Terry Francona Coming Out of Retirement to Manage Reds
After a season away from baseball, Terry Francona is officially returning to the dugout in 2025.
The Cincinnati Reds have hired the 65-year-old skipper to become the 64th manager in franchise history, as MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand first reported Thursday night. His shocking arrival comes just a few weeks after long-time manager David Bell was dismissed on September 22nd, ending his six-season tenure with the organization.
Bench coach Freddie Benavides took over as interim manager for the final week of the regular season, with his club losing four of its final five games to end a disappointing 2024 campaign.
The Reds confirmed Francona’s hiring via a club announcement Friday morning, revealing the three-time AL Manager of the Year Award winner had signed a three-year deal with a club option for 2028.
It’s a true homecoming for the Aberdeen, South Dakota, native, who spent one season in Cincinnati during the 1987 campaign as part of his 10-year big-league career as a player.
Cincinnati missed the playoffs in all but one of Bell’s six seasons at the helm, with that lone appearance occurring in an expanded post-season field during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. The club never placed higher than third in the NL Central outside of that abbreviated season, finishing 409-456 during his tenure.
Meanwhile, Francona’s resume speaks for itself. He earned his first taste as a manager with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1997, spending four seasons with the franchise – all with losing records – before joining the Boston Red Sox, whom he managed to five playoff berths and two World Series titles in ‘04 (his first season) and ‘07.
Following his departure after the 2011 season, Francona took a brief pause from the coaching scene before signing on with the Cleveland Guardians in ‘13. He led the franchise to six playoff appearances during his 11-year tenure, including a World Series berth in ‘16.
The future Hall-of-Fame skipper resigned as Guardians manager following the 2023 season, citing health reasons for his presumed retirement. Despite missing the playoffs last season, the club won its 12th AL Central title under first-year manager Stephen Vogt this year.
Francona owns a 1,950-1,672 career managerial record split between Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland – putting him just 50 wins away from becoming the 13th skipper in MLB history to reach the 2,000-career mark.
Of the 12 who’ve already accomplished that remarkable feat, only Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy – currently managing with the Texas Rangers – aren’t enshrined in Cooperstown, as neither is eligible yet.
With Francona running the show, the Reds will attempt to take a significant leap forward in 2025 behind a young core of Elly De La Cruz, Spencer Steer, Matt McLain, Noelvi Marte, Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott. They’ll also hope to add to that group with a farm system headlined by top prospect Rhett Lowder.
The organization only has a small ground of impending free agents set to hit the open market this off-season, including relievers Buck Farmer, Justin Wilson and utility player Amed Rosario. Additionally, Nick Martinez and Emilio Pagán both have player options for 2025.
Cincinnati will surely look to improve a pitching staff that underperformed and couldn’t stay healthy this past season and an offence that ranked in the bottom-third in AVG (.231), OBP (.305), SLG (.388) and wRC+ (87).
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.