How $4.9 million owed David Bell might impact Cincinnati Reds approach to manager search

CHICAGO – The Cincinnati Reds are expected to start making calls Monday to schedule first interviews with managerial candidates after spending the week since David Bell’s firing putting together a wish list and vetting possible candidates.

One factor that could narrow the list quickly is what some of the possible dream candidates out there might cost.

Especially when they’re already paying Bell $4.9 million not to manage the team the next two years ($2.4 million in 2025, $2.5 million in 2026), according to sources with knowledge of the three-year, $7.2 million deal he signed last year.

How much will salary demands matter in the final stages of the process?

“I don’t know the answer,” said team president Nick Krall, who would neither confirm nor deny the outstanding balance of Bell's deal. “I don’t know what demands people are going to have. I can say if somebody wants $100 million a year, obviously then it’s going to matter. I don’t know where that push-pull is going to end up being.

“We have not had that discussion.”

If Terry Francona wants to come out of retirement at 65 for another managerial job on his way to the Hall of Fame, that probably won’t be cheap. Joe Girardi, another former Manager of the Year and finalist the last time the Reds had an opening, figures to command well north of what Bell was making if anybody were able to persuade him to get back into a manager’s seat.

And what if everybody’s favorite rising-star candidate this winter, the Marlins’ outgoing Skip Schumaker, becomes the center of a pricey bidding war?

What’s certain is that, “We have a budget,” Krall said. “We’re given a full budget, and then we just have to work through whatever that budget is.”

According to sources, the Reds’ due diligence already has included former Reds Schumaker and David Ross. And interim manager Freddie Benavides is considered the lone in-house candidate.

The talent on the roster makes the Reds job attractive for most of the likeliest candidates, especially compared to, say, Schumaker’s soon-to-be-vacated Marlins job and the desert landscape of the White Sox.

Just how attractive it is and how aggressive the Reds are willing to get should come into greater focus in the next week or two as they begin talking to would-be candidates.

“We haven’t set up anything formal with anybody,” Krall said Friday before the Reds opened their final series of the season against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

“We’ve been doing a lot of due diligence this week with a lot of different people.”

Krall stuck with his “sooner rather than later” timeline for starting interviews when he spoke Friday.

“We’ll get home (after Sunday’s finale) and will determine a lot of things on Monday,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How $4.9 million owed David Bell might impact Cincinnati Reds approach to manager search