Terry Francona to Write a Book

Kids, this is going to get juicy.  Terry Francona has struck a deal to write a memoir of his time with the Red Sox. 

As far as I can tell, Francona has never said a bad word about a single member of the organization - not even when he was escorted to the door.  But what has ESPN's newest analyst been holding back, and what are the chances that he will go all Joe Torre on his former team?

All we need now is for Houghton Mifflin to release this as an audiobook so we can listen to it while running!  It will be a blogging trifecta!

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Where Have You Gone, Tito?

First Impressions on the Bobby Valentine Hiring

Here's what I don't get about Bobby Valentine. The CW is that he's this great baseball mind, but as Joel pointed out, he was given a lot of talent and didn't do a whole lot with it. To wit: the 1992 Texas Rangers. They had Nolan Ryan and Kevin Brown pitching, and with a lineup including Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmero, Ruben Sierra, and Juan Gonzalez, they only finished fourth in their division.Fourth! (Thanks Joel for pointing that out.)

I also am concerned about what this move says about the front office/GM relationship. From all I read, Cherington wanted to go with Sveum as the manager, but was overruled by the FO in favor of the more "accomplished" BV. (read: he's managed before, and talks a pretty game on ESPN.) The search ever since Sveum went to the Cubs has felt like a kabuki theater to make it appear like Charrington was doing his due diligence  Nothing like cutting your new GM off at the knees for his first major decision! (And what does it say that the old Sox GM ended up with Sveum in Chicago?)

I'm willing to give BV the benefit of the doubt - after all, what had Francona accomplished as a manager before coming to Boston? - but the whole situation doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence. I don't like how smooth he seems, and even knowing that he took the Mets to the world series one year, I just don't feel that he's got what it takes to manage our group of entitled superstars.

Update: After I typed this up, Chad Finn typed up his reactions for the Globe. His thoughts are always worth checking out.

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Bobby Valentine to Manage Red Sox
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Terry Francona to Manage the St. Louis Cardinals?

Now that Tony LaRussa has retired, Tito is interviewing to manage the 2011 World Series champions.

When he left Fenway for the last time, it looked like there were going to be very few managerial openings anywhere in the big leagues, and he might have sit out for at least a year.  But he behaved with class and grace while continuing to show a passion for the game.

Here's hoping he gets the landing he deserves.

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One Good Reason to Watch the ALCS
Where Have You Gone, Tito?

One good reason to watch the ALCS

Apparently, Francona is going to take Tim McCarver's spot in the broadcast booth for the first two games.

Given that he rarely spoke too much, it will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

Where Have You Gone, Tito?

I can't help it. I keep pondering the events of this last weekend, from the moment when the Sox lost the final game of the season to when the final word came down: Terry Francona was no longer to be the manager of the Red Sox. Of all of the possible outcomes of the awful ending to the Sox' season, this was the most unanticipated and also the most disappointing. Moving forward, though, the real question is Why? Why would who I feel to be the best manager in Red Sox history leave?

I read a bunch of articles, the best of which are the Wheat from the Chaff summarization article from the Joy of Sox (be sure to read the comments on this one), Gordon Edes take on ESPN Boston, and Chad Finn's take from Touching all of the Bases. (For what it's worth, Finn also has an excellent immediate take on the seasons end here.) Here's what I can gather from all this.

The 2011 Red Sox were an entitled mess. As a team, they showed up out of shape, leading to their disastiourously slow start and their running out of gas at the end of the season. Certain individuals (Sounds like Beckett and Youkalis) led the team into a bitter complain-fest, leaving the more responsible members of the team (led by Pedroia and Ellsbury) to soldier along as best they could by themselves. At least one pitcher (sounds like Beckett) was drinking on the days he didn't start. Lackey was an ass throughout the entire season, bookending the worse pitching performance in Red Sox history by first claiming that "everything about my life sucks right now" and ending it with the marketing coup of divorcing his wife who is battling cancer. Wakefield and Ortiz are more concerned with chasing records than the rest of the team. And so on. And so on.

I mention all of this only because it puts Tito's frustration into context. Most accounts state that it was Francona's decision to leave the Sox, although it's hard to tell for certain. It does sound like Francona had the support of Theo, which is no small matter. But it also sounds like the front office became disillusioned with Francona's MO, which was to keep player matters private, never showing up anyone publicly, and turning a relative blind eye to any transgressions as long as they didn't effect the team. (It's important to remember that this is the same manager who allowed his team to do shots of Jack Daniels before games in 2004, and things seemed to work out that year.) He's loyal to his players to a fault (remember Mark Bellhorn?) but when the players started betraying that trust, well, not only did he lose the front office but also in his ability to effectively lead. After all, you can do everything right, but if people are tuning you out, then there's really nothing that you can do - unless there's accountability.

It's this last word that's important. Who will hold the players responsible for the problems that occurred both on and off field in 2011? The answer isn't that simple, mainly because some of the folks responsible can't really be held responsible. To pick the obvious example, there's nothing the Sox can do about John Lackey. His contract is guaranteed. So he sneers and rolls his eye at his manager, the people paying his checks can say something but they don't have a whole lot of weapons because Lackey is getting his 60-something million regardless of what they do. And so, in Finn's best line of his article, he asks "Imagine how the players of today would react to [Dick Williams' hard-assed] approach. John Lackey would have to invent a whole new repertoire of contemptuous sneers just for the manager." There's no accountability, and no way (stomach?) to discipline, and so the Red Sox turn into a NBA team with mediocre players signed to bloated, inescapable contracts. I can't really blame Tito for not wanting to stick around and see how it plays out. But it does make me sad, and I can't think of a manager or coach i've ever felt that way about other than when Marv Levy retired.

Please forgive this rambling post. I'm just not sure what to say other than to express how angry I am. Also, this. I'm sure more will come out over the course of the off-season. And i'll be watching. But for now my trust in this team is sorely dented. It'll take a bit of doing to get me fully back on board. Here's hoping the Sox can pull it off.

This is Why They Play the Games

Remember those odds I was posting on the Red Sox making the post season? Turns out someone summarized them all on a graph for us to "enjoy."

Really does put this epic collapse in perspective. An all-around choke, this one.

And that'll be my last writing on the Sox for a bit methinks. I'd like to put down my thoughts on what to do in the offseason but it's just too soon. For now, my immediate reaction is that the only people I'd keep without a doubt are Ellsbury, Pedroia, Aceves, Francona, and (surprisingly) Scutaro.