The ex-Philadelphia Phillies infielder turned manager was fired on Sunday night.
Many former Philadelphia Phillies players remained in the baseball world as coaches.
That includes David Bell, who was a member of the team from 2003-2006. Bell, who had a 12-year Big League career, has spent time as an assistant coach with the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.
He was named the Cincinnati Reds manager in 2019 and signed a contract extension to keep him through 2026 last year.
However, that contract didn’t help his cause, as he was fired on Sunday night, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
The decision to fire Bell doesn’t come as much of a surprise. The Reds have played well under him throughout parts of his time with the club, but they’ve had a down campaign.
“David provided the kind of steadiness that we needed in our clubhouse over the last few seasons. We felt a change was needed to move the Major League team forward. We have not achieved the success we expected,” general manager Nick Krall said, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
While they’ve dealt with injuries throughout the season, there’s no excuse for them to be 76-81 and in fourth place in a below-average National League Central.
With just four games left in the regular season, it’s an interesting time to let him go, but Cincinnati clearly wanted a new man in charge.
During his three full seasons with the Phillies, the infielder slashed .253/.327/.381 with 32 home runs, 78 doubles, 175 RBI, and an 83 OPS+ in 1,387 at-bats.
Bell was on the team in 2006 but didn’t finish the campaign with Philadelphia.
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