Terry Francona’s contract is up after the season, and the veteran manager told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal that he has been in talks with team officials about his future with the Guardians. It seems basically a foregone conclusion that Francona will remain as the Guards’ skipper beyond 2022, and yet given Francona’s multiple health issues, he is cognizant about the potential end of his managerial career. “I want to enjoy what I’m doing. It’s getting harder to do that, just because physically it’s harder,” Francona said. “I just want to be careful. And at the same time, I want to be fair to the team.” The respect goes both ways with Cleveland’s front office, as president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said that “I want to make sure [Francona] never feels he has this obligation to keep doing the job because he owes us anything. I want him to do what’s best for him.”
Antonetti and team owner Paul Dolan have both said in the past that Francona can manage the Guardians for essentially as long as he feels up to the job, while Francona told Rosenthal that he might have already retired if he had been with any other team. Speculatively, it would seem like any sort of formal contract extension between the two sides could perhaps take the form of a one-year deal with a rolling option, to be exercised should Francona feel he is ready to keep managing beyond 2023. A decision might not be made until after Francona’s latest medical procedure takes place in the offseason — he is scheduled to have drains removed from his back, and Francona estimates that this will be roughly his 46th surgery.
Some items from around both the AL and NL Central divisions….
- Back on August 11, Tim Anderson underwent surgery to fix a torn ligament in his left middle finger, and White Sox acting manager Miguel Cairo told reporters (including Ryan Taylor of NBC Sports Chicago) today that Anderson was scheduled to visit a hand specialist on Tuesday. “We’re going to see from there” what the next step is in Anderson’s rehab, Cairo said, adding that the shortstop is “doing good.” Anderson was hitting .301/.339/.395 over his first 351 plate appearances of the season. Assuming the visit with the specialist goes well, there should still be time for Anderson to properly rehab and get back to the White Sox before the season is over, thus giving the Sox a big late boost in their push for the AL Central crown.
- While the Pirates aren’t in a pennant race, they’re also expecting a key player back in closer David Bednar, as GM Ben Cherington said in an interview with 93.7 The Fan radio (hat tip to MLB.com’s Justice delos Santos). Bednar has been out of action since late July due to lower back inflammation, but Bednar threw a bullpen session yesterday and Cherington said Bednar could begin a rehab assignment this week. The right-hander has emerged as a major bullpen weapon (and popular trade ask) over the last two seasons, with Bednar posting a 2.70 ERA and a superb 33.5% strikeout rate over 46 2/3 innings in 2022.
- The Cubs’ season “has been a success” in the view of chairman Tom Ricketts, who told The Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan and other reporters that he has been impressed by the team’s progress in bringing along its young players and young pitchers. Since the Cubs’ last rebuild resulted in the 2016 World Series championship, Ricketts feels that “having done it once, and largely with the same people, it gives me a lot of confidence that we’ll do it the right way again.” As to whether or not the Cubs will start to invest more into payroll this winter, Ricketts somewhat vaguely said that president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has “got a lot of flexibility, and we’ll let him do it,” adding that the “ball is in Jed’s court when it comes to how and where” any funds are invested. Of course, this isn’t exactly a full-on declaration that the Cubs are ready to start spending big, as while Seiya Suzuki and Marcus Stroman were two more expensive additions last winter, Hoyer stuck mostly to less-costly, shorter-term free agents.
Best wishes with the backiotomy, Tito!
He had sex with my mama!!!…………………why!??!??
Perfect profile pic Dave… I mean dude! Haha
I hope the Sox keep Andrus at SS and move Anderson to 2nd.
That will never happen, unfortunately. Elvis already said that he’s willing to move to second.
Why on earth would anyone pick Andrus over Anderson? Anderson is 100x the better defender and Andrus is REALLY BAD there. You Sox fans dont know ball, huh?
Actually, A’s fan, Andrus has been solid defensively since coming over and I hate the Sox.
Tim Anderson is not good at shortstop
Not worth the 12M.
Trade him. Don’t resign him.
Well then, someone should interview Anderson on camera and point out to him that Andrus is the better SS, therefore to better the team, they’re sure Anderson will agree to move to second base.
Ricketts sucks
I’m hoping Bednar comes back strong and that his troubles just before he was on the injured list were caused by the injury itself. But it sure seemed like hitters figured him out as we got into the season
I think it was an injury that he tried to play through. You could tell started to cut his fastball more often, reducing it’s effective spin rate (active spin). Cutting your pitches can be a sign of shoulder trouble.
