David Bell’s time in Cincinnati is over.
The Reds officially fired their longtime manager of six seasons on Sunday night, shortly after the team’s 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. With just five games remaining in the 2024 season, the Reds will miss the playoffs for the fourth straight year and the fifth time in Bell’s six seasons with the team.
“David has provided the stability we needed in our clubhouse over the past 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 had the success we expected and we need to focus on 2025.”
Bell, 52, was first hired before the 2019 campaign and led the franchise to the playoffs during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season — though they were eliminated in the wild-card round that year. It was the only postseason berth the organization has seen in more than a decade.
Bell finished with a 409-455 career record as manager of the Reds, marking his first career head job in Major League Baseball. He finished above .500 twice, though his best campaign was an 83-79 finish in 2021 as they missed the playoffs.
The Reds currently have a 76-81 record with five games remaining in the regular season. They are in fourth place in the NL Central and 13.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who have already won the division. They close out the regular season this week with a two-game series against the Cleveland Guardians and a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs. Bench coach Freddie Benavides will lead the team the rest of the way.
