Francona Apparently Leaving Sox

[Dojji]

I see the logic of that. In all honesty, we're probably looking too close to home for a good manager anyway.

[VA Sox Fan]

If by "personality" you mean "annoyingness" or "speaking before thinking" you're probably right. However' date=' Fracona's personality has really played well in Boston. He manages to really deflect things from his players... except this year it was too much to handle.[/quote']

 

No way I would want Valentine.

[VA Sox Fan]

My thoughts exactly.

 

All the more reason to think about releasing Ortiz and trading Youkilis and anyone else who is hard to get along with or who makes it harder for guys like Pedroia, Ellsbury, or Lester to do their jobs well

 

Ortiz and Youk don't get along with the other players?

[Dojji]

In all reality, we're probably looking for a retread, a guy who failed in another bad organization but has ideas the FO likes. It's tempting to try the fresh face, but we all know how effective Trey Hillman turned out to be.

 

That being the case, what's Ken Macha doing these days? The ownership has had ties with him in the past a couple different ways, and he's been a successful big league manater in the past, he might be a viable option now.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Woah. Lou Merloni just had a hell of an idea.

 

Kevin Millar.

[Dojji]

God no. I can not possibly see that ending well.

 

Millar was a good comrade, a good teammate, but as a manager? Please no.

 

Our new manager is almost definitely not going to be a former Red Sox player. Francona wasn't, Little wasn't, not too many of the guys before were either. Not in our nature to shop locally when it comes to managerial talent. If it was I'd just suggest Tek and say be done with it.

[boston22407]

Hopefully someone that bitch slaps one of the jack ass in the locker room

[SoxFanForsyth]

God no. I can not possibly see that ending well.

 

Millar was a good comrade, a good teammate, but as a manager? Please no.

 

Our new manager is almost definitely not going to be a former Red Sox player. Francona wasn't, Little wasn't, not too many of the guys before were either. Not in our nature to shop locally when it comes to managerial talent. If it was I'd just suggest Tek and say be done with it.

 

There's a difference between the manager being a guy who played with some of the guys on the team now, vs that of a guy like Jim Rice or Dennis Eckersley who didn't play with any of the guys on the team now.

 

Eck or Rice would both be great managers. How about Millar as a bench coach? Someone needs to be in there to loosen up the clubhouse.

[Dojji]

How about Millar actually gets some managerial experience in the minors, and we'll talk about this if he turns out to be 100)% better than I expect at it and actually does an adequate job. I'm not one of those redneck accent = idiot people, but Millar never struck me as anything resembling an intellectual titan, and managing is about 500% mental. I just can't see it in him.

 

Bill Mueller on the other hand... well, that might be more interesting.

[BigPapiEnFuego]

I like the Jim Rice idea. He seemed like he'd get along with everyone well, but when players f*** up he'd let them know it. Same with Eck.

 

 

And Millar? Hahaha, let's have Manny Ramirez be the hitting coach and Johnny Damon the bench coach. Maybe Keith Foulke can be the pitching coach.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Hey man. All I'm saying is that Millar will keep the clubhouse loose. That's what we need, to play relaxed.

 

Maybe he wouldn't be a good manager, but he could be a good "coach" that's just there to keep everyone from pressing.

[BigPapiEnFuego]

Isn't all of that what was supposedly so good about Francona though?

[Dojji]

I don't think he could do that from a position of being the boss, not as well as he did when he was a player.

 

It's not a terrible idea, but I don't think it reflects the reality of the situation.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

Woah. Lou Merloni just had a hell of an idea.

 

Kevin Millar.

 

Lou Merloni is pants-on-head retarded.

[Spitball]

Carlton Fisk might be an interesting avenue to look towards. Catchers make greT managers as a rule and he would take control of a clubhouse.

[SoxSport]

Apparently, Francona is out officially. That's the word on mlb.com

 

I'm hearing Valentine's name in a number of places. He seems a good fit in terms of team needs.

Smart, experienced, disciplined, fundamentals oriented, good with media (a part of the media, actually).

 

I would suspect the coaching staff will be cleaned out, as well. The new manager should bring in his own people, though the GM has a hand in that, too.

 

Some of the other guys mentioned don't have the experience to handle the Red Sox clubhouse situation right now. These are a bunch of talented guys who have been given too long a leash--for too long.

Try handling that without prior managing experience in MLB.

[InfernoOrangeSS]

In all reality' date=' we're probably looking for a retread, a guy who failed in another bad organization but has ideas the FO likes. [/u'] It's tempting to try the fresh face, but we all know how effective Trey Hillman turned out to be.

 

That being the case, what's Ken Macha doing these days? The ownership has had ties with him in the past a couple different ways, and he's been a successful big league manater in the past, he might be a viable option now.

 

I agree...that is exactly what we got when they hired Francona. I remember thinking, "What the hell? This guy was a disaster in Philadelphia, and they bring this in to replace Little?" I think a retread who has struggled in a smaller market could do well with the collection of talent the Red Sox have. As stated earlier, the job is one of the top 3 most coveted spots in all of baseball.

 

Just my opinion.

[SoxFanForsyth]

BOSTON -- Terry Francona told Boston Red Sox staff members on Thursday that he will not be returning as manager, a club source said on Friday.

 

All indications are that Francona, who arrived at Fenway around 9:15 a.m., followed shortly thereafter by owner John Henry, is still meeting with Sox brass.

[Dojji]

I'll ask it again because I think it got missed the last time:

 

What about Ken Macha?

[RedSox_Ruszkowski]

boston.com ............... FRANCONA OUT

[jacksonianmarch]

Macha? I would LOVE that. And remember where my allegiance lies

[example1]

Macha? I would LOVE that. And remember where my allegiance lies

 

You are patently untrustworthy my friend.

 

I'm waiting for all of the "FRANCONA SUCKS" posters to show up... so far the tone is more muted than I thought it would be, given the dislike fans have had for Francona. I don't think it's a great thing that he's leaving.

 

Francona had strengths and weaknesses, but I think overall his strengths were hidden because they were behind the scenes while his weaknesses just happened to be the most public aspects of his game.

[RedSox_Ruszkowski]

shouldn't have let Farrell go last year... would have loved to have seen him step up as OUR manager...

[Cocos Disciples]

Somebody mentioned Dave Martinez earlier. I've always liked him (and his beard).

[TedWilliams101]

Apparently Tito was leaving regardless of the FO decision. He said the team this year was not as he was expecting (attitude wise), pitchers drinking in the clubhouse, general bad attitude and he didn't want any more of it. I guess Tito really did lose control of this team. I'm not liking what I'm hearing about the team chemistry. The problem players need to go in my opinion.

[Cairns_Sox]

Is it definitely officially? I've heard that all parties have left Fenway and there was no comment from anyone. Is he gone?

[BigPapiEnFuego]

Is it definitely officially? I've heard that all parties have left Fenway and there was no comment from anyone. Is he gone?

 

Yeah, it's pretty official. It's on MLB's website I think.

[Cocos Disciples]

Is it definitely officially? I've heard that all parties have left Fenway and there was no comment from anyone. Is he gone?

 

I don't think its technically official, but he's leaving.

[Cairns_Sox]

Decision on Monday im hearing. IMO, they know the backlash they might get out of this decision and maybe they taking the weekend. However the body language that Tito was displaying yesterday in the press conference didnt look good.

[malzone]

He's gone. He had a great run for the most part. Longest since Cronin. Theo's gone. Hopefully, Slackey and Drew are as well.