Reds staying quiet on (another) coaching change should be concerning

There comes a point where production — or lack thereof — forces teams to make difficult decisions. On Thursday, the Cincinnati Reds announced that Director of Pitching Derek Johnson will not return in 2027, but Director of Hitting Chris Valaika is still employed. Should Reds fans be concerned?

Several coaches from around the league have already been let go. The Los Angeles Angels got a head start on their house cleaning earlier this season when they dismissed pitching Mike Maddux. The Seattle Mariners released manager Dan Wilson and four members of his coaching staff on Monday. The Kansas City Royals joined the fray, re-assigning hitting coach Alec Zumwalt to the minor leagues earlier this week.

The Reds have already announced the Terry Francona will return as the manager for the 2027 season. Cincinnati's leadership in the front office will (unfortunately) remain intact as well. But the Reds struggled mightily in 2026, both on the pitching rubber and in the batter's box.

The results can't be exclusively tied to any one member the coaching staff, but there's no way Cincinnati can justify bringing back Valaika next season.

Are the Reds planning to keep Chris Valaika after parting ways with Derek Johnson?

Johnson took an indefinite leave of absence back in June and nothing had been said of his status since. Assistant pitching coach Matt Tracy and bullpen coach Oscar Marin took over Johnson's role during his hiatus, and with DJ now dismissed, both would be strong candidates to take over as the Reds' pitching coach next season.

Before Johnson's leave of absence, the Reds pitching staff posted a 7.89 K/9, 4.68 BB/9, and 1.44 HR/9. Cincinnati hurlers only struck out 19.8% of the batters they faced while walking nearly 12%. Once Tracy and Marin took over, those numbers improved. The strikeouts were up (8.29 K/9), the walks came down (3.95 BB/9), and so did the home runs (1.28 HR/9). The team's overall strikeout rate ticked up slightly (20.7%) and the walk rate dropped by almost two points (9.9%).

Though DJ's future has been decided, Valaika isn't on solid ground either. Outside of home runs, the Reds ranked near the bottom in every offensive category. Cincinnati's 136 homers came in behind only the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, and New York Mets, but despite their success with the long ball, Cincinnati still scored the fourth-fewest runs (402) in the major leagues.

The Reds ranked seventh in slugging percentage, but 16th in walks, 27th in RBI, 28th in on-base percentage, 29th in wRC+, and 30th in batting average, doubles, and strikeout rate. This is the second year in a row that Valaika's been unable to push the Reds' offense into the upper echelon of the major leagues.

Every day that goes by without any mention of a coaching change is one more day that makes Reds fans nervous. Knowing that Nick Krall and Brad Meador are returning is already a tough pill to swallow. If Valaika is back too, that's just one more sad reality Reds fans will have to come to terms with.

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