The Price Isn’t Right in Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Reds have cut ties with skipper Bryan Price. Price has been the manager in Cincinnati since 2014. It is safe to say that those have not been a good four years. In those years, he won only 276 games while losing 372. If you add the 3 wins and 15 losses from this season his official win-loss record in Cincinnati would be 279-387 which gives him a .419 career win% in 666 career games, which is the lowest percentage of any team since 2014. Price has failed to reach the postseason in all 4 years and managed to finish last in the NL Central the past 3 years.

Bench coach Jim Riggleman was named the interim manager for the time being. Management said they will conduct a thorough managerial search later in the year. For the time being, however, Riggleman will be at the helm. Riggleman has previous managerial experience. Riggleman was with San Diego from 1992 – 1994, the Cubs from 1995 to 1999, Seattle in 2008 and Washington from 2009 to 2011. He holds a career record of 662-824. In his 12 seasons as manager, he made one playoff appearance that came with the Cubs in ‘98.

When Price was named the manager back in 2014, he was not set up for success. That team did have Johnny Cueto when he posted a 2.25 ERA in over 240 innings. They did have flamethrower Aroldis Chapman holding the closing role. The team had a core of Todd Frazier, Devin Mesoraco, Jay Bruce, and Joey Votto. However, Votto’s season was trimmed due to injuries.

These last few years have been rough for the Reds organization, with the trades of key players and losing others via free agency. This year the Reds are off to the 2nd worst start for the franchise in the past century. 3-15 is also currently the worst record in the MLB. The pitching is bad, the defense is way worse, and nobody can seem to hit consistently.

The good news for the Reds is the talent that they have ready to contribute, and they also have talent that is near MLB ready. Top prospect Nick Senzel should be getting a call-up soon due to the injury to Eugenio Suarez. Senzel was a former 2nd overall pick in the 2016 draft and can hit for power and average. Reds #4 prospect Tyler Mahle had a good performance against the Cubs a few weeks ago but hasn’t wowed us since. Mahle has above average stuff so hopefully, this is just a blip in his development.

Outfielder Jesse Winker has graduated from prospect status. He’s a decent fielder that can hit for power even though he does not have one yet this year. He is also good at taking his walks, which can be seen by his on-base percentage being almost double his batting average. They still have speedster Billy Hamilton and perrenial MVP candidate Joey Votto. So the team has a starting point for the rebuild but the team is not rounded out as a whole. Hopefully, sometime down the road we will see highly touted prospect Hunter Greene on the mound in a Reds uniform.

There’s no doubt the Reds will have a long journey back to relevance, but by getting rid of Price is the first step in the right direction.