“Reds hire Terry Francona as manager”

According to a report from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the Reds are hiring Terry Francona as their next manager. The club has not yet confirmed the news, but Feinsand says an announcement is expected as early as tomorrow. According to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Francona’s contract is a three-year deal.

Francona, 65, is one of the most decorated managers in the league’s recent history. After a four-year stint as manager of the Phillies in the late 1990s, Francona joined the Red Sox as manager before the 2004 season and led the club to their devastating 2004 World Series championship. He then spent eight seasons in Boston, making the postseason in five of those years (including another World Series championship in 2007), but never posting a sub-.500 season. However, he parted ways with the Red Sox before the 2011 season and spent the next year out of management, earning four top-five finishes in AL Manager of the Year voting and two World Series rings could be recorded.

However, he returned to management just one year after leaving Boston and spent the next eleven seasons in Cleveland. Francona’s tenure with the club was nothing short of magnificent, as he led the small-market franchise into consistent competition despite significant salary constraints. During Francona’s tenure as manager, Cleveland enjoyed six seasons of postseason baseball, winning eight straight seasons and even reaching Game 7 of the World Series in 2016.

While the club ultimately fell to the Cubs in extra innings and failed to win another AL pennant during Francona’s tenure, their 2017 season was almost as impressive in some ways, as Francona led them through a 22-game winning streak, the longest in AL and is second only to the 1916 New York Giants’ 26-game winning streak in MLB history. In his 11 seasons with Cleveland, Francona won Manager of the Year honors three times, in 2013, 2016 and most recently in 2022, when he led the Guardians to an unlikely AL Central Division title and just one game shy of the first ALCS Club led since 2016.

Francona’s time with the Guardians came to an end when he resigned after the 2023 season due to long-standing health issues. At the time of his departure from the coaching chair, Francona indicated to reporters (including those at ESPN) that his priority for 2024 was to “go home, get healthy and see what I miss about the game.” Apparently the veteran skipper has decided he misses being at the helm of a big league, as he will now return to Ohio as manager of the Reds, his first job in the Netherlands since leaving the Phillies in 2000.

He joins Cincinnati after a disappointing season in which the club posted a 77-85 season, a step down from last year’s 82-80 performance despite big breakouts from both star shortstops Elly De La Cruz and hard-throwing right-hander Hunter Greene. Injuries to important parts such as Matt McLain And Christian Encarnacion Beach likely played a role in the club’s problems, but whatever hopes the club may have for health improvements next year weren’t enough to convince the front office to stay David Bellwho missed the playoffs in five of his six seasons with the Reds. The club’s manager search reportedly included younger names like the former Cubs captain David Ross and outgoing Marlins manager Skip Schumakerbut the Reds will instead lean on Francona’s decades of experience to turn the organization around.

With Francona now in place, the Reds have now overcome perhaps the biggest question mark facing them this winter as they look ahead to the offseason with many other hurdles to overcome. The main reason for this could be the TV revenue situation, as Diamond Sports is reportedly planning to cut ties with the club, which could result in the financial situation remaining uncertain until 2025. That’s a frustrating situation for any club, but perhaps especially for a Reds team that already has one of the league’s lower payroll and loss figures Nick Martínez hit the open market later this winter, following an excellent 2024 season in which he helped strengthen both the club’s rotation and bullpen throughout the year.