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CHICAGO – The Cincinnati Reds can't know how 2025 will end – they don't even know who will lead the team.

But they know where they will start.

With Hunter Greene returning from a season-ending injury list and capping off his best year in the big leagues, it should all start next year when he likely throws the Reds' next pitch on March 27 against the San Francisco Giants in the 2025 season opener .

“The guy has proven what he's done all year,” interim manager Freddie Benavides said as Greene capped his All-Star season with four scoreless innings on Sunday against the Chicago Cubs in his second starting stint back after elbow soreness.

When Greene got Christian Betancourt to hit a high fastball and miss to end the fourth game with two out, Greene lowered his ERA to 2.75 and finished his career with 26 starts and 150 1/3 innings.

“Obviously I showed a lot of emotion,” said Greene, who gave in after the strikeout in what he knew would be his final pitch on a tight-limit Sunday. “I was super happy that I was able to finish there strongly.”

Aside from the work of coming back from the injured list and finishing up with the team, Greene described his big 2024 as a season with “a lot of mixed emotions.”

“Obviously I had a really great year this year, but I'm not just here to have a great year myself,” said Greene, who went 9-5, allowed 10.1 hits per nine innings and is a possible Cy candidate Young would have been had he not missed more than a month with the elbow problem.

“The team was lacking on many fronts,” he said. “There is a lot we need to work on in the offseason. A lot of soul searching. We have to make a lot of adjustments. What's really important is to look at yourself in the mirror and realize what you really need to work on. That’s important to be able to reach the next level.”

The next step for him, he said, “is to throw 180, 200 or more innings and go on and lead the team.”

Wherever next season goes, Greene's end to the season gives the Reds confidence for the 2025 starting lineup.

“Going forward, this is a guy who is committed to getting us the 30-plus starts we need and pitching into October,” said Benavides, whose club hasn’t had a pitcher since Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle , who made 30 starts in 2021 before the Reds traded them to help build the current young core.

“He can build on that,” Benavides said of Greene’s workload this year. “It’s something he’ll treasure. But you have to do it again next year and that’s the goal.”

The bigger questions concern what else they could do to fix what went so wrong in 2024 that it cost manager David Bell his job.

A 1-4 road win to close the season included a scoreless streak of 28 innings through the three-run 10th on Sunday and gave the Reds a 3-0 victory over the Cubs after back-to-back shutout losses, a 77-85 loss -Season's eighth losing record in the last 11 seasons.

Aside from their inexplicable winning record against four of MLB's six division winners, the breakdown of their season looked no better than the final record:

  • Home: 39-42
  • Street: 38-43
  • NL Central: 24-28
  • One-run games: 15-28
  • Two-run games: 10-17
  • Shutout losses: 16

In fact, their three-run total from their last home game on Sept. 22 through Sunday's first nine innings in Chicago may have highlighted the biggest area of ​​several that needs attention if they want to be competitive next year.

“On offense, I think there’s still a lot of work for our guys to do,” Benavides said. “Whether it’s situational hitting, productive outs across the lineup, passing runners, bunts, sacrifice flies, whatever. Sometimes productive outs help win games, and that’s more of a team offense than an individual offense.”

If second baseman Matt McLain is healthy next year, that could help. He was their best player in 2023 and missed the entire season with shoulder and rib injuries. Shortly before the Arizona Fall League game, he receives a slugfest in the instructional league in Arizona.

But McLain also has just 3 1/2 months in the big leagues, missed the final month of 2023 with an oblique injury, and exhibits the typical volatility and question marks that come with anyone with this level of experience.

The fact that TJ Friedl will be healthy for a full year next year after suffering several serious, freak injuries this year should also help.

But other players also resigned.

“Our players have shown that they can be above-average everyday players in the big leagues,” said veteran catcher Luke Maile. “But when we went to sleep offensively this year, no matter the reason, it just took too long. And it happened too often. Going forward, we just have to find a way to be more consistent. There are many ways to do this. But finding the sweet spot of the club more often is a good start.”

Overall, the team beat all but seven teams this year. Her effort ranked in the bottom six.

And they got more outs on the bases than anyone else – including rookie Noelvi Marte, who started the 10th inning at second before they had to fight for a game-winning rally the hard way. Perhaps as fitting a way to play the final innings of 2024 as any.

“He knows it. We actually talked about it before he was out there (in Game 10),” said Benavides, who took Marte aside for a “teaching” moment in the dugout after kickoff.

“They are young players. They make mistakes,” Benavides said. “And it’s something that can’t happen in the future.”

These are all areas of need, if not concern, as the front office searches for a new manager and then turns its attention to 2025.

“I hope everyone has learned from this year,” said team leader Jonathan India. “I know I learned a lot. I learned what I need to improve to be a leader.”

On By John Fenwick

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