Why bring him back now…wait till next year
The Pirates’ bullpen is certaintly misssing both Bednar, but no need to rush him back at this point.
Success = Hitting profitability targets.
Baseball can change every rule it wishes but getting all teams to compete would do more for the game than anything else. What the Cubs, Reds and Pirates did this year was a joke.
The A’s turn a profit every year of Beane’s tenure there and look at all their titles smh
What the A’s did was have tremendous success. There is more to sportd thsn winning championships. They won a lot. They had a good team and traded everyone this year and are going to lose 100 so they could make money.
Expecting all 30 teams to be competitive every single year is not a realistic expectation.
1-With a little more spending, will all 30 teams wind up > .500?
2-I’m not sure what the Cubs, Reds and Pirates did wrong. The Cubs signed two guys that should be worth roughly what they are being paid, The Reds have gone 53-60 since their awful start, and have had a huge amount of injuries. They also have some very good young players in Lodolo, Greene, India & Stephenson.
Just imho, but the teams that have had bad years are the Angels, Rockies & Rangers. They’ve spent to their limits, aren’t developing anyone, and aren’t winning.
Omg I forgot Stephenson existed. Love the guy but he has slipped from my brain
No, every team should be trying to win every year. What did the Cubs, Reds and Pirates do wrong. They didnt try. Reds sold their team off. Pirates payroll is 85 dollars and Cubs are a major market team and they made.no effort to win this year.
Truly the amount of people who fall for owners nonsense on this website is unbelievable. Do you have any idea how much profit the Cubs made this year?
Do you?
Imagine a poker player trying to win every single hand.. It is just not a smart way to play.
The Cubs went out and got Teo notable FA’s in Stroman and Suzuki.. they are still 25 games back. They could have tripled their FA spending this year and they probably wouldn’t have made up more than 20 games.
mils100
No, every team should be trying to win every year.
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That can’t be done. There were at least 7 teams this year that had virtually no chance, and maybe another 2-3 that had very little chance. It makes no sense to me to mortgage the future in a futile attempt to win this year.
IRT “people who fall for owners nonsense” is meaningless. I go by the numbers. I don’t read anything that the owners write or say. IMO, the worst run teams are those that cannot commit to a course of action. The Angels, Rockies & Rangers are teams with money, but don’t sniff any extended success because they refuse to do any long-term planning.
Imagine a poker player trying to win every single hand.
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Back when 7-stud was more popular, I once folded every hand for a four-hour period. That was probably at least 100 hands in a row. I hit 3 big hands in about a half-hour, and went home with a pretty big win for the night, when a lot of other players might have bled-out.
The first thing every GM has to do is be realistic when assessing his team’s chances.
The cubs had no chance this year. Just reality.
Imagine if they had went out and signed Rizzo, Baez, Bryant, and even Schwarbs back.
Does that team win more than 80 games? Probably not. Also cost you about 210 million dollars.
They’ve actually had some surprises contribute in the rotation. Sold off a couple more relievers for some more pieces.
3/4 of the cubs top prospects came from dealing Baez, Rizzo, and Darvish.
N
Please do. Baez is available.
How do you figure 3/4 of the cubs top prospects came from darvish, Rizzo and Baez trades?
Owen caissie, alcantara, and crow-Armstrong
FG has those guys listed 2-4 on the cubs prospect list.
Caissie probably slides down a few spots after the only ok season
Losing 100+ hands (years) in a row before winning sounds like the Cubs except they only won a single hand (World Series). You should be the Cubs GM!
Terry Francona is easily the best manger in MLB today. No one else gets anything remotely out of those rosters like he has since he came to Cleveland.
When he retires I have no idea how the team replaces him.
As a Red Sox fan I can honestly say that I wish he were still in Boston, he got screwed on his way out the door
But he was addicted to pain killers and had lost that clubhouse – guys eating fried chicken & drinking beer during games. Some of that was on him. That said, you guys have a solid manager with Cora. Not at Tito’s level, but pretty darn close.
You forgot his sending barechested unsolicited pics to a young woman. He had issues back then but today I’d take him over Cora.
Kevin Cash has to be in the conversation too
Yes, he’s very good. He was Francona’s bullpen coach with Cleveland before he got the Rays job.
