenitz and Yosver Zulueta contribute out of the bullpen?
It was the same with position players. Thirty position players have been used, most of whom came and went quickly with no discernible impact — names like Eric Yang, Livan Soto, Levi Jordan, Austin Slater, Dominic Smith and Edwin Rios.
What Bell dealt with was Krallball, or Crawball — a roster in constant flux, moving parts that never fit together. There was young talent that was, indeed, inconsistent. That’s always the way with young players.
And there were young players with no talent, with no business on a major league roster. They were there by necessity, due to injury.
In short, Sparky Anderson, Casey Stengel, Leo Durocher, Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox, Tommy Lasorda — name any legendary manager — couldn’t win with what Bell faced last season.
Bell was popular in the clubhouse with his players. He never publicly criticized them. He was criticized himself because he is soft-spoken and his monotone voice during interviews gave the impression he is not forceful.
But when needed, he was as volatile as any manager as his franchise-record 32 ejections indicate, usually standing up for his players on perceived missed balls and strikes calls. And his 32 ejections are 55th on MLB’s all-time list.
Where it all started…Bell’s grandfather, Gus (above) was a member of the power-hitting 1956 Reds that set a National League record for home runs.
But the 52-year-old Bell compiled a 409-455 record over his six-year run and made the playoffs once. That was in the shortened 2020 COVID-19 season and they lost in the first round to the Atlanta Braves, losing two games without scoring a run.
The Reds were 83-80 in 2023 and missed the playoffs by two games while going 34-29 in one-run games. After losing Sunday, 2-0, to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Reds are 76-81 and one of their biggest failings is a 15-27 record in one-run games.
Those numbers speak at a high volume, loud enough to urge the front office to make a change, even though Bell had two years remaining on a contract extension he signed last July.
Was the failure all on him? Of course not. Yes, he sometimes made some curious moves and some curious strategical moves. And he probably relied too much on analytics.
And iPad was closer to him in the dugout than bench coach Freddie Benavides. But that probably came from the nerds with their noses buried in laptops. Bell probably was forced to adhere to analytics, something his dad, Buddy, loathed.
Bell did not deserve to have his managerial throat cut. He deserved a chance to manage the team in 2025 when maybe the injuries will subside and the players will produce.
Maybe they’ll be consistent. That consistency certainly isn’t present in the front office.
This once highly-respected, first-class organization keeps slip-sliding away.
Remember when they had Fan Appreciation Day and a couple of lucky fans won new cars. And there were other expensive gifts.
There is no longer Fan Appreciation Day, but last Sunday, the last home game, they did give away bowling shirts. That’s a big ol’ gutter ball, right there.
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