Terry Francona didn’t sugarcoat anything when he spoke to Reds fans this week. Coming off a 75-87 season that left Cincinnati out of the postseason after entering the year with playoff hopes, the message was blunt: last year was rough, and nobody inside the organization wants a repeat.
On Thursday’s appearance on Reds Hot Stove, Francona was asked what he’d say to a fanbase desperate for a winner. His answer matched the mood around the club.
“I know people are dying for a winner," Francona told Jim Day. "And I know last year, it was hard on all of us.
In fact, it’s still been hard on me. I think every day ‘what can we start to do better or what can we start to do’ because that was miserable.
I don’t want to go through that again and I know nobody does. We are going to get after it.
That is the best I can tell you right now.”
Francona also addressed the uncertainty hanging over the offseason, with a possible lockout looming on December 1. He didn’t try to spin that into anything positive.
“I don’t know. I am not evading your question, but there is so much that is up in the air this winter.
I think we all think that maybe December 1, there is going to be a lockout. If that happens, it’s not good for the game first of all.
And it stops any momentum that the game has built. And for teams like us, you’re trying to build and everybody is going to be stuck in neutral.
I hope they come to a conclusion…As an industry, we’ve got to come to a place where the players and ownership feel like there is a partnership and we’re not close to that, nor have we ever been there.”
The Reds do have pieces to work with, but the roster still has obvious gaps. Hunter Greene is expected to miss the entire 2027 season, which leaves Cincinnati needing help in the rotation. The offense also has to take a step forward after another disappointing year at the plate.
That challenge gets even tougher if the offseason is shortened by a lockout. Cincinnati already has to fight uphill when it comes to attracting free agents and matching the spending power of bigger-market teams, and losing valuable winter time would only make that path more difficult.
Francona’s comments made one thing clear: he knows exactly how frustrating 2026 was. Now the Reds have to turn that honesty into a much better 2027.
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The winners will be determined by MLB managers and coaches, which gives the honor a different kind of weight than a fan vote or a hot streak. For the Reds, having two players in the conversation is the kind of late-season recognition that reflects both star power and lineup depth, with the final call still to come later this month. [Read more 🡒]