Former Red Sox manager Terry Francona said on SportsCenter Thursday that he would hire a former member of his coaching staff in Boston to replace Bobby Valentine.
“I’ll give you four names,” Francona said. “If this was my decision, this would be the direction I would want to go: John Farrell is a name that is already being thrown around. Now, he’s the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, so there are some issues there. (Orioles third base coach) DeMarlo Hale, well respected. (Former Astros manager) Brad Mills, well respected again. (Red Sox bench coach) Tim Bogar.
“All guys that have been working there in the past through the good times. They would immediately have the players’ respect -- and I am talking about (Dustin) Pedroia, (Clay) Buchholz, (Jon) Lester, (Will) Middlebrooks -- moving forward.”
Francona did seem to sympathize with Valentine given the difficulty of managing in Boston.
“You can’t be prepared for it. It’s 24 hours a day, every day of the week,” Francona said. “The biggest thing is you don’t need to go looking for news because it will find you. You have to recognize it is a little different animal and you have to try to create an atmosphere where the players can just play and not worry about the things on the periphery.”
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