CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds will have a new team of hitting coaches next season joining new manager Terry Francona.
Nick Krall, the team’s president of baseball operations, said Tuesday that the team would not be retaining second-year hitting coach Joel McKeithan, nor assistant hitting coaches Terry Bradshaw or Tim LaMonte. Jeff Pickler, the team’s game planning/infield coach, was let go along with David Bell the week before the season’s final game.
The team is retaining pitching coach Derek Johnson, who will serve in the same role under Francona, as well as continue his role as the team’s director of pitching.
Beyond that, the coaching staff is still up in the air, although Francona did point out first base coach Collin Cowgill, who played for him in Cleveland in 2016. Krall said Tuesday that some of the staff would remain.
The Reds ranked 16th in baseball with 4.31 runs per game and were 26th in batting average (.231), 22nd in on-base percentage (.305) and 21st in slugging percentage (.388).
“We want hitters (to take) an approach of using the whole field, hit line drives and take good at-bats,” Krall said.
General manager Brad Meador said he and Francona have discussed several people as candidates for the coaching staff.
“He’s been adamant about having a collaborative process with us,” Krall said of Francona.
Francona didn’t know Johnson before this week, but the two have talked several times since Francona agreed to take the job.
“(Francona) knew how we felt about (Johnson) and from everything he’d heard about D.J. — and he’s done his work since then and talking to D.J. — he’s all in,” Meador said. “He’s very, very comfortable with him.”
Krall said the team hoped to have its staff finalized by the general managers meetings in November.
How will the Reds’ front office navigate the offseason?
Krall and Meador haven’t gotten their 2025 budget from ownership yet, but will get it later this month.
Before free agency begins, the team has to make a decision on backup catcher Luke Maile’s option and the option on lefty reliever Brent Suter. The team has a mutual option on right-hander Jakob Junis, while pitchers Nick Martinez and Emilio Pagán have opt-out clauses that they will have to exercise shortly after the World Series ends.
Martinez, who is scheduled to make $12 million in 2025 if he doesn’t opt out, is expected to become a free agent. The 34-year-old right-hander appeared in 42 games for the Reds, including 16 starts. He finished the season in the rotation and was the National League Pitcher of the Month for September after going 4-1 with an 0.83 ERA in five starts in the season’s final month.
If — or more likely when — Martinez does opt out of his contract, the Reds would have the option of making him a qualifying offer of one year and roughly $21 million for next year. Martinez could take it, or sign a multiyear deal with the Reds or another team. If Martinez rejects the qualifying offer and signs elsewhere, the team will receive an extra draft pick as compensation.
Right-hander Buck Farmer and left-hander Justin Wilson are free agents, as well as infielder Amed Rosario.
The Reds, like pretty much every team, will need to find relievers to add to the bullpen, but will also be looking at every other position group. A veteran starter and outfielders would look to be the most pressing needs.
“We’ve got to figure out how to upgrade our defense and our offense,” Krall said. “There’s a new manager aspect to this, but also how we can use our players better, too.”
Krall said he doesn’t have an exact need, just that the team needs to score more runs and let fewer in. The Reds’ defense was rated as one of the worst in baseball by most measures. Krall specifically noted that FanGraphs had the Brewers as the fifth-best team in baseball with 29 fielding runs above average, while the Reds were 26th at minus-23, a gap of 52 runs.
The team’s lineup is less set now than it was at the start of last offseason. The only places where the team seems set on who will be playing are at shortstop and catcher, with Elly De La Cruz and Tyler Stephenson, respectively.
As for talk about moving De La Cruz to the outfield, Krall simply said, “Elly is our shortstop.”
Other than that?
“There’s a lot of guys who will have to come in and compete for spots in spring training and they’re not just going to be given the spots,” Krall said. “A lot of guys might have started great and ended up not as great. You’ve got some guys that are in the minor leagues, you’ve got some guys that are bubble guys and we have a lot of decisions to make. People need to come in to get to work and even earn spots.”
Spencer Steer played five defensive positions last year, but the majority of his time was spent in the outfield. He could play more infield in 2025.
Jonathan India entered last spring training as a player without a home after the ascension of Matt McLain and played first base and outfield in addition to second base during spring training. After McLain’s injury, India returned to the everyday lineup as the Reds’ second baseman. Second base is still the only defensive position India has played in the big leagues after starting 132 games there.
First base and outfield could again be a possibility for India, as well as third base, a position he played in college.
The Reds spoke to Steer and India in Chicago and both told Krall and Meador that they were open to moving around. Steer, particularly, said he enjoys it.
India has never done it, but after worrying about where he’d play going into this season, he said he is less concerned now.
“I always say I’m open,” India said last month before the final game of the season. “I was open last year and I made an effort in spring training to do it. We’ll see. I don’t know what the future holds.”
Updates on Reds injuries
Rookie starter Julian Aguiar underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2025 season.
Aguiar, 23, made his big-league debut in August and made seven starts, going 2-1 with a 6.25 ERA. Aguiar was the team’s minor league pitcher of the year in 2023. He was 5-4 with a 3.79 ERA in 22 starts between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville before being promoted to the big leagues.
India had surgery to “clean up” his ankle, Krall said. The surgery was expected and India should be ready to have a normal offseason. He should start spring training on time.
Who’s playing beyond the regular season?
McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Edwin Arroyo are among Reds players who will be playing in the Arizona Fall League, which began play Monday.
McLain and Arroyo missed all of 2024 after both suffered shoulder injuries and underwent surgery during spring training. McLain is on the Glendale Desert Dogs’ taxi squad, while Arroyo is the Reds’ priority player. A taxi squad player’s games are limited to two a week, while a priority player must play at least four games a week at his designated position.
Arroyo, 21, will play shortstop in Arizona, while McLain will move around more. The Reds have cleared McLain to play shortstop, second base and center field. He could also play some third base.
Encarnacion-Strand, who was limited to just 29 games before a hand injury ended his season in June, will be available to play first base and third base and could also play in the outfield.
Third baseman Noelvi Marte will play winter ball in the Dominican Republic, Krall said.
Numbers game
Rece Hinds will have a new number in 2025. He wore No. 77 as a rookie, but that number now belongs to Francona.
Francona used to wear No. 17, but when Yonder Alonso came to Cleveland, he asked for the number. Francona didn’t want to have to put a new number on his shower shoes and other pieces of clothing that had his number, so he asked for No. 77 so that all the No. 17 written on his things could be easily changed to 77 with a single pen stroke.
(Top photo of Terry Francona: Sam Greene / The Enquirer / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
