Healthy Francona excited to return to dugout
DALLAS — Terry Francona remembered the specific moment that sparked his return to the dugout.
“My girls went to Europe for 10 days, and I watched the grandkids,” he said Monday. “That was the one day I thought maybe I’ll go back to baseball.”
A three-time manager of the year who turns 66 in April, Francona was hired to run the Cincinnati Reds on Oct. 4.
“I haven’t had a surgery in like 11 months,” he said, laughing. “It’s like I’m on borrowed time.”
Francona led Cleveland for 11 seasons before retiring at the end of the 2023 season, when he needed a shoulder replacement and double hernia surgery.
“It just physically was really hard and I felt like I was starting to shortchange people and I didn’t feel good about that, either,” said Francona, who missed extended time in 2020 and 2021 because of health complications.
“I didn’t get out of baseball because I hated it. I just didn’t think I was doing a very good job and it wasn’t as much fun as it can be because it was just hard,” he said.
Francona takes over a Reds team that has reached the postseason just once since 2013, in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
“I love watching baseball,” he said. “If I’m healthy, I feel like I can get in there and get dirty and, OK, how are we going to get better as a ballclub and be a part of that instead of just watching or relying on some coaches to do it.”
Francona has a 1,950-1,672 record in 23 seasons managing Philadelphia (1997-2000), Boston (2004-11) and Cleveland (2013-23). He won World Series titles with the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007 and took the Guardians to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
“He has the ability to welcome people, teach people. You’re going to learn a lot just by watching him and listening to him,” said Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro, who was on Francona’s staff in Cleveland from 2014 to ’17.
Quatraro learned “how to keep things light in the clubhouse, how to respect what the players go through every day, and how to include everybody, not be a micromanager. Let your people work,” he said.
Francona replaced David Bell, who was fired with a week remaining in his sixth season. He inherits a talented young core that includes Elly De La Cruz, Hunter Greene and Tyler Stephenson.
“There are always the same challenges. We want to see how good we can get,” Francona said. “And when we lose, it’ll kill me. When we win, I’ll be fine. I’ve never found a way to gain perspective. I think it’s too late for that.”
Francona didn’t try to think like a manager when he watched games on television last season. He remembered watching games with executives Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff at times in Cleveland when health forced him from the dugout.
“They would ask me, ‘Skip, hey, what do we do here?'” Francona said. “I would try to explain to them that, man, when you’re in the dugout, you get into this tunnel and you know everything. You have all the information. When you are sitting up there, you don’t. You don’t know who is not available. You don’t know whose arm’s sore.”
While he is excited to be back with a team, Francona won’t be throwing batting practice.
“I don’t want to have a heart attack,” he said. “I actually thought about that at one point this year. I think it was in — oh, it was Halloween and I was throwing a football with my grandson. And the next day I could barely move my arm, so I think BP is out.”
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Los Angeles Dodgers starter Blake Snell will back off his throwing program as he continues to recover from left shoulder inflammation, according to manager Dave Roberts.
“As he was playing catch, he just didn’t feel great,” Roberts said Wednesday afternoon before the Dodgers played the Chicago Cubs. “Right now, we’re going to slow play the throwing. Will probably get it looked at again when we get back home.”
Snell, 32, has been on the injured list since early April after making just two starts for the Dodgers. He signed a five-year, $182 million contract this past offseason.
Snell, who was set to throw a bullpen session Wednesday, felt discomfort in the shoulder while playing catch Tuesday. Roberts was asked how concerning the latest setback was.
“I wouldn’t say concerning because part of the messaging from us to Blake is, it’s about later on in the season and if there’s any type of discomfort, let’s not try to fight through it,” Roberts responded.
Snell is one of several Dodgers pitchers on the mend, including left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who pitched three innings in a minor league start Tuesday, his second rehab outing this spring.
“Velocity was good,” Roberts said. “Got into the fourth inning. He’ll make a start next week. Really positive stuff.”
The Dodgers also received positive news about right-hander Tyler Glasnow after he left his last start with leg cramps. His latest bullpen session went well, according to Roberts.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani is throwing again after missing time on the paternity list. He’ll have another bullpen session Saturday as he recovers from elbow surgery, though the team still doesn’t have a timetable for his return to major league action.
The team was also without catcher Will Smith on Wednesday after he injured his wrist on a play at the plate in Tuesday’s loss to the Cubs.
“As he made the tag, his [left] wrist turned in and so there’s some residual soreness,” Roberts said.
Smith could get imaging done when the team returns to Los Angeles, but Roberts wasn’t overly concerned about the injury.
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Most players are happy to be done facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong might not be one of them.
The Los Angeles native has torched his childhood team this season, including Wednesday night at Wrigley Field when he went 3-for-4 with a home run, two stolen bases and a career-high four RBIs, helping the Cubs to a 7-6 win. It came one night after Chicago beat L.A. 11-10, with Crow-Armstrong contributing another home run.
He was asked Wednesday whether his production has special meaning coming against the team he used to root for.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I mean, they are regarded as the best, and I think we’ve enjoyed being able to show that we’re right there with them, and yeah, it’s always a little extra special for me getting to do it against the team I grew up going to see.”
Crow-Armstrong erased a 2-0 Cubs deficit with an opposite-field, three-run homer in the fourth inning, then added a run-scoring single an inning later, which turned out to be the final run of the night for the Cubs.
Overall, he had four home runs and nine RBIs in the seven-game season series against the Dodgers, which the Cubs won 4-3 after losing the first two games in Japan in mid-March. But that was before the Cubs’ offense took off. They’re averaging an MLB-high 6.3 runs per game.
Crow-Armstrong’s season took off as well, starting over a week ago when the teams met in Los Angeles. In the 10 games since, the 23-year-old is hitting .400 with five home runs.
“He needs to send me a bottle of wine or some golf balls with all the success he’s had,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts quipped before Wednesday’s game.
Roberts and Crow-Armstrong exchanged pleasantries before the first game of the series, as the second-year player is friends with Roberts’ son, Cole. The two played against each other growing up.
“I got a couple different connections to Doc,” Crow-Armstrong said. “He’s so great.”
That’s the same word Crow-Armstrong’s teammates are using about him as he continues to impress both at the plate and in the field. According to ESPN Research, he’s the fastest player in Cubs history to reach five home runs and 10 stolen bases, doing it in 26 games.
Plus, his pitchers love seeing him patrol center field.
“Defensively, I got to say he’s probably the best,” Wednesday’s starter, Matthew Boyd, said. “And what he’s doing at the plate is no surprise.”
Crow-Armstrong showed signs of breaking out late last year but then struggled early this season before locking in during the Cubs’ most recent road trip. He said he got “on-time” with his swing while learning how to deal with failure better. He was asked how satisfied he is with his game right now.
“If it comes out in a win, it’s very satisfactory,” he said. “It makes me feel very content. I love being able to impact it in any way I can.”
So does his manager, who called Wednesday a “wonderful game” for Crow-Armstrong.
“He made his presence felt in a big way for sure,” Craig Counsell said.
Crow-Armstrong is quickly becoming a fan favorite, as the Cubs faithful are taking to his aggressive style of play. He was asked what it’s like to hear his name chanted when he comes to the plate after producing in previous at-bats.
“I’ve tried to tune that out,” he said with a laugh. “I was actually thinking about it yesterday and I was like, I got to be 0-for-20 when they’ve chanted my name. But they continue to chant and they get behind every one of us and it’s the coolest thing.”
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