Notes from Terry Francona at Day 1 of the winter meetings

DALLAS — Terry Francona said that it’s too early in the offseason to start sketching together a batting order. But as the Reds new manager anticipates some of the decisions he’ll be facing, he expects defense to be a bigger priority.

“We would like to make our defense better,” Francona said. “We’re talking about adding good pitching (in Nick Martinez and Brady Singer). We need to catch the ball. When you give teams extra outs and extra opportunities, it’s going to be hard to be a good pitching team, also.”

This answer was in response to a question about the Reds’ corner infield positions. With the way the Reds’ roster currently is constructed, Francona’s plans for first and third base indicate some changes he plans to make compared to what the previous coaching staff did.

For the last several years, the Reds’ infield defense was poor. In spring training last February, the old coaching staff presented a PowerPoint to the team that said everyone was tired of the (stinky) infield defense.

While the Reds put in a lot of individual work toward players improving their defense, the Reds didn’t put their best combination of defensive infielders in the lineup regularly.

Looking ahead to 2025, the Reds have some interesting decisions to make at third base. Jeimer Candelario’s range was very limited last year. Noelvi Marte struggled with his throwing, and he has a whole lot of development that he needs to make as well as a lot to prove following a concerning 2024 season. Spencer Steer stopped taking reps at third base and became a full-time first baseman/corner outfielder.

Those guys are three of the Reds’ options for third base. The other option is Santiago Espinal, who doesn’t have nearly as much power as Candelario, Marte and Steer but is clearly the best defender of the bunch.

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The upside and depth in the Reds’ rotation looks like the strength of the team. That’s by design, and the Reds invested in the rotation by retaining Nick Martinez and trading for Brady Singer.

“The old adage is if you think you have enough pitching, go get more,” Francona said. “That’s a good thing.”

After Martinez shined in the rotation down the stretch last season, he has a leg up on a rotation spot entering 2025.

“We’d certainly like for that to happen,” Francona said. “The season has a way of playing itself out. We don’t need to make the rotation or the batting order now because we don’t know what our team is going to be. The way (Martinez) finished was pretty damn good.”

If we get to the end of spring training and we have to aggravate somebody because we have too many starters, good for us. We’ve all seen it. When you don’t have enough pitching, that can derail your season. The idea of getting two guys really, really helps.

The Reds have Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott, Singer, Martinez, Rhett Lowder, Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers in the rotation mix.

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In October, Francona traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet with Elly De La Cruz, Jeimer Candelario and Marte. On Monday, he thanked those players for doing him a favor and all meeting up at a central location in the capital Santo Domingo. It saved Francona a trip around the country.

When asked about De La Cruz’s base running, Francona continued to stress the importance of balancing aggressiveness with better decision making.

“I’d rather speak in generalities and not single guys out,” Francona said. “The idea is trying to create havoc on the bases but also being intelligent. Taking that step forward will be really big for us. That’s the idea.”

“The game is going fast, and I don’t want guys looking over their shoulders like, ‘I don’t want to mess up. That’s not a good way to play. You try to use common sense. The idea is not for me to show everyone in the whole world that I’m a task master. The idea is if we make a mistake, not to do it again.”

Francona is confident that his new players are guys who really “want to be coached, and they want to be held to maybe a higher (standard).”

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Francona is known for his innovation with his pitching staffs in October. In 2004, he famously saved his bullpen in the Yankees series by bringing Tim Wakefield in out of the bullpen. In Cleveland, he created a new role for bullpen ace Andrew Miller.

Still, he wants playoff baseball to look a lot like regular season baseball.

The new playoff format has incentivized a lot of bullpen games. Francona said that those teams are doing what’s best for them to win, but he’d be in favor of a system that incentives teams to keep using a traditional rotation in the postseason.

“You’re seeing too many bullpen games in the playoffs,” Francona said. “That’s not the way teams are really built. I’d like to see after 162 games, I’d like to see teams use their entire roster. You’d find the true best teams that way.”