The Cincinnati Reds are staring at a huge decision, and the more time passes, the harder it is to defend the one they appear ready to make.
After a 2026 season that went off the rails, the club’s choice to keep Nick Krall in place has only drawn more scrutiny. There is still some hope that the direction changes, whether that comes from fan backlash or from the possibility that ownership has not actually locked in Krall’s claim. But right now, the noise around a different outcome does not sound especially promising.
There is one practical argument for leaving him in charge. A looming lockout is expected to shrink the offseason down to basically November, and the Reds have enough work ahead of them if they want to be a real contender in 2027. Swapping in a new regime on that kind of timeline would be messy.
Still, the bigger picture is hard to ignore. Krall has been in a major decision-making role with the Reds for much of his 24 years in the organization, and the results over the last 13 seasons have been stuck in place. Cincinnati has not cleared 83 wins in that span, and it has been 14 years since the team finished higher than third in the NL Central.
If you want the hard numbers on Krall’s run as the top decision-maker, they are not flattering. Since the 2020-2021 offseason, the Reds have gone:
2021 - 83-79 (no playoffs)
2022 - 62-100 (no playoffs)
2023 - 82-80 (no playoffs)
2024 - 77-85 - (no playoffs)
2025 - 83-79 (swept in NLWCS)
2026 - 71-82 (eliminated from playoff contention; nine games remaining)
Grand Total - 458-504 (.476 winning percentage, promptly swept in sole playoff appearance)
That track record is why the argument for more of the same rings so hollow. Even if a change now would be awkward, the Reds have reached the point where continuing down this path feels even worse.
There’s also been a growing line of thinking, pushed by beat writers like C. Trent Rosencrans and national insiders like Ken Rosenthal, that the real issue is ownership, not the front office. The idea is that the Reds would look very different if the Castellini family spent more.
But Krall is not some bystander in all of this. He has made his share of calls, and plenty of them have landed badly.
He chose to spend on Mike Moustakas. He gave Jeimer Candelario that contract.
He made the trade for Ke’Bryan Hayes. Those decisions belonged to him.
The 2026 roster only sharpens the point. Cincinnati has spent just $2,366,500 on the trio of Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, and Chase Burns, while carrying a payroll of $133 million.
De La Cruz has missed 17 games, yet still owns the third-highest fWAR in MLB and is performing like an MVP candidate. Stewart is the front-runner for NL Rookie of the Year.
Burns is a fringe Cy Young contender. And despite all that, the Reds are 24 games out of first place.
That kind of outcome makes the front office look even worse. With three young cornerstone players producing at that level, the Reds should be a problem for the rest of the league. Instead, they are still stuck in the same rut.
Burns is locked up, which helps. But De La Cruz’s arbitration clock starts in 2027, and he will not sign an extension. Stewart could be a candidate for one, though he is getting more expensive by the day.
That is the danger here. The Reds have a window, and it is narrowing fast.
For a small-market team, this is exactly the kind of opportunity that cannot be wasted. Keeping Krall in charge risks doing just that.
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