CINCINNATI — Reds baseball fans are excited this October, and no, it’s not because they’re in the playoffs.
But it’s because a new face will manage the squad next year. Former Cleveland Guardians manager Terry Francona will suit up in the Reds uniform next season. He was officially introduced as the club manager Monday morning.
It’s a new era for Reds Country, a new manager and high expectations for a baseball team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 1995. And Francona is eager to get started.
It was a joyful day as Terry Francona was officially introduced as the next Reds manager.
“I am so honored to rejoin the Reds family, spending the 87 season here, I quickly learned how important not just baseball, but the Reds are to this area,” Francona said.
Francona spent his past 11 seasons as a manager with Cleveland, but retired after the 2023 season.
“I honestly didn’t see myself managing again,” he said. “I had a really good year away from the game. I needed to step away. I didn’t step away because I didn’t love the game. I stepped away because I didn’t think I was doing the job up to the caliber I thought was necessary. Part of it’s health, and a lot of it was health, and it was getting in the way.”
But now, after a year dedicated to himself and his health, he felt this Reds job was perfect for him.
“When the Reds reached out I started looking at the team a little more closely, and they came out to visit and it just felt right,” Francona said.
“When Terry started using ‘we we we’ in the conversation, I was like man, we are on the same page,” Nick Krall, president of baseball operations for the Reds, said.
Francona has a talented young roster to manage, including shortstop Elly De La Cruz, something that makes him eager to get started.
“This is an extremely talented young team,” Francona said. “That excites me a lot. Talking to them on the phone, I got pretty fired up.”
While Francona says the expectation is to win, he wants to help this team play the game of baseball the right way.
“My promise to the organization and to the fans is that I’ll spend all my energy ensuring that they spend all their energy trying to play the game correctly and with respect,” he said.
Francona and members of the baseball operations front office met this afternoon to get the ball rolling on how next season will look in terms of staff members and players. Francona said he’s already counting down the days to Spring Training.