What does the news that the Cincinnati Reds front office will return intact next year mean to manager Terry Francona?
“Everything,” the second-year Reds manager said as the Reds opened a homestand this week against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I mean, I was pretty honest and open about (the fact) when those two guys came and visited with me, that’s what got me to want to do it again,” Francona said.
The “two guys” are team president Nick Krall and general manager Brad Meador. Krall said over the weekend that based on conversations with ownership, he expects that leadership team to remain in charge of the efforts to fix what went wrong with this season of high expectations.
Francona – the active leader in managerial wins (2,103 entering the week) – managed the Reds to the National League’s third wild-card berth in his first season with the Reds last year, before the Reds bolstered the roster only to see injuries and underperformance drop them into last place with two weeks to play this year.
Health concerns were behind much of the rationale the led to Francona’s retirement from managing in Cleveland after the 2023 season. But a year of recuperation and a strong maintenance plan since getting lured out of retirement by the Reds has him looking healthy as he talks about his belief that he and the front office guys and his coaching staff make up the right management team to fix what broke this year.
That said, “I don’t think you’re gonna talk to a person in baseball that’s ever gonna go, ‘God, I betcha we can’t do it.’ That’s how we’re built,” he said. “But there’s steps to get there.”
That’s where the relationships with his bosses come in.
“I value – especially maybe at my age now – the people,” Francona, 67, said. “Doesn’t mean you don’t go through tough times, because you do. But when you do, you want to be with people that you’ve aligned with and you care about and they care about you.”
Francona reiterated what he said about the relationship with Krall and Meador, that “it’s gotten better” over the two seasons.
“When you go through a second year and things don’t go the way you want it to, I’ve seen a lot of times things go off the rails,” he said. “I want to be part of the solution. And I know they do, too. That’s why we’re here.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Why Nick Krall's return as Reds boss is 'everything' to Terry Francona
