MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 4, 2023

David Bell

Cincinnati Reds

Press Conference

Q. One of the things is there are a couple new managers, guys who have not managed at the Big League level before. You're kind of looking back, what kind of advice would you give to a new manager? Are there any adjustments that you need to make or what surprised you?

DAVID BELL: Man, I guess there are a few first-time managers, but in so many ways they're prepared. Everything you do in this game prepares you.

I think I know when I was finished playing, I probably thought I was prepared to manage, and I'm grateful I didn't. I had a lot to learn. Everyone has a different path, everyone has different experiences.

And so, yeah, I think there's really in some ways no way to completely prepare. You lean on your experience, you lean on the people around you, you lean on front office and your coaches and continue to try to learn.

I think that's the big thing because as prepared as you think you are, there's just so much left to learn. That's what's fun about what we get to do. Constantly learning, mostly from the players, really. In the end, it always comes back to the same thing, and that's the game is kind of about the players; so if you're there to serve them and the people you work with, it kind of simplifies the whole job and makes it a great job. They're all going to enjoy it a lot.

Q. Kind of a similar vein, there's so much now like there is the paint by numbers book that you can do and manage by, but that's not what a manager does. Can you think of a time where you kind of -- like a specific instance? And I know who I'm asking this of, but can you think of a specific instance where you kind of played a hunch that went against the book and worked out?

DAVID BELL: Every day, all day long. I mean, it's constant feel and reading situations and managing people and trusting what you're seeing and trusting the information, whether it's -- of course, there's stats. There's been stats in this game forever. So it would be not very smart to not pay attention to that.

But there's so much more that goes into it that makes it fun, it makes it dynamic, makes it a great job. You have to have a lot of awareness and a lot of feel, and that's a big part of the learning. You have to be able to listen a lot. So, yeah, the amount of decisions every day and the different ways that you're collecting information through conversations and all different sources, that's -- it's the only thing I've done outside of playing, but it sure is a lot of fun to try to bring all that together.

Q. But you can't of anything where like, oh, I'm going to send up --

DAVID BELL: Oh, yeah.

Q. Specific.

DAVID BELL: Yeah, we have information all the time. Are you talking about stats?

Q. But just like a specific moment you can think of where the book says you do this, and you're like, no, because I know this, this and this, I put up a lefty against a lefty, or something like that?

DAVID BELL: Yeah, we do that so often that I don't -- not blindly, like you would never just do it just to do it. But, yeah, there's information and there's stats and there's maybe rules of thumb. But that doesn't -- that rarely tells the whole story. It can be an important piece.

So not avoiding your question; I can't think of one because there's so many examples of that.

Q. Somewhat related to that, something that stood out to you of your team this year is your pinch hitters performed markedly better than any other team. What was some of the thought process and data that went into that, and to what extent can any of that be replicated going forward?

DAVID BELL: Our pinch hitters did do a great job. The main reason for that was they did an amazing job of staying ready, staying into the game, knowing the situations.

One adjustment we made, we made sure they didn't spend the whole game in the cage trying to get ready for two and a half hours. They were into the game, out on the bench. And then when it kind of got closer to a time that we may pinch hit, they would go in and get loose and prepare themself.

I think having been in an assistant hitting coach at one point, I think that was important, because you can think too much when you're down there. So all the credit goes to Terry Bradshaw, Tim LaMonte, who are our assistant hitting coaches, and all the guys that didn't start games, they did a good job of staying ready.

On the flip side of that, it's the least favorite part of my job is pinch-hitting or taking a pitcher out or taking anyone out of a lineup or out of a game. Our players were really great about not maybe liking it or accepting it, but knowing that, trusting it, that it was the best thing for our team. That made those decisions a little bit easier for me and really created a good environment to be able to do that in.

Q. Was it very data leaning as far as the individual match-ups?

DAVID BELL: Sure, there's data that supports those decisions. There's data that maybe supports us doing quite a bit more than we did, maybe sometimes less than we did.

So it's a guide, for sure. It's not any information that's like earth-shattering or anything like that, but, yeah, it helps make those decisions. But there's a lot more that goes into it and the confidence of our young players, for example, or just knowing where guys are in the adjustments they're making, that has to be factored in.

Q. Assuming that there's no moves made in this area of the infield, how do you view your middle infield shaping up next season with all the options you have?

