Francona building relationships with Reds players
Published 5:55 am Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Reds manager Terry Francona
By Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com
CINCINNATI — The movie “Meet The Parents” doesn’t have any of the real-life drama awaiting Terry Francona when the new Cincinnati manager “Meets The Team.”
During the annual Reds Caravan, Francona was asked if he planned to hold players accountable. Francona said he wasn’t trying to dodge the question, but it was something he can’t answer until he actually meets the team and gets to teach them.
“Until you meet players, until you meet the staff, you have to build relationships with guys,” said Francona. “Inevitably, when you’re in a position of leadership, you’re going to have to tell guys things they don’t want to hear.
“But the best way I know to do that is to build a relationship built on honesty and trust. I’ve spent my entire life in a baseball locker room. There’s no place I’m more comfortable, so having a conversation is easier for me than maybe someone coming in from outside.”
Francona — who played briefly with the Reds in 1987 — has been a manager with Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland before retiring in 2023 But the itch to manage again was too strong and he was hired as the Reds manager and replaced David Bell who was fired late last season.
The new Reds’ skipper is anxious to get started.
“When we get to Goodyear, that’s when it starts. We’ll be together from Feb. 10 to hopefully late October,” said Francona. “And that’s what gets me charged up because the things that we believe in, the things we’re going to live by, loyalty, that stuff doesn’t happen overnight or it wouldn’t mean anything.”
The Reds open the regular season on Thursday, March 27, against the San Francisco Giants.
“When you ask, ‘are you optimistic?’ Hell yes. We’re supposed to be. I’d hate to play for somebody who said ‘we’re not going to be very good.’” said Francona.
“We are not the Dodgers. We are not the Yankees. That doesn’t mean we can’t win. But we’re going to have to do it with young kids that come through here.”
Newly acquired infielder Gavin Lux was with the Dodgers last season and knows what it takes to win the division, pennant and World Series.
“You go through these ups and downs and you go through these periods where you think you’ve figured it out, you lose it again and then you have to figure it out again,” said Lux. “You always go back to those roots and the foundation you are as a baseball player.”
Lux said he is happy to be in Cincinnati and hopes to help bring the same kind of attitude to the Reds that he experienced with the Dodgers.
“To get the chance to do it here, a good place to hit and with a lot of other really good hitters around you, it’s going to be fun. You want to play winning baseball and that’s all that matters,” said Lux.
Pitching has been a major topic, both the starters and the bullpen. But the bullpen has drawn the most scrutiny.
The starting rotation is expected to come from the group of Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, belly acquired Brady Singer, Carson Spiers, Connor Phillips and Brandon Williamson. Another possibility is Rhett Lowder.
The bullpen has some old and new faces. Graham Ashcraft is shifting to the bullpen in a move to make it stronger. Alexis Diaz is back along with Nick Martinez, Sam Moll, Emilio Pagan, Ton Santillan, Brent Suter and Lyon Richardson.
Diaz was considered the Reds’ closer for most of last season but had some rough spots. He finished with 24 saves in 32 opportunities, thus besting his brother and New York Mets’ closer Edwin Diaz who had 20 saves out of 27 chances.
Alexis Diaz saw his strikeout rate decrease from the previous season and his earned run average rise from 3.07 to 3.99.
Reds’ pitching coach Derek Johnson remained on the staff despite the transition of Francona being hired as the new manager after David Bell being dismissed.
Johnson likes the potential of the Reds’ starting rotation but he said the biggest competition will be in the bullpen.
“There’s more competition in the bullpen than for the starting five. That’s not to say it’s etched in stone and we have it figured out. We don’t. I would just say there is more competition from the bullpen side of things than probably anywhere else. We have a couple of spots to fill,” said Johnson.
“We’re not done, hopefully, with some of our acquisitions. We do have some young guys who potentially could come up and fit that as well. That should be the funnest part of spring training just seeing where it goes with the other relievers.”
Johnson said having a healthy Lodolo from Day 1 could prove to be the biggest key to the starting pitching.
“Lodolo didn’t really have an off-season to train because of his foot. We had too many of those kinds of injuries that we walked into spring training not knowing what we were going to get,” said Johnson.
“We didn’t know if Nick (Martinez) was going to pitch for us or if he was going to have surgery. It seems like going into it now that everyone seems normal,” said Johnson.
The first spring training games will be played on Saturday, Feb. 22, when the Reds use a split squad against Cleveland and Milwaukee.