Nick Krall's vote of confidence for David Bell will drive Reds fans up a wall

The Cincinnati Reds have endured a trying season. The Reds have hovered around .500 for almost the entire 2024 campaign and injuries to some of the club's best players has crippled Cincinnati's chances of living up to the preseason hype.

A lot of the angst among Reds fans has been directed at manager David Bell. Now in his sixth year at the helm, Bell's win-loss record has been a constant complaint from the fanbase. The Reds have made the playoffs just once since Bell's been in charge, and that was in 2020 when the postseason was expanded to 16 teams.

You can't fire the players, so when things go wrong, fans tend to direct their frustrations at the manager and most folks throughout Reds Country assume that Bell is hot seat. However, Reds President of Baseball Operations appears to have offered a vote of confidence for Bell ahead of final month of the 2024 season.

Reds manager David Bell has just one playoff appearance in six seasons

Krall told the Cincinnati Enquirer (subscription required), that he believes Bell has done a "solid job" this season. That certainly won't sit well with the Cincinnati faithful who've been calling for Bell's job for the past few months.

But after the Reds handed out a contract extension to Bell last summer, it's hard to see the team moving on from the Cincinnati native with two years remaining on his current deal. The Reds would have to pay out Bell's remaining salary and try to lure another manager to Cincy in the process. That seems like a no-go for the notoriously tight-fisted Reds ownership group.

The Reds currently sit at 61-64 and 5.5 games out of the playoffs with two of their best players (Hunter Greene and Matt McLain) on the injured list. The Reds chances of making a postseason run are slim to none, but stranger things have happened.

Krall didn't give Bell a glowing review, but the Reds' chief decision-maker didn't offer up any harsh criticism either. A certain group of Reds fans will continue to wring their hands in anger so long as Bell is in the dugout. And while a lot can change between now and September 29th, nothing Krall said would seem to indicate that Bell's job is in jeopardy.

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