Bryan Price is out as the Reds' manager, along with pitching coach Mack Jenkins. Bench coach Jim Riggleman will be the interim manager, with Double-A Pensacola pitching coach Danny Darwin joining the coaching staff. Pat Kelly, who was manager of Triple-A Louisville, will be the bench coach.The club will conduct a search for a permanent manager later in the season.Cincinnati is off to a 3-15 start after dropping 10 of its past 11 games."At this time, we felt a change needed to happen in order to begin the process of getting this team back on the right track. We realize it is early in the season but feel it is important to be proactive," general manager Dick Williams said. "In addition to these staff changes, we will continue to examine all aspects of baseball operations to ensure we are doing everything we can to improve."
Riggleman, 65, has managed for all or parts of 12 Major League seasons with the Padres, Cubs, Mariners and Nationals. He resigned from Washington amid a contract dispute during the 2011 season. He joined the Reds organization in '12, first as manager at Pensacola and then spent the '13-14 seasons managing Louisville.In 2015, Riggleman returned to the Majors as Price's third-base coach, then moved over to bench coach, where he had served since '16.Price, 55, joined the Reds as pitching coach before the 2010 season and was promoted to manager to replace Dusty Baker in '14. He had a 279-387 (.419) record, with much of that tenure spent while the club has been in a rebuilding process since the second half of the '15 season.The dismissal of Price and Jenkins came following an offseason in which the club expected to take a step forward and move closer to contending.The front office did not make any major offseason additions to address a rotation that had the fewest innings pitched in the Major Leagues and the highest ERA in the National League. Instead, the promising young arms already in the organization that got big league exposure for the first time last season were being counted on -- along with returning injured veterans like Homer Bailey and Anthony DeSclafani.Although the rotation and bullpen have performed well in recent games, the pitching staff is last in the NL with a 5.42 ERA, and it has allowed a league-worst 28 homers.While Bailey has performed well overall, DeSclafani has been out since suffering an oblique strain in Spring Training. Young pitchers such as Sal Romano, Tyler Mahle and Brandon Finnegan have yet to put together consistent outings.No one expected massive struggles from a lineup that produced last season and came into 2018 largely intact. But the Reds are hitting .220 as a team, have scored the second-fewest runs (54) in the NL, and they have hit the second-fewest home runs (11) in the league.Injuries haven't helped, as Eugenio Suarez and Scott Schebler are on the disabled list, and Jesse Winker also missed some time. But key hitters such as Joey Votto, Adam Duvall and Billy Hamilton are also off to slow starts.Cincinnati, which has been shut out four times already this season, is currently mired in a 19-inning scoreless inning streak following back-to-back 2-0 losses to the Brewers on Tuesday and Wednesday.That ultimately forced the front office's hand to make a managerial change.
Mark Sheldon/ MLB.com
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