CINCINNATI (AP) — The search for a new manager for the Cincinnati Reds will begin immediately following the firing of David Bell after six seasons, president of baseball operations Nick Krall said Monday.
The team announced the move on Sunday night hours after a 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bench coach Freddie Benavides was named interim manager for the final five games of the season. Most of the other coaches will be retained until a new manager is hired.
Krall cited inconsistency, philosophical differences, players not playing to their potential, and some young players who were added to the roster last season not developing as fast as the organization had hoped.
“When you look across the board, I thought we should have been better,” he said.
The 52-year-old Bell — whose grandfather Gus and father Buddy both spent part of their careers playing in Cincinnati — was hired by the Reds in October 2018. He had a 409-456 record over six seasons.
His contract had been extended in July 2023.
“We made the decision to extend David last season because I thought we were moving in the right direction as we promoted a younger core of players to develop in the big leagues,” Krall said. “But after reflecting on everything this season, I decided we needed to move in another direction with the leadership in the major league clubhouse. That’s why we made the change.”
With a week left in the season, the Reds are 76-81 and in fourth place in the NL Central, 13 1/2 games behind division champion Milwaukee. Cincinnati closes out the season with five road games. The Reds have a two-game series in Cleveland on Tuesday and Wednesday before closing out the campaign with three games in Chicago against the Cubs.
“If we make the decision now it allows us to meet with everybody (in the organization) on the last road trip, it allows us to start this process and it gives us a week head start instead of waiting when you know what the decision is going to be,” Krall said.
Under Bell in 2020, the Reds earned a postseason berth in his second season, which was shortened by COVID-19 to 60 games.
The Reds finished the 2021 season with a respectable 83-79 record, good enough for third place in the National League Central. That season also produced a National League Rookie of the Year in second baseman Jonathan India.
In 2022, Cincinnati lost 100 games for the first time in four decades. The Reds improved to 82-80 in 2023, despite leading the major leagues with 650 games missed by players because of injuries.
This season began with high expectations that Bell and the Reds couldn't meet. A lack of consistency was the trend throughout the season, exacerbated by injuries to key players.
During Bell's tenure, the Reds brought along a talented core expected to put the organization back on top, including India, Hunter Greene, Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain. But Cincinnati hasn't been able to get over the hump.
Bell is the third manager fired this season. The Chicago White Sox fired Pedro Grifol and three coaches on Aug. 8, just days after the team ended a 21-game losing streak that tied the American League record.
The Seattle Mariners fired Scott Servais on Aug. 22, in the middle of his ninth season with the team.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
FILE - Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell, right, argues after being ejected by home plate umpire Larry Vanover, left, during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Sept. 10, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
FILE - Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell stands in the dugout during a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, July 28, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius, File)
LONDON (AP) — Two men were convicted Friday of cutting down the beloved Sycamore Gap tree in northern England in 2023 in an unexplained act of vandalism that caused widespread outrage.
A Newcastle Crown Court jury found Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers guilty of two counts each of criminal damage for felling the tree and toppling it onto the ancient Hadrian’s Wall.
The tree was not Britain’s biggest or oldest, but it was prized for its picturesque setting symmetrically planted between two hills along the ancient wall built by Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 122 to protect the northwest frontier of the Roman Empire, and had attracted generations of followers.
The tree had been known to locals but received international attention in Kevin Costner’s 1991 film “Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.” It drew tourists, lovers, landscape photographers and even those who spread the ashes of loved ones.
“For over a century, Sycamore Gap has been an iconic natural landmark in the northeast of England, bringing immeasurable joy to those visiting the area," Gale Gilchrist, chief prosecutor for the region, said in a statement after the verdict. “In just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction.”
Jurors deliberated about four hours on Thursday and reached a verdict after meeting less than 30 minutes Friday morning.
Neither defendant showed any visible reaction as the verdicts were read.
Justice Christina Lambert ordered both men held in custody until sentencing on July 15 and said they could face “a lengthy period in custody.” The maximum sentence for criminal damage is 10 years in prison.
The defendants, once close friends, both testified that they had nothing to do with cutting down the tree. Graham pointed the finger at Carruthers.
Prosecutors showed grainy video from Graham’s phone of the tree being cut down — a video sent shortly afterward to Carruthers’ phone. Metadata showed it was taken at the tree’s location in Northumberland National Park. Data showed Graham’s Range Rover had traveled there.
Prosecutor Richard Wright said he couldn’t say who cut the tree and who held the phone, but the two men were the only people in the world who had the video on their devices.
The following day, Carruthers and Graham exchanged text and voice messages that captured their excitement as the story went viral.
Prosecutors offered no evidence of a motive for the crime other than calling it senseless vandalism. But Wright suggested to jurors in his closing argument that the men cut the tree down for “a bit of a laugh” but had failed to realize the anger they would spark in the “arboreal equivalent of mindless thuggery.”
“They woke up the morning after and soon realized — as the news media rolled in, as the outrage of the public became clear — it must have dawned on them that they couldn’t see anyone else smiling,” Wright said. “Far from being the big men they thought they were, everyone else thought that they were rather pathetic.”
Prosecutors originally said the tree was valued at more than 620,000 pounds (around $830,000) and damage to the wall was estimated at 1,100 pounds (nearly $1,500).
But on Friday prosecutor Rebecca Brown said those figures are in dispute and are likely lower, but would still fall in the top category of harm for sentencing purposes.
FILE - A view of of the felled Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, Sept. 28, 2023. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File)
Adam Carruthers, 31, arrives to attend Newcastle Crown Court where he is accused of criminal damage after the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree - valued at £622,000 and £1,114 damage to Hadrian's Wall - in Newcastle, England, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (PA via AP)
Adam Carruthers, 31, arrives to attend Newcastle Crown Court where he is accused of criminal damage after the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree - valued at £622,000 and £1,114 damage to Hadrian's Wall - in Newcastle, England, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (PA via AP)
FILE - The felled Sycamore Gap tree is removed at Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, Oct. 11, 2023. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File)
FILE - Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, shining over the Sycamore Gap tree, on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, England, July 3, 2016. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP, File)
