Manny called Francona after Sox exit

In his interview on The Big Show, former Red Sox manager Terry Francona revealed that he received a phone call from Manny Ramirez after the decision was made on Friday that he would not be returning to the Boston dugout following the disappointing end to the 2011 season.

"Actually, Manny called me. How ‘bout that?" Francona said. "I was very surprised. It was actually a very nice message and I appreciated it a lot."

The context of that revelation was a question about how Francona, after having managed a player like Ramirez who generated constant headaches from 2004 through the middle of the 2008 season (when he was traded), could have found it so difficult to manage the Red Sox clubhouse this year.

"What we did with Manny was, and I didn’t want to speak out of school, but I would always call the veterans in, eight or nine of them because we had a very veteran team," recalled Francona. "I would say, guys, look, here’s what I can do. I see what’s going on here. I explained it to David [Ortiz], to [Jason Varitek], to Mikey Lowell, that whatever you want me to do, I’ll do, but just know that if I do this, we’re going to lose this guy.

"To a man, they’d always say, ‘We can handle this. We’ve got your back. We’ll take care of this. We’ll take his production, and we’ll do it as a team.’ They did a great job of it. Then when it got to the point where it was becoming too much, [GM Theo Epstein] traded him, because I think it was getting to the point where the problems were outweighing the production and that doesn’t help anyone."

Francona suggested that such internal clubhouse management, in which players handle their own affairs, is a sign of a strong team. Implicitly, there was the sense that the 2011 Sox were not such a team.

"I’m not trying to shirk responsibility. I do think the great teams, the players police themselves," said Francona. "When things get a little bit messy, someone steps in and says, ‘Clean it up.’ Over the years, we’ve had extraordinary people doing that."

To listen to the complete interview, click here. For more Red Sox coverage, visit weei.com/redsox.