He belongs for sure, but Tito has been doing this for 19 years.
I think Ricketts could of used a better description of this season than ” Success”. While I agree that the future does indeed look promising, and he has a manager and coaches that apparently know how to teach, I would of used the word advancing instead. I’m sure Hoyer could go out and spend a ton of money and it wouldn’t get them close to the Luxury Tax spending limit, I don’t think that would be the smart way to go. A couple of key trades and signings, would make way more sense. They need a couple of LH bats like at 2nd and 1st. Mervis is the logical choice and a trade or signing of a LH hitting 2B would go far in helping the offense. Also a better 3B is needed. Anyway, the AFL and winter should be interesting to say the least.
You ain’t kidding – we started the year with the same scrubs that played the second half
I kind of agree. The problem for them from what to add in FA, is that you don’t want to block young guys in the minors. While I think the majority of there guys are at least 2 years away, they have to be sure which guys will succeed and which guys are meh. Then they can better attack FA.
1st, 3rd, TOR SP, catcher(depending on Wilson plans) and maybe CF are the priorities right now. Maybe Mervis can take over 1st. But other than that…. Young guys are at least a couple years away.
I think wisdom holds down first until mervis gets his shot. Cubs may keep wisdom as a key depth piece who can bounce between first and third, platooning with mervis while giving whoever is manning third a break.
I do think the Cubs target a shortstop this season with the goal being to move him to third base, allowing Nico to man short. I don’t think the Cubs are willing to give up on Madrigal.
I can see the cubs also targeting a center fielder like Keimerier or Bradley jr. Hold the cf down while we wait on Davis.
I think the Cubs will focus on pitching and defense a la the guardians. Which means Madrigal and hoerner are logical fits. Not sure where morel will fit in outside of a super sub.
I also think the cubs sign Mike clevenger. Rolling out Stroman, Hendricks, clevenger, Steele, Thompson as the top five with plenty of options for long relief and depth via the youngsters (Alzolay, Kilian, Assad, Sampson, Wesneski)
We always target a couple veterans for the pen but I think if he’s healthy we roll with huer as the set up guy and Hughes as the closer.
If Wisdom is being counted on as one of the “core” then we are in trouble. He has power but K’s too much.
Being a core guy vs a key depth piece are two completely different things.
Mervis has struggled against lefties all year, or so I’m told, wisdom just so happens to hit lefties well. His power plays regardless of where he plays, meaning he can back up third base, DH, corner outfield and first. Mervis also is an average defender at best, and while wisdom isn’t Rizzo, he would be a better option as a defensive replacement.
The cubs have a lot of question marks and wisdom has shown he can give you above replacement level production no matter where he plays.
I believe Pete Armstrong Crow is the future CF at Wrigley… I saw him play this year and he carries himself the right way… has a great game at the plate and in the field… FWIW when they played together… Davis played LF …. PAC is the real deal at 20 ….
I see nothing that even remotely resembles Theo’s rebuild. We have no studs on the team now, nor on the way soon. Their top prospects, such as Crow-Armstrong, are 2024/2025. Remember, they all said this was going to be a shorter retooling. Without spending I just don’t see contention until 2024 as the earliest.
Hoyer kept mentioned this team resembles the 2014 version, I’m thinking pipeline wise, like you, closer to the 2013 version.
A lot will hinge on how Davis does and how aggressively the cubs want to handle PCA and Alcantara. I unfortunately cannot see the back surgery completely off-setting Davis’s swing and miss problems. He was around 40% in the minors… not even Baez or wisdom was that high in double and triple A.
I do however believe that the Cubs will have the pitching to be competitive and a year with Gomes behind the plate with our youngsters is what the doctor ordered (guys just good at developing pitching/helping pitchers develop). I Prefer the cubs to roll with Gomes and Higgins and sign a guy like Romine to a minor league deal ve carrying three guys on the roster.
I think Ricketts could of used a better description
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I agree. “We’re on track” maybe?
Look, if youre over 60 and rich, you really don’t have to keep hanging out in the young mans game. Please retire and leave these rare jobs for younger, better qualified-to-handle-2022 people.
Tito is close to getting the youngest team in baseball to the playoffs and is a strong contender for Manager of the Year.. seems like he is doing just fine.
YES! YES!
Please retire and leave these rare jobs for younger, better qualified-to-handle-2022 people.
