History Gives 2025 Reds Hope, Despite Slow Start Under Terry Francona

The Cincinnati Reds looked poised for a good year. They had hired Terry Francona to manage a group of talented young players who needed to take that next step. They were all healthy (except a few pitchers who had Tommy John surgery) and ready to go.

Then the season began and nothing changed.

The Reds are exactly where they were a year ago. No better, no worse, though you could make the argument that this is worse because it’s not better and I won’t stop you. What if we had it all wrong?

Francona inherited a talented but unproven roster. What if 2025 was meant to be a stress test on the roster? 

The Reds added a few players, but left gaping holes in the outfield and the lineup. It’s possible that Francona saw the scouting reports on guys like Matt McLain, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Spencer Steer, and Jake Fraley and wanted to know what before making necessary changes.

You could argue that he could have just asked Reds fans and we’d have told him, but then he wouldn’t be the manager he is.

The 2003 Red Sox won 95 games before Francona was hired there. Cleveland saw a renaissance in 2013 under Francona, but they also made a flurry of offseason additions with their new skipper.

Also, fun fact, Cleveland was 30-33 through their first 63 games in 2013. Same record the Reds have.

Now, I am not saying I think this Reds team will wake up and win 92 games like that team did, but there’s a chance that Francona is compiling information on his roster and learning how to best use it.

His first lesson should be moving Santiago Espinal from the second spot in the lineup, but that’s been widely stated.

The most annoying thing I am concluding with all of this is that we need to have patience. Saying that to a fan base that has waited 30 years to advance in the postseason is no small request but it makes sense.

As much as I bought into the idea that the Reds would be a playoff team this year, that hope is not dead. It’s certainly damaged, but it’s not dead. As Francona finds his groove with this roster, we will see what this Reds team can really do.