The Red Sox are more than ready to ring out the old.
To say the least, 2005 was a long, strange trip for Red Sox Nation. It was a year that began with the afterglow of a long-awaited championship, and ends with the team buried in questions about the future.
In between, there was a trip to the White House, a visit from the Queer Eye guys, and a banner-raising Opening Day. The manager was rushed to the hospital, the center fielder went on a book-signing tour, and the number-five starter hit Billboard’s Top 100. The newest starter took a line drive off the head, the Yankees took us by surprise by celebrating a division title on the penultimate day of the year, and the White Sox took a three-game sweep to end any talk of a repeat.
Then the shortstop of the future was traded away, the shortstop of the present was traded away, and the center fielder became a Yankee.
And the general manager of the present and future became the general manager of the past.
Through it all, Terry Francona has remained stoic. He made it through an early season health scare and a post-season knee surgery (his 19th, if you’re scoring at home.) Despite all that, he was more concerned about his team than he was about himself.
“This was a difficult year for us,” Francona said last month. “We ended up grinding out 95 wins, but nothing was easy. We had injuries, we had things pup up. We didn’t do it the easy way, but we did grind out 95 wins. We got to the playoffs and got swept. Not a fun way to go out.”
Francona began the year learning how to deal with winning it all. He spent March telling his team to turn the page and move on. He spent October reflecting on what went wrong – and what he could do better next time.
“I’ve spent a lot of time at home writing things down,” said Francona, “things that are important to me. Things that maybe I’ve lost or I lost some perspective in during a difficult season. I’ve made notes. Not just things that I want to address the team on during the first day of Spring Training, but notes to myself and notes to my coaches.
“I think it was a great learning year. I think I got away from things during the year where I got frustrated. Things that were important to me that I didn’t handle as well as I should.”
As he prepares for Year Three, Francona now lives outside of Boston. While most Red Sox managers have spent the winters as far away from Boston as possible, Francona has embraced the local atmosphere. He understands what Sox fans want, and doesn’t mind being questioned by them.
No one is more critical of Francona or his team than the manager himself. He constantly re-assesses his team, and re-evaluates himself at the same time.
“Believe me, when we take stock of our team, I take stock of myself, too, because I want to get better as we go,” said Francona.
Francona doesn’t know who he’ll be putting in that lineup card next April, but he knows there’s no place he’d rather be filling out a card. He’s come to love it at the center of baseball’s most demanding fan base. And his resolution for 2006 is to be the best manager he can be.
It’s a resolution he makes every year – and you can bet he means it every time he says it.
Lewiston native Tom Caron is a studio host on NESN for Red Sox telecasts.
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