Wow that was fucking stupid... fire the guy who got you over the curse and then another championship on top of that... Did Francona bring in Lackey? Was Francona blowing leads in the 8th & 9th by not getting anyone out? Is it Francona's fault that Douchelbon isn't Mariano Rivera? I think the Sox just fucked themselves hard
Francona didn't get fired. I heard he wanted to leave, so the Sox aren't going to pick up his option for the next couple of years. He'll end up somewhere else rather quickly.
Completely agree. I was stunned when I heard this morning. Like you said, the first thing I thought was "Did Francona throw meatballs off the mound? Get paid multi-millions to shit the bed at the plate?" Awful, awful decision. And this is coming from a guy who hates the Red Sox and is always pointing his finger at managers. Good. At least this way, when it takes 82 years between titles again, I'll be long gone from this world and won't have to stomach it. There's no way he wanted out. Why would anyone want out of the only team willing to spend money like the Yankees? That's crazy. I think if he's saying that, it's because he knew he was getting shitcanned and wanted to save face.
The Cubs are supposedly going after Epstein. They'll probably go after Francona too. That's a team that's willing to spend to win.
That would actually be interesting to see. I had heard about Epstein being floated there, but I hadn't heard/thought of Francona. You're right, they'd spend money to build a winner and Epstein/Francona could probably do it.
He's had health issues, and if he wasn't working well with the players in the clubhouse and the team wasn't willing to make changes, I could see him wanting out. Supposedly he wanted both of his option years picked up right away, too, and it sounds like Henry made a decision not to do that.
I don't think both end up in ChiCub, it's one or the other. Francona supposedly wasn't happy with some moves being made by Theo, and vice versa.
It makes sense. they probably could resurrect the Cubs. Which would be great (I just watched the ESPN documentary on Barthman and the 2003 playoffs last night) I don't know how winning 2 championships in 5 years, after not winning 1 in 90 years doesn't count for something. Since when did Boston become a Championship or bust town in terms of baseball?
SI jinxed them with a September article about how great Theo Epstein is and how he's much smarter than Billy Beane.
