Francona getting to know Reds, likes rotation depth
Mark Sheldon
@m_sheldonDALLAS -- In the weeks after he was named Reds manager in October, Terry Francona made it a goal to travel so he could meet as many players as possible in person. Francona's journeys took him to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to see Elly De La Cruz, Jeimer Candelario and Noelvi Marte.
Francona joined members of the Reds' baseball operations department as they visited the organization's Dominican academy.
"So I kind of hitched a ride and saw Elly and Jeimer and Marte. They were great because they all came down to Santo Domingo to make it easier on me," Francona said. "I just wanted to visit with them. I probably made a comment when I first got hired about trying to get to [see] everybody. I thought we were having the Redsfest, and they're not, so probably ¡ a little overreach there, but I enjoyed it thoroughly."
Although merely a get-to-know-you gathering, it was the first chance for the new manager to meet De La Cruz, the All-Star shortstop and face of the franchise who led the Major Leagues with 67 steals while hitting 25 home runs in 2024, his second big league season.
De La Cruz also led the big leagues with 15 non-stealing outs on the bases, often from being overaggressive in taking extra bases in suboptimal situations.
"I hate to just talk about guys -- [I'd] rather speak in generalities, not singling guys out. I think the idea is trying to create havoc on the bases, but also being intelligent, and I think taking that step forward will be really big for us," Francona said on Monday during the Winter Meetings. "When you play that aggressively, like our guys do, you're going to make outs. We don't want to lead the league."
When it comes to mistakes, whether on the bases, in the field or at the plate, Francona will hold players accountable in his own way.
"I think you try to use common sense," Francona said. "The idea is not for me to show everybody in the whole world that I am a taskmaster, you know, I'm penalizing this guy. The idea is, if we make a mistake, not to do it again. However we correct it, that's the idea."
Over the past month, the Reds' rotation improved with free agent Nick Martinez accepting the qualifying offer and the trade acquisition of Brady Singer from the Royals. Those pitchers will join Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott, Nick Lodolo, Rhett Lowder and others in the mix.
"Kind of the old adage: If you think you have enough pitchers, go get more," Francona said. "We did get more. If we get to the end of Spring Training and if we have to kind of aggravate somebody because we feel like we have too many starters, good for us, because I think we've all seen when you don't have enough pitching, that can derail your season. So the idea of going out and getting two guys really, really helps."
Martinez worked as a swing man last season with 16 starts in his 42 games pitched while posting a 3.10 ERA. Eleven of those starts came after his full-time move to the rotation on Aug. 5 when he posted a 2.42 ERA.
Francona viewed Martinez as a likely rotation fixture for 2025.
"I think we would certainly like for that to happen," Francona said. "The season has a way of playing itself out, and we don't need to make the rotation or the batting order now because we don't know what our team is going to be, but I think we would like it. The way he finished was pretty damn good."
Last week, Francona and his coaching staff convened in Cincinnati for meetings and to get comfortable with each other. There are several holdovers from previous manager David Bell's staff, including pitching coach Derek Johnson.
Two of the new coaches -- bench coach Brad Mills and hitting coach Chris Valaika -- were previously with Francona in Cleveland.
"I explained to our holdover coaches, it's not a knock on them," Francona said. "In fairness to me, we need to have some guys that know how I want to do things before we even do it. The holdovers and the new guys have meshed so well, I think it's going to be a really good staff."