It was on this day in 1908 that Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps threw a perfect game against the Chicago White Sox. Joss basically had to be perfect to secure the 1-0 victory, as opposing pitcher and fellow Hall-of-Famer Ed Walsh recorded 15 strikeouts in the game. Here's some modern-day news and notes about this very imperfect season for the Tribe…
- Terry Francona is the favorite to become the Indians' next manager, tweets Nick Camino of WTAM 1100 Radio. Francona and current Tribe interim manager Sandy Alomar Jr. will both interview for the job later this week and are the only known canadidates to replace Manny Acta on the Indians' bench.
- Francona and the Indians are perfectly matched to fit each other's needs, opines ESPN's Jim Bowden (Insider subscription required). While Bowden believes Alomar deserves to be a manager someday, he thinks the pressure is on Cleveland GM Chris Antonetti to deliver quick results. "This is the wrong time and place for Antonetti to take a chance or gamble on an unproven manager. He needs a sure thing to keep his own job, and the Indians need to hire the best available, given the lack of trust from the Indians’ fan base," Bowden writes.
- Travis Hafner "hasn't talked to anybody" in the Indians' front office about their plans for him but he would like to remain with the club, reports MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. The Indians will surely decline Hafner's $13MM option for 2013, making the 35-year-old DH a free agent after 10 years in Cleveland.
- As reported earlier today, Chris Perez said that he wants to stay with the Indians in 2013.
I don’t know about that whole “sure thing” stuff with a so-called proven manager. Look at how well that worked out for the Red Sox with Bobby V this season. Meanwhile, the Cardinals and White Sox did pretty good with unproven managers.
My one wish right now is that the Sox would fire Bobby before tomorrow’s game so we fans can have something to be excited about (since Matsuzaka/Kuroda is hardly exciting for a Sox fan…)
Is it the NY weather or the Red Sox’s play that’s dampened your outlook?
How come all the sudden Francona is the favorite to manage the Indians? All I’ve been reading since Acta’s dismissal is that Sandy was the favorite to nab the job.
I’ve got to wonder if Francona is really the favorite for the job or if some in the media just want him to be.
i know what you mean and I often wonder the same – particularly after that period a year or two ago when Bobby Valentine was rumored to be the favorite for practically every managerial opening available – including jobs he hadn’t even interviewed for.
Stuff like that really highlights the [sports] media’s increasing tendency to not just report the news, but to actually campaign for what they would like to see happen.
Everyone says why would Francona want to come to Cleveland? Money. A Job. $4-5 Million dollars…
Does anyone realistically see the Indians offering Francona a 5mAAV, or 10% of it’s payroll? I don’t and probably why he does not go there.