A big change to the Cincinnati Reds front office is underway, as long-time president Dick Williams is out.
The move is being framed as a decision he was making to focus on other parts of life, but you always wonder if that’s merely a courtesy:
Dick Williams resigns as Reds' President of Baseball Operations pic.twitter.com/Fi2PtURsRI
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) October 7, 2020
A unique aspect of Williams’ time with the Reds is that his family came aboard as a minority part of the ownership group that took over the team in 2006. So, Williams was always sort of a part owner of the team, in addition to moving up the ranks to GM and then President. You don’t usually see that kind of overlap.
The Reds will now search for a new direction in baseball operations, whether it is simply letting GM Nick Krall run the show, or bringing in someone from the outside. If the Reds do seek out a new top exec, that marks the third opening already (together with the Angels and Phillies).
The Reds aggressively pushed in over the course of the last two years to try to win in 2020, and although they made the postseason for the first time in seven years, they were swept out by the Braves. The Reds have not made it to an NLCS in 25 years, and haven’t won the World Series in 30.