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That’s plain silly. Tito is one of the best managers in history. He was one of the ones that heralded in the new age of analytics by eschewing sacrifices, SBs, etc. And as CKinSTL mentioned, the Indians are the youngest offensive and pitching teams in the AL.
If he’s 1 of the best managers in history then stop referring to him with an idiotic and infantile nickname.
Yeah, the best managers in baseball history have tough, sophisticated nicknames.. like Connie, Sparky, Buck.. or just plain ol’ “Skip”. The heir to Tito’s managerial position? Perhaps Sandy Alomar Jr..
I’m curious why the nickname Tito is idiotic & infantile?
Or, to go to the next level, is there a book containing all the nicknames that are smart & sophisticated? I mean, it is just a really odd comment. Most people I know pick up nicknames when they were kids and we still use them. I know exactly -0- people that have changed their nicknames because they thought another nickname sounded cooler or smarter.
TO A in UK:NO! NO!
Who exactly are “2022 people”?
Aside from the ageism in the comment what kind of manager should they get? Another front office lacky who manages based on notes from the GM or a manager who can actually manage and fill out a lineup card without having to get approval from the FO first
Because the Cubs didn’t spend big in a previous season we should view that as an indicator of how they will spend in the upcoming season?
There’s been some speculation that Anderson may have developed Dupuytren’s contracture.
What does that mean?
I wish there were a site where I could discuss baseball with real baseball people instead of people who just pretend to know stuff
You can pay Bill James $3 a month, Jimmy. Maybe he’ll discuss baseball with you. Maybe.
TO Slider:Sorry! Only Jesus was perfect! Should I just crawl into a hole and die. I am 68 years old!
Yeah, Tito is the best manager in baseball, no question. As for the Cubs, fans shouldn’t expect them to play at the top of the market. No Aaron Judge or Verlander. They SHOULD be in on those guys, but they won’t.
Owner has aa right to spend money. He is trying to develop the Minors for a long-term solution!
It’s not that they won’t, it’s that it doesn’t matter if they do. The guys you mentioned aren’t going to leave where they are for the Cubs. And throw in Turner. There’s no way that any of those guys is leaving the situation they’re in for any amount of money. Plain and simple fantasy to think otherwise.Coop.
Just like the White Sox and Tony, whatever’s best for you, they should fire everyone
IMO…..The Cubs can make 3 simple moves this offseason. Resign Contreras, then sign Josh Bell and Mike Clevinger. Bell can play 1B or DH in case Mervis is a real thing and Clevinger will be a year+ removed from TJ surgery. Oh and one more move…..end the Patrick Wisdom show. No team needs a guy on pace for 200 K’s per year..
Bell is a solid option but Cubs can sign Bell, Turner (or one of the big fa ss), an outfielder, rodon and 3 really good relivers w no money.
I just think my frusyration comes from.people not realizing how much money the Cubs can spend. Only LA/Yankees make more. No reason Cubs should not be top 5 in payroll every year.
TO MSQ:Not bad! Might work!
Wisdom is 5th in MLB in k’s and the top 2 are Eugenio Suarez and Kyle Schwarber. Suarez may finish with 35 HR’s and Schwarber should hit at least 40. That is the today. 200 strikeouts doesn’t scare teams anymore
I don’t know about Suarez but Schwarber can at least offset his poor strike out rate and batting average with a lot of walks. If Wisdom would walk, his strike outs would be a lot more palatable. The next question, as it relates to Wisdom, is how much will his on base numbers improve with the new shift rules? He’s a guy that gets shifted against over 40% of his at bats and he hits hard ground balls 35% of balls in play…. He could pretty easily go from a .200 hitter to a .230 hitter with a .330 obp… for a guy who right now has 25 doubles and 22 home runs, you’d take it even with 200 strike outs
Cubs are not going to re-sign Contreras unless it’s to DH and that seems highly unlikely.
Like it or not, the cubs number one priority is developing young pitching and that is not Contreras strong suit. It is however yan Gomes strong suit which means yan Gomes is number one on the cubs depth chart going into next season.
I also disagree with Bell simply based on his inconsistency… maybe a 3 year deal? Something that won’t hamstring us moving forward too much. I’m aware of Mervis’s numbers but unaware of how the Cube view him… is he Micah hoffpauir/jake fox or is he legit? If the Cubs think he is legit then there is no way they even consider Bell.
