2:53pm: GM Walt Jocketty has officially announced that Price will return next season, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer (Twitter links). Decisions on the Reds’ coaches will be made in the coming weeks.
9:44am: The Reds plan to keep manager Bryan Price for 2016, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported earlier this week that the Reds were considering retaining Price, although changes could be made to his coaching staff.
The Reds have suffered through an ugly 63-97 season and are currently in the midst of a 13-game losing streak, and Price himself attracted headlines earlier this season for a profanity-laced tirade directed at a reporter. They also finished just 76-86 in 2014, Price’s first year on the job.
Via Rosenthal, however, the idea behind keeping Price might be that he is not responsible for trades of veterans like Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake and Marlon Byrd, and neither is it his fault that the Reds haven’t gotten full, healthy seasons from key players like Devin Mesoraco, Homer Bailey, Billy Hamilton and Zack Cozart. The Reds’ rotation currently consists entirely of rookies, so perhaps it’s not surprising that they’re struggling.
The Reds promoted Price from pitching coach to manager following the 2013 season, when they dismissed Dusty Baker. Price is signed to a three-year deal that continues through 2016. There has been no indication yet that the Reds plan to extend Price.
I’m surprised that they’re going to be keeping him around… Thought he was toast for sure
Deserves another year. Pitching coach needs to go. Power from louisville needs promotion
Give the guy a second year. Everyone needs an acclimation period in a new job, and his tenure was complicated by management tearing the walls down around him. The Reds have some good young assets and it’s smart to let them grow with the manager. He’s not proven tactically incompetent, either.
Not good. But it’s probably a waste to bring in a new manager next year anyway if they are going to go with the youth.
I’m very surprised to see Price back. He hasn’t helped this team for 2 years. Imagine another dreadful season next year. Innings will b watch for all pitchers except Disco. Hitting isn’t bad just risp. Team chemistry is missing too. Frazier should be moved to left bc of defense. Suarez could moved to 3rd or Phillips. Phillips is losing his range so maybe a move to 3rd would help the team. Maybe a Bruce trade could bring in some young prospects.
Frazier is a much better defender at third than Suarez. If anyone moves to left it’ll be Suarez.
Seems like a strange decision, but perhaps Jocketty recognizes that the Reds’ struggles this year were largely of his own making. He was the one who signed Kevin Gregg and Jason Marquis, for instance. And he was the one who left Price with 5 rookies to start in the second-half rotation.
That being said, Price has never seemed like a good manager. His lineup construction and bullpen usage have been poor, and his profanity-laced tirade from earlier this year makes me question whether he can properly attend to other managerial duties, such as maintaining a positive clubhouse atmosphere.
Done….. Season tickets will fall drastically….. They will ask each other “Where did we go wrong”….. And they will not get an answer, because if they were so dumb to let it get to this point they are not capable of fixing it….. Done
Wow.
With Homer Bailey still recovering from Tommy John surgery the Reds will rely heavily throughout 2016 on a young rotation – Iglesias, DeSclafani, Lamb, Stephenson, Lorenzen, Reed, Moscot, Finnegan, and others. The system is loaded with close-to-MLB-ready arms, and helping them to develop into successful big league pitchers should be the team’s priority. Jesse Winker is the only relevant hitting prospect likely to join the team sometime in 2016. Clearly the pitching staff is the biggest area for internal improvement, and that’s former-pitching-coach Price’s area of expertise.
The Reds don’t need a manager to make them a contender in 2016 – that won’t happen, regardless of who is chosen – they need someone who can work with and help the young pitchers, which is the reason Price was hired in the first place. He was hired for a different scenario before 2014 (improve a team that only made it to the Wild Card in 2013), but strangely circumstances have changed from a situation that he might not have been cut out for, into one consisted with what he might be able to help with. The young pitchers are also sure to go through another season of growing pains, with or without Price.
The worst thing the Reds could possibly do would be replace Bryan Price with Barry Larkin, who has zero experience managing or working with pitchers. As a Reds fan I’m thrilled they’ve avoided that scenario. After 2016 Price and Jocketty’s contracts will be up, and the Reds should move on from both, once it’s more clear what they have in the young pitchers. Hiring a new manager to start 2016 with a black eye seems like a silly idea.
He’ll be fired midseason.
Why do they ******** feel the need to ******** have a ******* press release to announce this? What ******* good does it ******* do to let the whole ******* world know you’re going to have a ****** ******* manager for another ******* season?
Bryan Price deserves another chance. He managed a minor league team. Between rookies and injuries he hasn’t had a level playing field. I think he has learned a lot about his coaches, pitchers, position players, and rookies. He will develop the rookies and next year Cozart, Bailey, Mesoraco, Hamilton, etc will return. Bailey will anchor the starters and Jocketty should trade Chapman and Bruce to get more prospects. Seems the players Jocketty traded for have some potential. Do not think Sparky would have won many more games with the 2015 personnel. If I am wrong make changes by August and start over.
I can’t stand Price since he always brings up that new plate blocking play and gets a run where he shouldn’t. That being said, I can’t blame a guy for doing all he can to get the W. Its just irritating to see when it happens to your team