DAVID BELL: Yeah, we have options, that's for sure. We have depth. We have players, young players that need to play that we want to play that we believe in.

We're always looking for ways to get better. Some of that could come from the outside. It's a little -- I know that's part of it. It's a little tough for me because I love the guys we have, and I know if we bring anyone in, they're going to be able to help.

But also I'm excited for the development of our players, and they need opportunity to play. They're just going to keep getting better. We do, specifically I can answer questions, but that's kind of the overview.

Q. McLain, he played really well for you at shortstop, played well at second base. Where do you see a guy like that who is prepared at either position, to have him play every day, where would he fit best for you?

DAVID BELL: Matt? Yeah, I mean, we saw Matt come up and play an outstanding shortstop. Elly is going to play shortstop as well. So I would say mostly Elly is going to get an opportunity to play short. We're talking about young guys that they're in year two, a lot of them, and their development presents a lot of new challenges.

So we'll kind of have to read the situation, but I anticipate they're all going to be prepared and have a good year. Elly and Matt will play a lot of short; Matt and Jonathan are going to play a lot of second.

But we have guys who are willing to play multiple positions because they know we kind of need to. We have that -- we need to do that to get everyone playing time or we're going to be a better team for it if we're able to do it.

You look at Spencer Steer, and he does not -- he just wants to be on the field. I don't care where he plays either because I just want him on the field as well. So that helps a lot.

Q. You mentioned young players, and when you look at successful organizations year over year, it's being able to integrate those guys at the Major League level. How do you view your role in that and helping those guys? Like what do you feel like some of the keys are to aiding in that transition and helping them continue to development at the Major League level?

DAVID BELL: I would say that is my job. I'm not alone in that job. Our player development staff has done -- if you looked at how those guys stepped in last year in year one, they did not seem like first-year players. I've never seen anything like it. They were very prepared.

A lot of it does speak to their character, for sure, and we've done a good job of identifying high-character people that we acquire and draft.

But player development staff did a great job. Then when they get to us, I don't know if this is the right way to see it, but we see our job as development, player development. And we know we have to win, and we love that. That's the fun part of it.

But development is where our heart is, I would say. We love to be able to be there and help our players become the best they can be.

Q. What are some of the challenges when you're looking to find bigger roles for some of those guys and you have veterans and there's that balance to all the factors that kind of go into that playing time equation?

DAVID BELL: They're tough decisions, really tough. It's great. It's a big part of my job. I don't do it alone. I lean on people around me, our coaches. But there was some tough calls last year where we just kept going round and round talking about it, thinking about it, and ultimately you have to make a decision.

A lot of players on our team last year deserved to be playing, so we rotated it around a little bit and did the best, but that was exciting to have more than nine that you're able to play that really deserved to be playing most days.

Q. What is the toughest decision you have to make every day?

DAVID BELL: I would say the lineup, maybe we spend too much time on the lineup, but, you know, after a game it's something that's kind of -- you get to a point in the evening where that's all that's left to do for that night is decide on the next day's lineup.

But I would say, like we talked about, the pinch-hitting and then when to take a starter out of a game. And the bullpen, you know, those are always important decisions, when to bring someone in, who to have up, who to have ready. You can make a little bit of a difference right there if you make the right decisions.

We try to really be prepared going into every game. We meet for 45 minutes before every game to try to go through every scenario and be prepared. But in the moment, you know, you got to make a call. That's maybe the closest thing to playing, where you're prepared but then you got to react in the moment.

Q. On the subject of young guys, how are you looking at the division as a whole with all the young talent that's coming up, four of the best five farm systems?

DAVID BELL: Yeah, I think it's a great division. I think -- I thought this since -- I've been in this division for a long, long time, well before I was managing here. It almost feels like no matter where a team is in the standings, you have to play your absolute best and that they can be some really great games, very competitive games. So that hasn't changed, it's only gotten stronger.

I think going into this season it easily could be said that any of the five teams could have a great year and win the division. Somebody's going to, but really, like, all five have a shot at it.

Q. This time last year a lot of managers were kind of thinking about what are the new rules going to -- how is it going to change the game. As you sit here after a season with it, what maybe surprised you the most about how much the game changed?

DAVID BELL: We tried to be prepared, we tried to think ahead. I remember maybe being here last year or talking about, like, we did know like the running game was going to change a lot, like that was going to increase the opportunity for stolen bases and all that. I think there's even more room in that area.