Mike Clevinger makes a lot of sense depending on how the Cubs view his Covid protocol issue back in Cleveland. But uniting him with Yan Gomes could get him back on the TOR track.
I personally think the Cubs will dig deep into the analytical aspect with the new rules on the shift and attempt to find a diamond in the rough. Rizzo makes a lot of sense if he opts out or a guy similar… I.e. a guy who gets his batting average murdered by the shift.
As someone who watched Eric Wedge and Manny Acta make (attempts?) at managing this franchise by falling asleep in the dugout, I appreciate Tito.
He’s old school but really embraces advanced analytics – most people forget he pioneered bringing in the closer in seventh or eighth inning, high leverage situations (Andrew Miller) and got rid of bunting and embraced OBP.
But, the best ability is availability and unfortunately, his is waning fast. Go enjoy life Tito and turn it over to someone else.
He is a saint for working for the Dolan family. Best front office and managerial staff in MLB, combined with the worst ownership this side of Bob Nutting.
My biggest question for Clevland is where the fans are?You cannot spend money unless the fan base is behind you. You do not have a stadium problem like the Rays and A’s!
Julio Franco’s Birth Certificate;
The Dolan’s have let the Baseball Ops people run Baseball Ops. No interference. More than can be said for most ownerships.
The people in baseball Ops know they’re dealing with a small market team. If they wanted to leave they could have years ago.
Narratives never die.
I named my dog Tito Francona – a black lab from Nova Scotia named Tito. Be well, sir!!
NICE!
Thanks, Super. I’ll tell my Tito you said “hello.”
Reds: Developing good young starting pitching. Pirates: Where are all the minor leaguers they keep talking about; not impressed. Cubs: Look at all the empty seats, is that sucess; however, making some progress; Brewers,: clean up from within, need all the 3 young outfielders’ in AAA to come up, move Ruiz back to 2nd Base and leadoff. Rotting from playing too many Ham and egger veteran’s. Cardinals: let the good time roll. That is my NL central summary.
UWPSUPERFAN77;
Guess you weren’t impressed with the Orioles minor leaguers in 2019 and 2021.
How’s your rotisserie league team doing?
Next year will be the year you can really start judging Pittsburgh. They should graduate a lot of their guys and see on the field improvement.
As of right now—ke’Bryan has taken 2 steps back offensively. But O’Neill could be a star if he cleans up his plate discipline. Contreras looks like a very good starter too.
I hope you are right on the Pirates. Would be nice to see them improve. Oneal kills the Brewers, not so much against other teams!
TO Samuel: I do not play fantasy sports as I do not gamble. Even in non-gambling leagues, I hate rooting for the other guys to fail. I have guys I like on every team! I just wish the brewers could win one WS before I go. Just like the cubs’ fans got one after a long time!
Tim Anderson will NOT play another game this season. After Guardians knock White Sox out of playoff race (Did it to themselves too with very poor play) His season IMO is done. Well now we getting to see Cairo is not the answer either as he can’t make this team play to their expectation. A manager is only as good as his players are and frankly this season I’m pretty much disappointed in most of team. Abreu, Vaughn, Cueto, Cease, has been IMO the only consistent quality players. Giolito is a BUM. Middle of the road failed starter. The majority of team are soft hurtful babies that don’t really wanna play. The SOX manager will not be LaRussa or Cairo next year. Got to get out of franchise for new manager
I got a finger Anderson can check out…. Anderson clearly bought his own hype this season and it showed. Sure he hit .300, but most were singles and the guy could barely drive anyone in when they needed him to (never mind the 2 three error games he had this season). He was not the only guy either. It took until the end the season and Cairo being put in charge to squeeze anything out of this bunch, and its too little too late. Guys like Moncada, Jimenez, Anderson, and Robert (coincidentally all guys that got early extension deals, by the way) need to have someone in their face all off season to stay healthy and to fix the holes in their play. Heck very few Sox players consistently drove runs in, and if they did it was with the occasional solo homer to pad stats but most of these guys failed to show up when needed, and it appears that the org was out to lunch. This team has a lot of issues, same with last years team, and Ill say what I said last season again, this team lacks heart and the will to win (yeah yeah I get its a Hawk-ism, but it doesn’t make it false). They will ‘fight’ to come back in games, only to lose it late, or to fail to show up the next game. That has been all season.