The Indians announced via their team twitter feed that former Red Sox manager Terry Francona has been named the 42nd manager in team history. A press conference introducing him will take place on Monday. Francona will inherit an Indians team that finished last year with a 68-94 record.
In 12 years as a big league manager, Francona has a 1,029-915 record (.529 winning percentage), having followed four difficult years in Philadelphia from 1997-2000 (285-363, .440) with eight tremendously successful seasons in Boston during which he went 744-552 (.574) during which he led the Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007.
Francona spent the 2001 season as a special assistant to the GM with the Indians, during which he became close with both Mark Shapiro (now the Indians president) and Chris Antonetti (now Indians GM). He has often referred to that year as one of his most important as a manager. (For more on his ties to Cleveland and the appeal of that job, click here [1].)
"Because of Chris and Mark and my relationship, I am excited to tackle or attempt to tackle every challenge that comes our way and do it together," Francona said on Friday after he interviewed [2].
Francona, whom the Sox let go without picking up his option after last September's collapse left the team one game short of the playoffs, spent the last year as an ESPN analyst.
For complete Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox [3].
Links:
[1] http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2012/09/29/how-the-indians-helped-turn-terry-francona-into-a-managerial-star/
[2] http://weei.stats.com/mlb/story.asp?i=20121005105549621974108&ref=hea&tm=&src=
[3] http://www.weei.com/redsox
[4] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox