It might develop into naïve see the hiring of Terry Francona as an indication that Bob Castellini is immediately going to show into pre-pandemic John Henry and Nick Krall will morph into Dave Dombrowski, churning his predecessor’s farm system, exchanging promise for the confirmed.
However that’s the opening sentiment amongst a fan base starved for change. For a lot of, this feels much like the day Dusty Baker was employed. Past the nice and cozy and fuzzy feeling for the person referred to as Tito, there stay stark variations between the hope in 2008 and this new hope at the moment. The younger gamers Baker inherited—Bailey, Cueto, Votto and Bruce—all got here by; and reinforcements had been forthcoming, busy hammers closing up the rivets within the type of Mat Latos, Aroldis Chapman, and others. In 2012, a complete beginning pitching employees did the not possible, not lacking a begin attributable to damage.
Francona arrives amid a sea of uncertainty. His promising beginning pitching employees has but to show it might probably take the bump on a constant foundation, a lot much less pitch into October. He has one confirmed star on offense, a strong supporting actor in Tyler Stephenson; the remaining stay query marks. And nothing in Monday’s press convention steered possession and the entrance workplace had extra on their plate past the brand new appetizer they had been inserting on the 2025 menu.
Francona arrives promising a lot of the identical qualities as he did when making use of for the Indians’ job over a decade in the past:
“When Francona interviewed for the job, he first submitted a 17-page manifesto … the thesis outlined his core philosophies as a supervisor. Along with matters similar to management, loyalty, clever base operating, his desired relationship with the entrance workplace and training employees, work ethic, how he handles failure and the way he offers with the media, he harassed his perception that everybody ought to have a voice in decision-making. [Indians President] Shapiro mentioned he was “amazed at his open-mindedness at bringing in folks and getting their opinions. That set an instantaneous tone for the group.” The membership’s scouting and participant improvement departments began working collectively extra within the ensuing years. A pitching manufacturing unit adopted. That’s no coincidence.”
He’ll want greater than a clubhouse tradition change and a shuffling of coaches and concepts Nick Krall claimed was obligatory, greater than the standard entrance office-speak when a brand new supervisor is launched. He’ll want—amongst different issues—ballplayers that may perform that tradition, clubhouse enforcers that the staff respects, the sort that Sparky Anderson had, first with Lee Could …
“I can’t inform you what number of occasions I had Could in for a little bit speak about one thing that was improper and he’d say ‘OK, Skip, I’ll handle it.’”
… and later with Bench, Rose and Perez. Francona will want a participant like Scott Rolen, introduced in to provide a tradition increase to supervisor Baker, the form of participant he doesn’t have on this present Cincinnati clubhouse; the form of participant he apparently didn’t have on the finish in Boston.
It was the Boston Globe that took the fan base behind the scenes to a dysfunctional Purple Sox that finally acquired Francona relieved of his duties. The top of the 2011 season noticed Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey retiring to the clubhouse throughout September to play video video games and gorge themselves on beer and fast-food hen whereas their teammates toiled on the sector. As Francona informed native station WEEI:
“The fellows that weren’t down on the bench, I needed them down on the bench.’ I needed them to help their teammates.”
In keeping with the article, vital gamers, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis, had been additionally MIA when it got here to clubhouse management.
All of this illustrates how unfair it will likely be to guage Terry Francona merely by wins and losses, lack of participant improvement, bullpen efficiency or any of the standard fan metrics.
What Zack Meisel described within the Athletic all these years in the past stay eerily related at the moment:
“On that fall night in 2012, Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti offered each problem he would encounter: a inflexible, paltry payroll, a lackluster farm system, a roster that produced 94 losses, an unenthused fan base. Think about shivering within the dugout in late April throughout a sport in opposition to the Royals in entrance of a sparse crowd, Shapiro informed him. Is that basically what Francona, who received two titles in Boston and will hand-pick his subsequent gig, needed to enroll in?”
Simply he was “energized and motivated” then, Tito Francona is as soon as extra energized and motivated, albeit with a greater farm system.
He’s going to want reinforcements within the type of not simply on-the-field management, but in addition main league expertise. Something much less can be akin to patching the Titanic with a can of Flex Seal.
The concern right here is that the attain for Francona was a Hail Mary try, made with the hope that if accepted, it will exonerate the powers that be from any obligation to journey additional down the standard highway to relevance, a/okay/a, spending important $$$. Francona did nothing to discourage that notion when launched. It stays to be seen if Terry was talking frankly, or merely maintaining his new bosses plans mum for now.
Dustin Pedroia as soon as informed Mike Napoli, who was contemplating signing with the Indians:
“He informed me he was a participant’s supervisor, a man that cares for every little thing you do, that it’s real,” mentioned Napoli. “He mentioned he’s a man who is aware of the sport and that I’d love taking part in for him as a result of he’s such a veteran supervisor.”
Now sits expectation within the cool October air. Now, the ready for what subsequent October brings begins as soon as once more. Does Nick Krall and Co. know that Terry Francona can’t be our ONLY hope?
