Terry Francona will interview for the Indians' managerial position either Wednesday or Thursday of next week, reports Nick Camino of WTAM 110 (on Twitter). Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears that Francona is "excited" for the opportunity (Twitter link).
The Indians dismissed manager Manny Acta a few days ago and Sandy Alomar Jr. is serving as his interim replacement. Francona has strong relationships with GM Chris Antonetti and team president Mark Shapiro following his 2001 stint with Cleveland as a special assistant to the GM. Rosenthal hears those relationships are an "overriding factor."
In today's Insider-only blog post, ESPN's Buster Olney says he doesn't believe Francona will end up managing the Tribe. His work with the Red Sox put him in an "elite salary class," perhaps upwards of $3MM annually, which may be too pricey for the Indians. Francona could also seek a job with a team closer to contention, though yesterday MLB.com's Peter Gammons said a comfortable environment could be more important at this stage of his career.
as of 1:07 PM, EST, The Peter Gammons link takes you to a MLBTR story from yesterday, not to his site…
Well, the MLBTR story from yesterday contains a link to his Twitter.
It really seems like it’s Sandy Alomar Jr’s job to lose, but I’m rooting for Tito to fall in somewhere good.
If the Yankees don’t win the World Series and they fire Girardi, Franconia can come to the Yankees.
What kind of questions do they ask at these interviews
The questions asked run the entire gamete. From philosophical baseball questions to even gourmet questions, like ” Do you prefer fish and white wine or chicken and beer?”
(Sorry, I just couldn’t resist one last time!)
Whatever they need to to see if you can handle the job and if you’re in line with the team philosophy. Last year the Sox had a media session with all the manager candidates since handling the media is part of the job.
Nooo, please go to the Tigers! We have some good young players and some established veterans. Who wouldnt wanna manage with cabrera/fielder/vmart int he middle of an order and the top 2 strikeout pitchers in the bigs?
Lets all give a round of applause to the Dolans and their front office for putting on a show. They’re not going to hire Francona. They’re more then likely going to move their closer, who scorched the organization in the press. They have only a few above average players on the MLB roster,and their farm system ranks near the bottom, so they have a lot of work to do, even in a weak AL Central.
Safe bet Cleveland is not going to pay Francona what he’s asking for, in salary or years. He has a nice stress free job with ESPN, working a few days a week, so he can pick and choose for at least another year. This whole exercise is Cleveland just showing their fans that they are looking for the best manager available, before settling on Alomar ,their first choice. Francona extends the courtesy of listening to the offer that he’s not going to accept and lets MLB know that he’s still interested in managing at the ‘right’ price.
Francona was a big part of the Red Sox winning the World Series. I think any team will be lucky to have him as a coach.