Terry Francona
Terry Francona
Terrence Jon "Terry" Francona, nicknamed "Tito", is the current manager of the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball. He was a first baseman and outfielder in the majors from 1981 to 1990. After retiring as a player, he managed several minor league teams in the 1990s before managing the Philadelphia Phillies for four seasons. In 2004, Francona was hired to manage the Boston Red Sox, and that year he led the team to its first World Series championship since 1918...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth22 April 1959
CityAberdeen, SD
CountryUnited States of America
When you get down to your last game, you can have a bullpen full of everybody. You can't do that right now. We need somebody to make these starts. While they're still starting, they need to start. Once we get past each guy's start, you may see various guys going out of that bullpen as soon as they're available. That's a definite.
The excitement level will be off the charts. You'll see a lot of guys running to the ballpark. I might jog.
We also told him that if he can't (pitch in relief) then he won't do it. But I think because of the kind of guy he is, he's shooting for it.
I have a limited opinion on that. I want our guy to win.
We signed him because he's one of the best pitchers in the league. Now we're close to having that guy back.
It's hard to be a clubhouse guy without being a great guy. I mean, the nature of the job is, you know, you're picking up dirty clothes and you're doing all the tasks that the players - that nobody else wants to do.
It worked out well. We put a nice crooked number up early and we got to stay away from some guys in the ?pen that we wanted to.
And I went back to make sure he wasn't lying. I checked in the cage, and asked the guys who were throwing to him.
It's kind of interesting when a guy struggles. Maybe sometimes it gives you a little way to get to know him a little bit better. I like this kid. This is a keeper. He didn't have a very good outing the other day but he's a keeper. The more you get to know people, the better you feel about them.
I thought this was by far the best. He's got a fair chance now to be himself.
We wanted to make sure everybody left in the same shape they came.
I think he felt like somebody might have pushed his buttons a little bit. I try to speak in generalities, because I don't want to ever communicate through the media. I think he felt like maybe I did that a little bit. I certainly don't ever want to do that.
I thought it was pretty obvious that he's not ready to be on the field. We don't need to force him into something he's not ready for.
This was one of those things where Theo thought to himself that if we found ourselves in a 12-inning game at some point this weekend and a situation arises where we could use him and we didn't have him . . . he'd be kicking himself.