Francona out as Boston Manager

I don't disagree with any of that, and I like him a lot. He's as good a starter as they've had since I've been following them, but you have to play with you're head, and they'd be nuts to give him a big money extension. That said, I think they will.

 

He's not going to get better, if he can remain comparable to the last 3 seasons for 3 more, you pay the price. If not, Cashman should have the balls to say bye-bye CC.

Who's going to take on his demands? Phillies? No, Mets? NFW. Dodgers? NFW. Angels? Maybe. Boston? Maybe but they've got a lot of sunk costs sinking fast. Atlanta is a good spot for him.

 

More on Epstein's pitching problems:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/10/theo-epstein-and-starting-pitching.html

With the resources he's had available to him, the record is pretty abysmal, imo.

 

Per Dan Shaughnessy, the Cubs have asked permission to speak with Epstein.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2011/10/cubs_ask_permis.html

 

First comment on that entry: "In all honesty though, how many current GMs in the AL East have been able to sign good starting pitching free agents? Outside of this year's Yankees (Sabathia, Garcia and Colon) The record for free agent starters is terrible (Lackey, Burnett, Pavano, Wright, Burnett (Blue Jays stint was marred by injuries)) Very few free agent signing pay off in this division."

It does seem to be a fairly unique problem to the AL East, in that even guys with track records in other divisions or the AL seem to crap out once they get to the East (late years of Smoltz and Penny, you could add those to the above list). Tampa Bay has gotten around it by just using all system pitchers, something that it going to be tougher for them to do as they have to draft higher each year.

 

http://www.raysindex.com/2011/10/if-epstein-bolts-would-red-sox-pursue-friedman.html

At some point, a team is going to throw a ton of money at Andrew Friedman.

 

Stop. Just stop.

 

Friedman has conjured all of the magic he's going to in St. Pete -- which is a hell of a lot. Anybody with that kind of success would want a bigger stage and the money that comes with it.

And though he has one year still on his contract, Joe Maddon was a finalist for the Boston job in 2003.

 

The Cubs have to clean house, and go after Francona before Uncle Jerry sinks his mitts in, don't they?

 

I think, and this is coming from a Cubs fan, that the only logical move to make if they fire Quade is to bring in Ryne Sandberg (if he'll even come back). He paid his dues managing at every level in their farm system. He likely has already spent a lot of time with these young stars and has the credentials of being a Hall of Fame player. I'll probably get flamed for saying this, but I don't see how the Cubs can possibly name any other manager than Sandberg if they make a change.

 

Doesn't Friedman own a piece of the team though? For some reason, I thought this was the case. Like Billy Beane in Oakland (who I also think owns part of the team), I imagine even partial ownership means they're never going to voluntarily leave for another job.

 

Just for openers . . . the number of HOF players who have made (even decent) managers is grotesquely low.

I won't go further. I don't have the heart for it, this morning.