But the rule changes I thought were great. Our team I felt did a good job of trying to be prepared for those, and maybe it played a little bit into our personnel, so we'll continue to try to do that.

I think the -- I don't know this for sure, maybe we'll find out more this week, but the game's going to continue to evolve. I thought Major League Baseball did a great job of making some adjustments last year that made the game more enjoyable to be a part of, and from what I hear, maybe even more enjoyable to watch, which is the more important part.

Q. You did say you might even run more this coming year? You guys ran a lot and it really kind of really put teams on the defensive a lot of times.

DAVID BELL: It's a big part of our game, not just base stealing, but our players, it was a big part of our identity. Our players really took pride in being great base runners. It started in Spring Training. It came out a lot in the kind of the stolen base, but there's a lot of other ways that it was a big part of our game.

Yeah, I do think with our speed, and then it was one year of learning where you can try to take advantage, and so we got to try to build on that for sure.

Q. How familiar were you with Emilio Pagán before signing him?

DAVID BELL: Not very. But with Emilio and Nick Martinez, immediately I started getting a lot of messages about how much we're going to love these guys. So we get to spend this weekend with both of them at Redsfest, and they're going to fit right in. I mean, just really great guys.

You can only tell so much in two days, but like all the people that I heard from that I respect a lot, they had great things to say. So that was important to us too, because the bullpen had a great year last year and the culture was a big part of it. We wanted to make sure we added guys that fit in there.

Q. Both your pitching and hitting coaches have experience playing or coaching at Vanderbilt. What does that bring to an MLB team to have experience with a top college program like that?

DAVID BELL: Yeah, so I personally have learned a lot from the college game. I was never part of a college baseball, so I think that has been a nice change to our game. We've incorporated a lot of people from all different walks of life, including college baseball. It's been great having D.J. and Joel. We've had other coaches that have a college background.

And, yeah, it's a little bit of a different approach that you can add a lot in one area, like the way college practice, how they kind of conduct a practice -- I even got to talk to Coach Corbin from Vanderbilt and tried to pick his brain a little bit on some things. We added some of that in.

Q. What did you specifically learn from Corbin?

DAVID BELL: Just like making practice a little more dynamic. I think it got a little -- personally I felt like it was a little stale at times when I played and kind of -- you kind of just did stuff kind of like you wanted players to be comfortable during practice.

So I think in college they did a good job of making it a little bit more difficult and challenging. We do mostly -- most days we have like live batting practice that some of our coaches are pretty good pitchers and they make it as real as possible. Our hitters have bought into that. I think a lot of teams are doing that, but that's one example.

Q. This time of year fans are glued to their phones waiting for the next transaction. Do you follow the goings on in terms of transactions across the league, and for your own team, and how has that changed now before you were a manager and as a player?

DAVID BELL: Yeah, I have no idea what's going on because I don't have social media, so...

Q. So you wait for the news to come to you? You're not seeking it out?

DAVID BELL: No, I mean, just mainly from working with -- close to Nick and his staff, who, it's like -- it's an important part of what we do. I try to be as a part of that, even though I trust them, they're doing an amazing job, like I try to listen in and ask questions and every now and then I can have input. Because it is important to have that relationship where like how is it going to work within your team and all that. So that's where I get my information and kind of that's how I stay in tune to what's happening.

Q. You folks just -- obviously your folks are with the Reds, but in terms of stuff that goes around the league, are you hearing about it from friends in the game?

DAVID BELL: Yeah, I'll pay attention to that, whether it's through our people I work with or through the internet, of course, but mainly because I have been with a lot of teams, so I know a lot of people. I try to keep tabs on what's happening. And of course it all affects our team, too.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Tejay Antone. How did you feel about the innings he was able to get in last year and just his outlook moving into this year as a potential late-inning leverage arm for you?

DAVID BELL: Yeah, it was an important -- it was important for him to get back to us and kind of complete the whole process of going through the rehab, long rehab, and showing himself that he can do it. He pitched well.

He got to a point where it was not worth -- like everything he had built up, he had a couple days where he had a little bit of soreness, normal, but it just wasn't worth the risk of like -- I mean, we supported the decision because we want him healthy for this year. We were being careful with him because he had worked so hard to get back. But he did pitch well and he showed himself that he can do it. Fully healthy, he's going to be a part of our bullpen this year.