McCoy: Can The Reds Win The NL Central?

By Hal McCoy

It is not known if Norman Vincent Peale was a Cincinnati Reds fan, or even a baseball fan.

He lived and grew up in Reds Country, Bowersville in Greene County.

If he was a Reds fan and was still with us, the author of ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ could use this upcoming Reds’ season as an example.

There is a whole lot to be positive about for the 2025 version of the Reds.

It begins with Tito Francona, who emerged from semi-retirement to manage the Reds. As a positive thinker, Francona could take a chair right next to Peale.

There is no doubt the former manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians some day will be making an acceptance speech in Cooperstown.

He is highly regarded as one of the best all-time and baseball affionados believe he might be worth eight to ten extra victories a season with his savvy and his leadership.

But he is not a Miracle Worker. He needs his players to perform to their abilities. . .and above. And few managers are able to extract that from their players. Francona is one.

A year ago, the Reds won 77 games and finished fourth in the National League Central, just one game above last-place Pittsburgh.

Ten additional wins this season would give them 87, probably enough to win the weak NL Central. Most prognosticators are picking the much-improved Chicago Cubs as the best in the division, but they already are 0-2 after losing two games to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo.

Milwaukee, last year’s division winners, lost the team’s heart and soul when shortstop Willy Adames left via free agency and most of the Brewers key pieces are on the back nine of their careers.

St. Louis is at the beginning of a rebuild and Pittsburgh, although full of blossoming young talent, is still Pittsburgh.

For the Reds, it starts with pitching — and that’s where it starts for all teams. And it is also where it all starts for the Reds. They must stay healthy.

Nearly every member of the Reds starting staff last season missed time with a variety of aches and pains.

The rotation starts with Hunter Greene, who finished strong last season and is fast maturing into the ace the Reds believe he will be.

To add experience to the young staff, the Reds acquired Brady Singer from the Kansas City Royals and his performances during spring training indicate he can be very good.

Mix in Nick Lodolo and Nick Martinez and the Reds’ rotation is like All-State, in very good hands.

There was one recent setback when Andrew Abbott was placed on the injured list and Carson Spiers was slipped into the rotation.

The bullpen, which was hit-and-miss, but mostly miss last season, is vastly improved with the addition of lefthander Taylor Rogers.

Closer Alexis Diaz has been slowed by injuries and hasn’t been effective in his late exhibtion appearances, so Rogers is capable of stepping into that role.

Francona and president of baseball operations Nick Krall have shown they aren’t messing around with the roster. They sent third baseman Noelvi Marte and outfielder Will Benson to the minors with a stern message, “Show us something.”

The Reds are able to do that due to some key acquisitions — infielder Gavin Lux, who will play third base, and outfielers Austin Hays, who will occupy left field and bat clean-up.

All offensive talk, though, centers on Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain. De La Cruz batted second during the David Bell regime, but Francona plans to bat him third to take full advantage of Mr. Electricity’s multi-faceted talent.

While many see De La Cruz as the team’s MVP, and maybe the league MVP, second baseman McLain should be just as important and just as productive after missing most of last season.

One pothole already was dug in front of Francona when catcher Tyler Stephenson went down with one of those pesky oblique injuries and will begin the season on the injured list.

And that points to another wise acquistion Krall made in the off-season when he acquired catcher Jose Trevino.

He was meant to be Stephenson’s back-up, but he will be more than adequate until Stephenson returns.

He is better defensively and adept at handling pitchers. He was an All-Star a couple of seasons back and a Platinum Glove winner. Offense, though, is a mystery to him and Stephenson’s offense will be missed.

The club expects some offense from first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand, another player who spent more time chatting with trainers in the medical room than he did chatting with players in the dugout last season.

So how will the Reds finish? My crystal ball has been cracked for many, many years. Contrary to what some believe, I was not around in 1869 to predict that the Cincinnati Red Stockings would go 81-0.

Well, as baseball’s only professional team, shouldn’t they have won every game?

I was around in 1977. After the Reds won the World Series in 1975 and 1976, I boldly predicted they would win again in 1977.

Wrong.

The Reds won 88 games and finished second in the National League West, 10 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I did not predict the 1990 team would go wire-to-wire and sweep four straight from the Oakland Athletics in the World Series.

I did not predict the Reds would win the NL Central in 2010 and 2012 when they did win.

So this year I’m going out on a very slim and brittle limb.

The 2025 Cincinnati Reds will win the National League Central. But don’t bet the car payments on it.