Why Ex-Red Sox Manager Found Excitement For MLB Comeback
Terry Francona has nothing left to prove as a big-league manager. He did his job with two World Series championships with the Boston Red Sox.
He added even more to that resume with another decade with the Cleveland Guardians, which included another American League pennant in 2016. Francona stepped away from the game after the 2023 season. He enjoyed his year away in 2024 before the Cincinnati Reds came calling and sparked his desire to come back to the managerial seat, which he discussed when he accepted the Baseball Legacy award from The Sports Museum at TD Garden last November.
“I’ll tell you the truth, I was not thinking about coming back managing,” Francona told MLB Network’s Mark DeRosa and Brian Kenny. “I had a good year. I really did.”
Francona, in multiple interviews since his hire, has expressed an early connection to the Reds organization that made him excited about being in the middle of baseball once again.
“It felt right again,” Francona added. “I like where I’m at. That’s a good thing.”
The Reds seek their first playoff appearance in 2020, and stars such as Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene are prominent on the roster.
“With this group, they nod and they listen,” Francona said. “They want to get better. I told them we were going to go through this together. It’s not when we play good it’s us and when we play bad, it’s you. We’ll go through this together. That’s how I’ve always felt.”
The Reds open the 2025 regular season on March 27 when they host the San Francisco Giants.