Reds' Struggles Look All Too Familiar, Terry Francona Should Have More Answers

Some folks drank the Spring Training Kool-aid. Some chugged it. A few took some sips and wondered what it would be like to drink it every day during a Reds hot summer. Most folks were desperate for the refreshing charisma of Terry Francona to wash the bad taste of David Bell and 2024 out of their mouth.

Through 63 games in 2025, the Reds are 30-33. That’s the exact same record they had through 63 games last season. Despite acquiring Brady Singer, Gavin Lux, Jose Trevino, Austin Hays, and getting Matt McLain back from an injury that kept him out all of last year, the returns have been minimal for Cincinnati. 

The soon-to-be Hall of Fame manager keeps telling the media he doesn’t have answers, and that answer isn’t good enough.

“If I had an answer, we wouldn’t be like that,” Francona quipped after another series loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday. 

Make no mistake, the blame for the Reds seemingly endless failure falls not on one man, but many. You can start by pointing the finger at ownership for not maximizing their resources to try to win. 

Then you can look at Nick Krall, who has been with the Reds for more than 20 years. The last 17 of those years have come in the Baseball Operations department. While Krall’s job is made harder by the smaller budget, the roster has been filled with below average talent for years and rarely has a “big” free agent signing actually worked out. 

After that, you can glean towards Francona. He was hired to help balance out these issues and maximize the little talent that the organization actually has. In fact, Krall did a good job of supplementing the roster with those viable players in the offseason.

The problem with the 2025 Reds has been that the young players Francona and the rest of the coaching staff have been tasked to develop aren’t developing. McLain is in the midst of one of the worst offensive seasons in baseball, Spencer Steer and Tyler Stephenson started the season injured and haven’t quite looked like themselves. Elly De La Cruz is fine, but not playing up to the expectations of an MLB The Show cover athlete. 

There have been some positives.

TJ Friedl, Hunter Greene, and Andrew Abbott have all performed at an All-Star level. The bullpen has been serviceable and as a whole the Reds have an ERA of 3.83, the 12th best in baseball. 

Offensively, the Reds are remarkably inconsistent. With explosions of 24, 14, 13, and 11 runs at times, followed shortly thereafter by shutout losses nine times. They’ve yet to win or score in extra inning games (0-5) and have relied heavily on players like Connor Joe and Garrett Hampson in big moments. 

Overall, the Reds rank 19th in batting average, and 14th in on-base percentage and OPS. On the surface these numbers aren’t that bad, but they’re heavily skewed by the occasional offensive outbursts. Cincinnati has scored 2 runs or fewer in 21 of their 63 games to this point.

It’s probably fair to blame the vast majority of their problems on an overall lack of talent and ultimately on Krall and ownership, but it’s also fair to think Francona could and should be getting more out of this group. 

For example, Francona insists on batting Santiago Espinal second in the lineup because, “he handles the bat well.” While many teams across baseball (including David Bell last season) have shifted to putting their best hitter in the second spot. 

Reds hitters batting second this season include Espinal, McLain, Lux, Steer, and Blake Dunn who is now at Triple-A Louisville. They have combined to hit .175 in 240 at-bats. They have slugged just three home runs, struck out 68 times, and grounded into 10 double plays. 

“I don’t have an answer for you,” Francona repeated on Wednesday.

It’s a line he’s used several times already this season.

Through 63 games, shouldn’t there be more answers? The organization has mountains of technology, data, scouts, and other tools to help find answers. 

Perhaps they’re looking in all the wrong places.