Will 2023 be David Bell's final year as Reds manager?

Whether or not you like David Bell is irrelevant. The Cincinnati Reds manager has been dealt a cruddy hand ever since taking his team to the playoffs in 2020.

Bell was hired prior to the 2019 season and helped guide his team to the postseason in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Cincinnati lost to the Atlanta Braves during Round 1 after failing to score any runs during those two games.

Following last year's 100-loss performance, there was a certain section of Reds Country advocating for Cincinnati's front office to move on from Bell and hire a new manager to take over. That didn't happen and Bell will head into the 2023 season in the final year of his two-year extension.

Will 2023 be David Bell's final year as Reds manager?

David Bell has had his fair share of critics since taking over for Jim Riggleman following the 2018 season. Bell, whose father Buddy Bell is a senior advisor to the front office, is 251-295 in four seasons at the helm for the Cincinnati Reds.

Bell, however, helped take Cincinnati to the playoffs in 2020 and led the Redlegs to their first winning record during a 162-game season since 2013. The Reds won 83 games in 2021, but then it all came tumbling down.

Over the course of one year, the Cincinnati Reds said goodbye to Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray, Jesse Winker, Nick Castellanos, Wade Miley, Eugenio Suarez, Tyler Naquin, Shogo Akiyama, Mike Moustakas, Tucker Barnhart, and Tyler Mahle just to name a few.

After the front office purge last year's team of nearly every talented major league player, did you really expect the Reds to make a run at the playoffs? Are the expectations any different with the 2023 season on the horizon?

David Bell should be judged by what his team does this season, but the win-loss record is only part of the equation. If the young group of players that Bell has at his disposal buy in to what the Reds manager is selling, then perhaps he'll receive a contract extension. However, if the losses pile up and team seems uninterested and unmotivated, Bell will be the fall guy this year.