The Cincinnati Reds are about to enter their first season with a new manager in Terry Francona. Although this is just his first year managing Cincy, he’s someone who has immense experience both as a player and as a manager in baseball.
The two-time World Series champion manager will look to work his magic for the Reds, as he returns to the dugout after he stepped down as manager of the Cleveland Guardians in 2023 — and retired from baseball — in large part because he wanted to take care of his health.
After 11 consecutive seasons managing the Indians, Francona found himself away from the dugout during the 2024 MLB season, though, he said he didn’t feel he was missing his old job at all.
“I’m trying to tell people and I don’t think they really believed me, but I really didn’t miss it that much,” Francona said (h/t Bob Nightengale USA TODAY). “I had a good year. When you know you need to step away, you’re probably a little late stepping away.”
Francona also shared that before he was hired by the Reds and as his health started to improve, he began to wonder about what’s next for him.
“I felt I was short-changing some people over there in Cleveland,” continued the 65-year-old Francona. “And that’s not a good feeling. So you start taking care of yourself, and you feel good and I still wasn’t thinking about managing. I was starting to think about, ‘OK what do I want to do. How busy do I want to get?’”
Francona had already opened up before about his initial stance to stay retired, but the Reds appeared to be a team that excited him, one that seemingly gave him the same feeling he had when he was offered the gig to manage the Indians over a decade ago.
The three-time American League Manager of the Year, who steered the Boston Red Sox to World Series title wins in 2004 and 2007, hops on a Reds club that took a step back in 2023. After finishing the 2023 season with an 82-80 record, Cincinnati regressed in 2024, missing the playoffs for the fourth year in a row with just a 77-85 record.
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