Red Sox fans will miss Terry Francona. And the Red Sox will miss him, too. The apparently mutually agreed-upon no-fault divorce between the manager and the team soon after Boston fizzled down the stretch and failed to make the American League playoffs happened too quickly for my taste while the organization was still reeling.
Everyone should have taken time to exhale. Sure, the collapse of the team in September, going from nine games ahead of Tampa Bay to being shipped back to Boston before the fun part of the season began, was jarring, demoralizing, and embarrassing. But a 90-win season, five playoff appearances in eight years, and most importantly, two World Series championships, should have bought Francona at least a one-season do-over.
Was it really his fault that the Sox folded? With all of the pitching staff injuries during the year? Once upon a time the rotation included Daisuke Matsuzaka. Once upon a time Clay Buchholz was the ace in waiting. At the end, there was no Kevin Youkilis around. And the Sox were down to their third-string catcher. For all of that they should have made the playoffs, anyway, but the epidemic of disabled list casualties should not be discounted.
No matter where he goes–and Francona will be in demand to manage elsewhere–and no matter who the Red Sox hire to replace him, Francona, whose career record as boss of the Sox is 744-552 in the regular season, Boston fans should always love him. It took 86 years between 1918 and 2004 for the Red Sox to win a Series crown and Francona was at the helm when the real impossible dream (as opposed to the 1967 season) came true. Then he did it again, leading Boston to a second title in 2007. For those two seasons, the Red Sox should erect a statue of Francona.
Who is the competition for Francona to be ranked as the most beloved manager in Red Sox Nation history? It ain’t Pinky Higgins. Nor is it Eddie Kasko or Billy Herman.
It is difficult to imagine whom the Red Sox will install next that could improve on Francona. Casey Stengel and Leo Durocher are dead.
When making a change teams often use the argument that players have tuned out the manager. But if an organization is committed to its guy, especially in this age of revolving-door roster turnover, it will throw its weight behind the boss and let the players know he is Commander In Chief. It’s a pretty good bet that the Red Sox are in for some major changes on the field next season. They will shop for more starting pitching. It may be the end of the line for Tim Wakefield, who is about the same age as Fenway Park. J.D. Drew may not survive to play another day. Jason Varitek will be exiled. David Ortiz shocked everyone with his redemption season so he could be back in 2012 after all. But expect general manager Theo Epstein to be ruthless, not sentimental in his pruning.
Whoever the new manager is, he will be under tremendous pressure to take the Red Sox back to the World Series immediately. What he does will be measured against what Terry Francona accomplished and the only way he will get the populace to say, ‘Terry, who?” is if commissioner Bud Selig is handing over a fancy trophy to Sox brass at the end of next October.