Could Reds poach Guardians coach? "(Francona) would be the reason" why

Can the Cincinnati Reds steal some secrets from the small-market trio that made up the last three teams standing in the playoff field this month?

Or maybe just steal one of their pitching coaches?

Cleveland Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis said he's not sure what kind of fit he might be with the Reds at this point in his career.

But his track record and relationship with Reds manager Terry Francona make him perhaps the most obvious outside candidate to consider for a team with a lot of ground to make up and a short window with its talented core and high-profile manager.

"Cleveland means a lot to me. This organization has been so good to me," said Willis, who has spent 16 seasons — including the past nine consecutively – guiding the Cleveland's top-flight pitching staff at the big-league level.

"But I'll also tell you that Tito has been very, very good to me as well," Willis added. "I tell him all the time how much better he made me, just the experience I had with him, the trust he put in me."

Francona and Willis spent six seasons together in Cleveland, winning three AL Central titles.

As the Reds continue the process of replacing former pitching coach Derek Johnson , Willis became available for interviews this week after the Guardians were eliminated in the American League Championship Series by the Rays.

Willis, 65, has worked in recent years on a year-to-year agreement with the Guardians, reserving the freedom to decide at the end of each season what he might want to do next.

"I've kind of told the organization the last couple of years that I need to get to the end of the year and think about it," said Willis, who pitched in the majors for nine years, including 40 relief appearances for the Reds over the 1985 and '86 seasons. "But I don't know the best thing for me or another organization, if they were interested in pursuing that – going somewhere new knowing that you're feeling like you're kind of year-to-year, I don't know if that's fair to anybody.

"If that were to happen, and then all of a sudden they're back to a new potential philosophy or whatever … I'm pretty happy with where I'm at, and we'll see what happens."

The other side of the career-timing issue Willis raised is that he and Francona are roughly the same age, have the longstanding relationship that should mean a seamless transition, and it might be reasonable to expect Willis to stick around as long as Francona does.

Francona has one more guaranteed year left on his contract, plus an club option for 2028.

The Guardians have finished among the top five in American League team ERA seven of the past nine seasons with Willis as the pitching coach and has been part of helping set an MLB standard for developing big-league pitchers, including working with CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Corey Kluber and Shane Bieber along the way.

The Reds have interviewed in-house candidates Matt Tracy and Oscar Marin for the pitching coach job and this week were still considering potential outside candidates.

That process might accelerate with only the Brewers and Rays still playing.

Willis didn't know how he might fit into that process or even whether a change to the other team in Ohio would work for him. But Francona admittedly is the wild card for his part in it.

"I can truthfully tell you: I'm not saying I would even consider it, but if I were to, he would be the reason," Willis said.