So what does the baseball world think of the job Terry Francona did managing the low-budget Cleveland Guardians to another American League Central division title and a wild-card matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday afternoon?
As I do with all important baseball questions, I called the smartest man I've known in the game for an answer.
"I sent him a text the day after they clinched and told him he had done one of the best managing jobs in the history of baseball," Jim Leyland said.
"Now, he had good pitching. Good pitching can take you a long way. But what he has done with those kids is incredible. He has such a nice touch with his players. He does it a little differently. He's laid back most of the time, but he'll step on the pedal when he has to. He just has a good feel for how to handle things."
Pretty good endorsement, right?
It turns out Francona also calls Leyland with his significant baseball questions. "The gold standard," he called Leyland. The best man to ask his biggest question:
"Jim, how did you know when it was time to retire?"
"I'll tell you exactly what I told him," Leyland said. "'When the wins don't taste as good and the losses don't hurt as bad, it's time.'"
Sound advice, correct?
But much more will go into the retirement decision for Francona, 63, who is New Brighton born and raised, played 10 seasons in the big leagues and became the most-scrutinized minor league manager in history when he had Michael Jordan at Double-A Birmingham in 1994. Clearly, he still is on top of his game. This was his fourth division title with the Guardians/Indians since he took the job in 2013 and the 12th season of his career with at least 90 wins, a feat matched by only seven other managers in MLB history. His 1,874 wins rank 16th all time.
There is more.
Francona ended the Boston Red Sox's 86-year "Curse of the Bambino" by leading them to the World Series championship in 2004, and then won it all again in 2007. He nearly won a third World Series in 2016 when he led the then-Indians to the 10th inning of Game 7 before they lost to the Chicago Cubs.
Derek Shelton has noticed all of it.
"This guy has got to go down as one of the best managers in history," he said of Francona this week. "He's a Hall of Famer."
Unfortunately for Francona, his baseball future is complicated by a variety of health issues. He missed 46 of the 60 games plus two wild-card games during the 2020 COVID season because of gastrointestinal and blood-clotting issues that required three surgeries in four days and time in the intensive care unit. His problems got worse when he developed a staph infection in his left big toe after the 2020 season. He started spring training in 2021 on crutches.
"Nothing was easy," Francona said last week. "Having meetings. Going out to the field. Taking a shower. I had a port in my arm because I had to take medicine three times a day. Finally, about the end of July, I just kind of gave in and had to leave the team. They did my hip [replacement] and then they did my toe. I was on crutches until the middle of January. ...
"The toe was way harder than I ever thought it would be. They put a rod in there with eight screws. It was awful. I asked the doc at one point, 'Can't you just cut it off?' He said he couldn't do that. At least now, I've got two shoes on, which is a lot better than last season. I have one more surgery after the season is over and, hopefully, then I'll be good to go. I like to think I'm trending in the right direction."
Francona thought about retiring after last season but was encouraged by his bosses — president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff — to return this season. It's no wonder those same bosses are encouraging him to come back again in 2023 after his work with a team that had 16 players make their MLB debut.
"Anyplace else, I probably already would have retired," Francona said. "But these people here are so special. They're so good to me. It's got me through some pretty tough times."
So has the play of Francona's young team.
"They don't back down from challenges," he said. "They compete. And if you tell them something once, they get it. They haven't made a ton of mistakes, but when they do, they don't make them again. ...
"Somebody asked me when I know a team is special. It's not when they get the final out of the season and you're champions. These guys, in my mind, are already special. I don't have a crystal ball and I don't know how it's going to go moving forward, but that doesn't take away from these guys being special to me."
You have to be a real baseball fan to know Francona's players. Starting pitchers Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill give the team a chance in any series. The bullpen, led by Emmanuel Clase with 42 saves, most in baseball, has been strong. Third baseman Jose Ramirez led the team with 29 home runs and 126 RBIs after signing a five-year, $124 million contract in April. Left fielder Steven Kwan should finish second in American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Seattle's Julio Rodriguez.
"We have to pitch," Francona said. "We don't spread many games out. We don't hit a bunch of home runs. I think we're 29th in baseball. We play close games. It's a hard way to win, but it doesn't mean you can't. It's just hard."
Shelton isn't the first baseball man to mention Francona as a Hall of Famer.
Francona is an absolute lock.
"I never think about that. Honest, I don't," he said. "One thing I will brag about is I think I have set the record for being around good people. I know that. So don't get too carried away with yourself. I try to do the best I can. I care about now. Somebody asked me about my legacy. I don't even know what the hell legacy means. I just want to enjoy what I'm doing and do it the best I can. And then, I'll go golf somewhere.
"I'm a baseball lifer, you know? I don't apologize for that."
No apology necessary.
