Nick Krall's latest comments will have David Bell's critics waiting with bated breath

The Cincinnati Reds' 2024 campaign is winding down, and fans throughout the tri-state area have one major question on their mind once the season comes to a close. Will manager David Bell be back in 2025?

It's both difficult to see the Reds parting ways with Bell after the season, and at the same time, hard to see the skipper returning to the dugout. Bell has two years remaining on his current contract, which works in his favor, but this year's team has grossly underachieved with him at the helm and the Reds fanbase is ready for a change.

Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall didnt' necessarily tip his hand on Friday, but he certainly didn't offer Bell a vote of confidence. Speaking to the media members in attendance in Minneapolis, Krall said, “He’s got a contract for next year. As of right now, we’re going to evaluate everything at the end of the year and see what we have to do to move forward.”

Nick Krall's latest comments will have David Bell's critics waiting with bated breath

Now, any Cincinnati fan who's paid attention to Krall's comments and statements over the years knows that the Reds' top decision-maker has a very cryptic way of stringing together a number of sentences that ultimately tell us nothing at all. However, this is about as close as Krall has come to outright saying that Bell's future is far from secure.

Krall did say that Bell has a contract for next season, which is true. But the front office executive left the door open for the potential of terminating that deal by suggesting that Cincinnati's leadership will be evaluating everything after the 2024 season comes to a close.

Heading into Saturday's game against the Minnesota Twins, the Reds are sitting at 72-77 and hopelessly out of playoff contention once again. Cincinnati has been to the MLB Postseason only once under Bell's leadership, and that was during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season in which the playoffs were expanded to included 16 teams.

If Bell is dismissed after the season, there'll be shortage of qualified applicants who'd love to have Elly De La Cruz as the centerpiece of their team for the foreseeable future.

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