Reds month of May games thread

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

Quote:How much blame do you think manager David Bell should receive for the results on the field so far?
-- Josh A.

First, let’s get some perspective. The last-place Reds are 21-26 through 47 games, 7 1/2 games out of first place in the NL Central and 4 1/2 games out in the NL Wild Card standings. At this point in 2018, they were 16-31 and 12 1/2 games back after a 3-18 start. While there has been some improvement, their 9-13 record in one-run games says they could be better. What’s not helping Cincinnati is that the other clubs in the division have records above .500.
As for Bell’s role, a lot of studies have been done around baseball about the impact a manager has in the final win total each year. Generally, the answer is not all that much. Decisions like whether to make a pitching change, when to sacrifice bunt or when to use a pinch-hitter are on the manager’s watch, but ultimately, it could add up to four to six wins per year.
Where the manager’s greatest influence comes is creating a culture that helps players win. Bell is managing people and not robots, and to this point, the atmosphere inside the Reds clubhouse generally seems good. I have yet to hear of any players publicly or privately gripe about him, although pitcher Tanner Roark let it be known Sunday he wasn’t happy about being pulled for a pinch-hitter. But he criticized the decision, not Bell himself.
Former Reds manager Dusty Baker famously created strong winning cultures for his players over the years, and it’s something Cincinnati missed after he left. The Nationals have certainly lacked it since they dismissed him after the 2017 season and a few years before he was hired ahead of ’16. Others like Terry Francona and Bruce Bochy seem to have that knack, too. And don’t forget, roster construction also plays a huge role. Joe Torre is a Hall of Fame manager from his time with the Yankees. Before 1996, Torre was a sub-.500 skipper with multiple teams.

Sounds like Mark Sheldon wants to keep his access to the Reds and is basically filling a lot of space with nothing about the in-over-his-head manager.