The Cincinnati Reds look prepared to keep their front office structure intact for 2027, and that includes President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall.
Krall told Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer over the weekend that, after recent talks with ownership, he expects the Reds to bring back their management group next season, manager Terry Francona included.
“We’ve had some conversations,” Krall told Wittenmyer.
Francona sticking around can be defended. Krall staying in place is a tougher sell, especially when the results have lagged behind the talk for years.
During Krall’s run overseeing baseball operations, Cincinnati still hasn’t won a postseason game. The Reds reached the playoffs in 2020 and again last season, but both trips ended without a victory once October arrived.
The roster-building track record has given fans plenty to question, too. The club signed Jeimer Candelario to a three-year deal before eventually cutting him loose.
Mike Moustakas was another costly move that never paid off. Last season, the Reds brought in Ke’Bryan Hayes at the trade deadline, and he has been one of the worst offensive players in the league.
Cincinnati also passed on a chance to reshape the roster when it drifted out of contention, rather than taking advantage of the market by moving players such as Brady Singer or Tyler Stephenson. Stephenson stood out as a possible trade chip because he is scheduled to become a free agent after the season.
“It’s been a very tough season,” Krall said. ”Obviously, it all comes back on me. And we’ve got to make better decisions as an organization, and that’s on me.”
That kind of accountability sounds right. Reds fans have also heard plenty about plans, processes and improvement over the years, and at some point the messaging has to become actual wins.
The 2026 season opened with higher expectations than Cincinnati had carried in years after that playoff run in Francona’s first season. Instead, the Reds have spent much of the year near the bottom of the National League standings.
“You can make all the excuses you want, but at the end of the day we haven’t done what we set out to do, and we’ve got to figure out how to do a better job going into next year,” Krall said.
Injuries were a major part of the story. Hunter Greene missed most of the season, and the roster as a whole was battered throughout the year.
Still, Krall put the responsibility on himself.
“Look, at the end of the day, I oversee our baseball operations department, so it’s on me,” he said.
The Reds seem willing to give him another shot to sort it out. The real question is how many more chances this organization plans to hand out before the results finally have to change.
In Other News...
Terry Franconas Reds Future Suddenly Feels Bigger Than This Season
Terry Franconas arrival in Cincinnati already carried the feel of a longer-term fit, but the conversation around his future has picked up because the Reds are not treating him like a short-term fix. He has one guaranteed year left on his contract, plus a club option for 2028, and team president Nick Krall said the club will sit down with him about what comes next. Krall also made clear the Reds do not view Francona as a lame-duck manager, which says plenty about how the organization sees the partnership.
Francona, who recently picked up his 2,103rd managerial win, has brought the kind of steady credibility that can change the tone of a clubhouse and a front office at the same time. His relationship with the decision-makers is already a strong one, and his focus remains on managing, not on the contract chatter around him. Still, when a manager with his rsum is in place and the team is already talking about years beyond the current season, it becomes more than just a matter of getting through this year. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Fans Just Got A Clearer Picture Of Who Controls 2027
Nick Krall gave Reds fans a useful bit of organizational clarity while the team sorts through another rough stretch. The president of baseball operations said he expects himself, his front office staff and the manager to be back for the 2027 season, putting a stake in the ground about who is steering the ship as Cincinnati tries to climb out of its current mess. He also owned responsibility for the clubs poor performance, a notable admission for a team still trying to define its path forward.
The bigger issue remains the roster around that young core, which still looks thin enough to keep the Reds from feeling settled anywhere beyond a few promising pieces. There is some potential financial flexibility ahead, but even that comes with a cloud hanging over the offseason if a lockout ends up limiting what can actually get done. For a team trying to turn a corner, the next several months may say as much about patience and planning as they do about wins and losses. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Collapse Has Reached A Level Cincinnati Fans Never Expected
The Reds season has drifted into a stretch that feels hard to believe for a club that entered the year hoping to stay in the postseason mix. The offense has been in a deep funk for much of the summer, with four players logging 200 or more plate appearances and still sitting below .200, a level of futility that puts Cincinnati in some very rare company and underscores just how little margin for error has existed in the lineup.
It has not been any easier to find relief on the other side of the ball, either, with the pitching staff also lagging in several key categories as the losses pile up. The result is a team that has spent its recent weeks on the wrong side of a long skid and now appears headed toward being shut out of the playoff race, a stunning turn for a roster that was supposed to be built for a different September. [Read more 🡒]