BOSTON (AP) – Success-starved fans, prima donna players, swarms of media and bad karma that has surrounded his new team since 1918 – Terry Francona figures he’s prepared for just about everything a Boston manager can face.
“Think about it for a second: I’ve been released from six teams. I’ve been fired as a manager. I’ve got no hair. I’ve got a nose that’s three sizes too big for my face, and I grew up in a major league clubhouse,” Francona said.
“My skin’s pretty thick. I’ll be OK.”
The Red Sox hired Francona on Thursday, more than a month after letting Grady Little go for failing to get the last five outs Boston needed to vanquish the New York Yankees and reach the World Series. Francona, 44, was given a three-year deal with an option for a fourth; financial terms were not disclosed.
The son of a ballplayer, Francona played 10 seasons for five major league teams – he signed with a sixth but never made it back to the majors – and was Michael Jordan’s manager at Double-A Birmingham during the basketball star’s aborted attempt to play baseball.
“I had a lot of experience, early on, dealing with the biggest star,” Francona said.
The Red Sox also interviewed Los Angeles third-base coach Glenn Hoffman, Anaheim bench coach Joe Maddon and Texas first-base coach DeMarlo Hale. But Francona was established as an early front-runner, and his hiring was delayed only by the team’s pursuit of pitcher Curt Schilling.
The Red Sox traded four players to Arizona for Schilling last week, but he wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause until signing a new contract that guarantees him $37.5 million over the next three years. Schilling said one incentive for him to sign in Boston was word that Francona was “a slam dunk” to be the new manager.
But he insisted that he did not make Francona’s hiring a condition of the deal, and the Red Sox didn’t promise it.
“I think Schill just wants to pitch opening day,” Francona joked. “I love Schill. I don’t think he’s responsible for getting me the job.”
Francona managed Schilling over four losing seasons in Philadelphia from 1997-2000, never winning more than 77 games. Getting fired didn’t dampen his obvious enthusiasm or his belief that he could be a successful major league manager.
“I always felt like if I put the players and the organization first and myself second, things would work out,” he told reporters. “And you know what? I’m sitting here in front of you guys today. I feel like it’s worked out.”
Little averaged 94 wins over two seasons and took the Red Sox to the playoffs this year for the first time since 1999. They came back from a 2-0 deficit against Oakland, winning three in a row to take the best-of-five, first-round series and play the Yankees for the right to go to the World Series.
Boston led New York 5-2 in the seventh inning of the decisive seventh game, but Little opted to go with tiring ace Pedro Martinez instead of a recently rehabilitated bullpen. Martinez blew the lead, the Yankees won 6-5 on Aaron Boone’s 11th-inning homer off Tim Wakefield and Little was let go after the season.
Red Sox management insisted that Little’s fate wasn’t determined by one loss. Instead, the Boston brass had grown frustrated by his lack of preparation and willingness to wing it rather than trust the statistical analysis it thought was the solution to the team’s 85-year championship drought.
Even Little’s detractors said he was deft at handling a combustible clubhouse, dealing with Manny Ramirez when he called in sick for a key series and keeping Pedro Martinez happy and productive. Francona said he wasn’t afraid to be a players’ manager, but that he also knows he needs to lay down the law at times.
“The players will know that I care about them more than anybody ever cared about them before. And they will know that I respect them, hopefully more than anybody’s ever respected them before,” he said. “But I will also ask more of them than anybody’s ever asked of them before.”
Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said Francona seemed to strike the right combination of clubhouse charmer and dugout tactician. But, before hiring him, Epstein wanted to make sure that Francona wouldn’t be too light of a touch in a clubhouse that always seems on the verge of controversy.
“It’s so hard not to like him,” Epstein said. “In doing my follow-up research, I was very satisfied that he has a tough side to him and can draw the line and show the authority that is sometimes necessary.
Francona played for Montreal, the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Milwaukee, batting .274 with 16 homers in 708 games. He played in the Cardinals organization in 1991, but never got to St. Louis.
