Reds hiring Francona

[*bengalfan74*]

(10-04-2024, 11:15 PM)CJD Wrote: I am dumb founded and thrilled.

The manager selection itself is great, but not the thing I'm most excited about.

Terry Francona is a 2 time world series winning coach who is likely a hall of famer who retired from a very successful team due to a medical issue just last year.

This is not a man who would come to Cincinnati to just pray the young players, many with less than 1 full season under their belts, will magically develop into an all star laden playoff team.

This hiring is an indication that this off season is going to be a good one. They likely told him they were planning on spending X million more dollars this season which they expect to fill these voids with this quality player and he obviously liked their proposal enough to sign on.

I personally hope we can go out and get a power bat for the outfield, a good 5th starter (to go along with Greene, Lodolo, Lowder and Abbott) and a good bullpen arm at the least.

My targets would be Anthony Santander (Soon to be 30 year old switch hitting outfielder who has hit 44 home runs this season and has an OPS+ of 134 this year and 120 or more every year since 2021) for the outfield.

For a starting pitcher, they'll likely need to re-sign Martinez, as he will likely opt out of his 12M player option. So if they could re-sign him, that would be a way of hitting both the bullpen and the starting rotation.

If the Reds really want to blow my socks off, they could sign Corbin Burnes as well .

And then they could sift through the market and sign either another quality bullpen arm or another 4/5 starter, depending on what the market looks like.

I'm not sure if Jakub Junis will opt out of his option, but if he does I'd like to sign him back too.

That's what I'm thinking, hoping, praying as well.

Perhaps they've realized our window for opportunity is very small. Before all the guys that do develop are off the LA and NY.

IMHO, they have to have a top notch starting pitcher. Relying on "our gang" just doesn't fill me with hope. They need a top notch RH bat and a real closer, Diaz is just to inconsistent.

They better strike while the iron is hot!