Thus endeth the Jim Riggleman Era in Cincinnati for good

The longtime coach/manager will not be retained in any form or fashion.

There was some sense that the Cincinnati Reds would try to retain Jim Riggleman in some role for the 2019 season even after they passed over him to hire David Bell as their new manager. Riggleman, the interim manager for most of the 2018 season, former bench coach, former 3B coach, and former AAA manager within the Reds, had seemingly expressed a willingness to stick within the Reds system, probably because he’d spent so much time with the players over the years in those multiple roles.

According to The Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale, though, that doesn’t appear to be happening.

Riggleman, who’ll be 66 in about two weeks, has managed the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals in addition to the Reds, compiling a career 726-904 record as captain of those ships. That’s not exactly a record that screams that he should be an integral part of the Reds organization going forward, but many of those managing opportunities - including this year with the Reds - haven’t exactly come in ideal circumstances. In fact, he’s somehow been in the position to take over sinking ships on several occasions.

Still, his willingness to stick around in a reduced role was admirable, as was the initial play from the Reds underneath his guidance while the team was fully healthy around the middle of the 2018 campaign. That faded quickly, though, and the Reds ultimately ended up on what would’ve been a 90 loss path over a 162 game pace under him, and as one of the few holdovers from the Bryan Price era, it’s unsurprising to see the franchise willing to completely move on from a rather dismal era in team history.

Best of luck to Riggleman, though, as I’m certain his extensive resume will land him a position somewhere with a different franchise should he choose to pursue such an opportunity.