CINCINNATI - The last-place Reds will keep Bryan Price on for another year, the team announced Friday.
Despite the club’s underwhelming performance -- 67 wins and 92 losses going into the season's final weekend -- Price said he sees “the light at the end of the tunnel" and anticipates improvement next season.
''I couldn't be happier with the coaching staff and the way the players hung in there during a challenging season,'' Price said. ''The fruits of that showed up certainly in the second half with a lot better win-loss record and a lot better statistical representation of our team.''
Price and the Reds agreed to a one-year contract with a team option. The entire coaching staff also has been offered contracts for 2017.
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The Reds entered Friday's game 34 1/2 games out of first in the NL Central. They set a franchise record by using 32 pitchers and a major league record by allowing 253 home runs. The Reds went 32-57 before the All-Star break before improving to 35-35 in the second half.
Price, who joined the Reds as pitching coach in 2010, has been overseeing a rebuilding effort since he took over the manager's job when Dusty Baker was fired after the 2013 season, His overall record is 207-276. The way he's handled the challenge was one reason he was rehired, team president and chief executive officer Bob Castellini said in a statement.
''Bryan has been here seven seasons now,'' Castellini said. ''He's comfortable with the direction we are heading with our young players, and we are comfortable with him leading us in that direction.''
"Three years ago we felt Bryan was the right person to help us move the organization forward, and our opinion of him hasn't changed," said Walt Jocketty, president of baseball operations. “While we haven’t produced the record we would have liked, we look at the youth of our team, particularly our pitching staff, and the unusually large number of injuries we’ve suffered over the last few years."
