The Reds still have to fill a pitching coach opening after moving on from Derek Johnson, and the name that jumps out immediately is a familiar one: Guardians coach Carl Willis.
Willis is available for interviews now that Cleveland has been knocked out in the American League Championship Series by the Rays, and his connection to Reds manager Terry Francona makes the fit easy to see. The two spent six seasons together in Cleveland and won three AL Central titles, a run that ties Willis directly to the kind of pitching success Cincinnati is trying to build.
At this stage, though, Willis isn’t sounding like a man eager to force a decision. He said he’s not sure what kind of fit he would be with the Reds right now, and he also pointed to the way he has handled his own career on a year-to-year basis with the Guardians.
“Cleveland means a lot to me. This organization has been so good to me,” said Willis, who has spent 16 seasons - including the past nine consecutively - guiding the Cleveland’s top-flight pitching staff at the big-league level.
“But I’ll also tell you that Tito has been very, very good to me as well,” Willis added. “I tell him all the time how much better he made me, just the experience I had with him, the trust he put in me.”
That relationship is the real story here. Willis said Francona would be the deciding factor if he ever seriously considered the Reds job.
“I can truthfully tell you: I’m not saying I would even consider it, but if I were to, he would be the reason,” Willis said.
Willis, 65, said he has told the Guardians over the past couple of years that he wants to get to the end of the season and then decide what comes next. He also acknowledged the uncertainty that comes with switching organizations when his own situation has been flexible from year to year.
“I’ve kind of told the organization the last couple of years that I need to get to the end of the year and think about it,” said Willis, who pitched in the majors for nine years, including 40 relief appearances for the Reds over the 1985 and ’86 seasons. “But I don’t know the best thing for me or another organization, if they were interested in pursuing that - going somewhere new knowing that you’re feeling like you’re kind of year-to-year, I don’t know if that’s fair to anybody.
“If that were to happen, and then all of a sudden they’re back to a new potential philosophy or whatever … I’m pretty happy with where I’m at, and we’ll see what happens.”
There’s also a practical layer to the conversation. Francona and Willis are about the same age, and Francona has one more guaranteed year on his contract plus a club option for 2028. That makes the potential for a longer runway together at least part of the picture if Cincinnati were to make a push.
For the Reds, this search is still active. The club has already interviewed in-house candidates Matt Tracy and Oscar Marin, and it was still weighing outside options this week. With only the Brewers and Rays left in the postseason, that process could move faster now.
Willis’ résumé gives Cincinnati plenty to think about. During his time in Cleveland, the Guardians finished in the top five in American League team ERA seven times over the past nine seasons, and he helped guide pitchers such as CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Corey Kluber and Shane Bieber.
Whether that makes him a realistic target for the Reds is another question. Willis didn’t claim he was ready to leave Cleveland, and he didn’t say a move would even make sense. But Francona remains the connection that keeps pulling this story in one direction.
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