Reds have perfect excuse to bring back David Bell in 2025 and further anger fans

Have you already caught yourself saying this? If it weren't for the injuries, the Cincinnati Reds would've been contenders this season. If you've been saying that, there's a good chance the Reds' office has been thinking the exact same thing. Will that be enough to save David Bell's job?

While injuries are part of the game and every team deals with them, there's absolutely no denying the fact that the Reds have been without several of their key contributors for most of, if not all of the 2024 season. It started with Noelvi Marte, who was suspended, not injured, and snowballed from there.

The Reds were without Marte for the first 80 games of the 2024 season and he's been downright pitiful since his return. Both Matt McLain and TJ Friedl — arguably the two best players from the Reds' 2023 season — began the year on the IL. Throw in Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Brandon Williamson, and Nick Lodolo, and the Reds were without a number of impact players for the majority of the 2024 campaign.

Numerous Reds on the IL is the perfect excuse to bring back David Bell in 2025

This was supposed to be the year that the Reds returned to the playoffs, but instead they're all but eliminated from postseason contention. And while a lot of barbs have been thrown at Bell, and some deservedly so, it's hard to argue against the fact that he's been without his full compliment of players.

The Reds were playing around .500 baseball every month of the year with the exception of May. That month, Cincinnati went 9-18. Ouch. The Reds have failed to recover from that horrific stretch, but it has to be said that Bell was without McLain and Williamson for the entire month and the trio of Friedl, Encarnacion-Strand, and Lodolo were severely limited.

To put into context how bad the injuries have gotten over the second half of the season, the Reds are now employing Casey Kelly, Dominic Smith, Amed Rosario while also resorting to keeping strikeout machines like Marte and Will Benson on the active roster.

Bell is currently without 80% of his Opening Day starting rotation. Frankie Montas was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, while Lodolo, Hunter Greene, and Andrew Abbott are all on the IL. Nick Martinez is the last man standing, and there was a period this season when he was removed from the rotation and placed in the bullpen.

Are the injuries an excuse for the Reds record? Somewhat, yes. Will it be used as an excuse to bring back Bell in 2025? Don't be shocked. The Reds signed Bell to a three-year extension last summer and would have to not only pay out the remaining two year on his deal, but also pay a steep price to bring in a new skipper. The Reds' rash of injuries might be just enough to keep Bell around for another season.

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