If it seems like I’m repeating myself, I’ll own that. But what’s truly inexcusable was Terry Francona’s call earlier this week to hold Hunter Greene out of Tuesday’s start for the Cincinnati Reds’ opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Plenty of fans and analysts have already voiced their frustration with Francona’s puzzling move to roll with Brady Singer instead of Greene. To be clear, this criticism isn’t about Singer’s overall performance — he’s been a solid piece of the Reds’ rotation this year.
Still, while Singer is serviceable as a middle-of-the-rotation arm, Greene is without question Cincinnati’s ace. With an off-day Monday giving him full rest, Greene was lined up perfectly to take the ball Tuesday. Instead, Francona stayed rigid with his rotation plan. Singer surrendered four runs in the second inning, the Reds dropped the game 4-2, and now sit one game behind the New York Mets with just five contests left.
Reds manager Terry Francona finally admits that Hunter Greene should’ve started on Tuesday vs. the Pirates
Hunter Greene battled admirably on Wednesday against Pirates’ ace Paul Skenes, but Cincinnati came up short again, dropping the second game of the series in extra innings. The one silver lining? Both the Mets and Diamondbacks lost, keeping the Reds’ postseason hopes alive — barely — in the NL Wild Card race.
Now, all eyes shift to Sunday’s season finale against the Milwaukee Brewers, which could very well determine Cincinnati’s playoff destiny. Thanks to owning the tiebreaker over both New York and Arizona, the Reds might see Game 162 become the deciding factor between October baseball and an early offseason.
Francona has even floated the possibility of deploying Greene out of the bullpen in that must-win finale. “We’ve already discussed that with him,” Francona said. “He’s open to it. We’ve just got to see how he feels.”
That revelation only raises a bigger question: if Greene is flexible enough to pitch in relief on Sunday, why on earth wasn’t he given the ball to start Tuesday and potentially line up for Sunday as well? Francona’s refusal to adjust the rotation cost the Reds dearly. Instead of entering Game 162 with a playoff spot essentially secured, Cincinnati is now scrambling into a win-or-go-home scenario — one that might not even matter depending on what the Mets and D-backs do.
This isn’t one of those split-second, in-game choices that managers are forced to make on instinct. It’s a deliberate, long-term decision — and a glaring miscalculation — from a Hall of Fame skipper who has finally, albeit indirectly, admitted his blunder.
At the end of the day, baseball is about players rising to the moment. But the Reds weren’t put in the best position to succeed this week, and Terry Francona’s stubbornness may be the reason Cincinnati watches the postseason from home.
