Terry Francona Praises Kyle Schwarber as Reds Pursue Free Agent Slugger

The Winter Meetings are officially underway in Orlando, Florida, this week, and Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona spoke to reporters on Monday afternoon.

With all of the rumors surrounding the Reds being linked to free agent Kyle Schwarber, Francona was asked about the veteran slugger.

Guys like that... they're difference makers," Francona told MLB Network Radio.

The front office and managers are never going to go into much detail when it comes to potential free agent deals or potential trades, but Francona clearly thinks highly of the veteran.

“He’s a really good player, and he’s a really good kid,” Francona told Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard. “He has a great reputation. Other than that, I’d like to leave it to him to speak about whatever he wants to because that’s the most respectful way to handle it.”

Schwarber makes a lot of sense for a Reds team that struggled to hit the ball out of the ballpark in 2025. He loves Cincinnati and spoke about it while he was back in town last month.

"It's always great," Schwarber said. "Whenever we are here, it's always fun for us. Our family is here. My wife's family. We got all of our friends here. It's always fun for us to be here. This is a place that we call home. We love it here and we are going to spend a lot of time here as a family in the future."

If the Reds could convince Schwarber to sign with them, it would be a massive offseason victory.

You can read Goldsmith's full report on the first day of the Winter Meetings here.

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