GOODYEAR, Ariz — As he spoke to the full 2025 Reds roster for the first time Monday morning before the first full squad workout, Terry Francona was like a tenured professor on Day 1 with a new class.
No matter how qualified, expert and accomplished the professor, there are still going to be nerves in trying to communicate his approach, his openness and – above all – his absolute and complete dedication to his goal.
With these Reds, it’s not about style or stats. It’s about one thing above all else – winning. And making that first impression is a big deal, even to a two-time World Series champion manager who will no doubt land in Cooperstown someday.
“I was nervous for about 10 days, not one day it’s, it’s so hard to explain, but I care, I care so much, and I want to do it right,” Francona told me. “You have one chance to (make first impression). I mean, you stand up in front of guys that you care about and an organization that and I just… I get so much anxiety because I care, and then I just laugh.”
That is Francona in a nutshell. Win and then the laughs are there to be had.
“When I someone was over, I was like, nine collapse, but it’s like, I just tell Brad and Nick somebody at the wigwam where I stay, somebody was talking to me last night. I walked away. I’m like, I have no fucking idea what they just said to me. I’m thinking about like, you know, but our guys are our guys are so good, they listen and shit, man. I haven’t been here that long, but I already fucking love them like we’re gonna have fun.
And then there’s all the new faces to get used to and making sure they assimilate in the clubhouse culture that Francona wants to build, and a culture that will grow and stand the test of a long season. But here Francona has some help. Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall has brought in several players with playoff and World Series experience, most notably infielder Gavin Lux of last year’s World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and backup catcher Jose Trevino, who played on the Yankees last year opposite the Dodgers in the Series.
Will having more players with winning postseason experience help those without the same background learn how to win?
“I mean, that’s the hope,” Francona said. “It doesn’t have to be the case, though. I mean, a couple years ago, when we were young as hell (in Cleveland), we found a way to win. Hopefully, if guys one know right from wrong, okay, that’s important. You don’t want to over complicate baseball, because I don’t think we need to do that. Saying that, I think the guys we brought in, this can help us a lot. Lux, Trevino, they’ve been there and done it, but they’re not overbearing in their presence. But they, they have a lot of good stuff to say.”
The most important part of Francona’s job is to sit and carefully observe, as he has for all of his previous 23 seasons as a big league manager, and let the decisions on who plays and bats where play out in camp.
“The first day camp when you see that first (spring training) game, you see that lineup, it means nothing,” Francona told me. “We’re going to slot our catcher up real high in the order, because I want to try to get in that second at-bat, because they’re not catching four or five innings maybe. And as the spring progresses, you’ll start to see guys slotting in. And in a perfect world, the guys that are out there every day, they kind of know where they’re going to slot in. And then when you have some other guys that you can move around to accentuate that.”
Reds Full Squad Day 1 in Goodyear:
