The Indians have just announced a two year extension for Terry Francona, despite the fact that he was still under contract through 2016. The exact financial details of the deal are not available, but it can expected to be similar to his last contract signed with Cleveland. In addition to covering the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the new deal has two team options for 2019 and 2020, so, assuming the Indians are happy with his ability at that point, the Indians could have the same manager from 2013 through 2020 which would make Francona the third longest tenured manager in team history (behind Mike Hargrove and Lou Boudreau).
With a contract so long, there are definitely some historical context to look into. In just two seasons, Francona is already the 22nd most winning manager in Indians history and with the lineup he has going into the future, there is no reason he should not continue on with a record of at least above .500. If he does win 81 games throughout the rest of his new extension, he would finish with 663 wins, third behind the same two managers listed above. If he continued with his .546 winning percentage (fifth best in Indians history), he would win a team record 708 games over his career. Chances are the truth may be somewhere between the two numbers, but if it is closer to the second, it is hard to imagine the Indians not using both of his options.
Back to the present, there are a couple of aspects of Francona worth noting. The first is that during the game, the manager is one of the least important people on the field. While it is up to the manager to create the line-up and starting rotation, it is up to the players to actually perform during the game. Assuming the manager has the players he needs and those athletes perform as they should, a managers decisions during the game should be easy and practically made for him. This is important to note as this is where Francona’s failings come through. He has a tendency to abuse the bullpen, leading the team to carry eight relievers and ultimately to poor versatility in the lineup. Of course, if his starting pitchers were able to regularly pitch through the sixth inning, this wouldn’t be a problem.
What Francona does well are all the other things. He is known as a players manager, which is a good thing as those are the people he is managing. Unlike some former Indians managers (like Eric Wedge), he is not one to run good talent (like Brandon Phillips) out of town because he didn’t like them. While he may play favorites, especially with veterans, eventually he gets around to allowing a player prove himself, as he did with Kyle Crockett, Lonnie Chisenhall this year and Yan Gomes in the one before. It is highly doubtful that screaming at players would have lead to more runs and less errors, however his good rapport with players does lead to things like the long extensions signed by Gomes, Michael Brantley and Jason Kipnis prior to the season starting. Locking up these young players long term is much more important to the Indians winning than any single pitching change or pinch hitter.
Thinking of those players, one of the things this extension accomplishes is to make sure the manager will be around as long as the players are. Many of the current Indians have contracts or arbitration years that end in 2017 or 2018 and that seems like it will be the end of the current era of Cleveland Indians. By signing through those years, the Indians ensured that Terry Francona will be at the helm for good or bad. As players like Carlos Santana, Kipnis and Brantley enter/continue with their prime years, this gives the Indians their best chance at a World Series title since the mid 1990’s and Francona will provide stability at the top.
The deal is a little surprising, however, considering his attitude when he originally signed. Ending his short broadcasting career, Francona stated that he would only stick around as long as Chris Antonetti and Mark Shapiro were in charge, making it seem more like he was doing a favor for his friends than trying to win another World Series for his own sake. While loyalty to the Indians should make sense considering it was an organization that both he and his father played for during their careers and it was the place were he resurrected his career before moving on to Boston, he seemed more interested in the people than the city. That may have changed now that he has gotten to know the players in town. It is undoubtedly a good, and rare, thing to have the players, manager and front office all in harmony at the same time and keeping Francona around at least through 2018 should keep that internal peace.
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