Terry Francona to Return as Guardians Manager Next Season After ALDS Run

Terry Francona will be back in the Cleveland Guardians' dugout for the 2023 season.

Even though it seemed like a given Francona would be back after the team's successful 2022, he confirmed the decision on Friday.

Francona told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal on Sept. 10 he has started talking about his future with Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff.

"I want to enjoy what I’m doing," he said. "It’s getting harder to do that, just because physically it’s harder. I just want to be careful. And at the same time, I want to be fair to the team."

The 63-year-old has dealt with a number of health issues in recent years. Cleveland announced in July 2021 he would miss the remainder of the season. Francona explained how much he was struggling physically at the time:

"Everything I do is hard, whether it's getting to the airport or getting to the clubhouse. You've seen me taking pitchers out, that's not even easy. It's just—it doesn't make it very enjoyable and I miss that. It's not like during the season I have a whole lot of life anyway, because I love being at the ballpark, but all I do is go to the ballpark and then come home and get off my feet and lay in bed. And I gotta give myself a chance to have a little bit of a life."

The Associated Press' Tom Withers reported in October 2021 that Francona was still on crutches and due to have a checkup that would help determine the manager's status moving forward.

Francona returned to the Cleveland dugout for the 2022 campaign. He made it through the full 162-game regular season for the first time since 2019.

This season was a huge surprise for the Guardians, who had modest expectations coming into the year after going 80-82 in 2021 and largely eschewing free agency. They finished 92-70 to win the AL Central for the first time since 2018.

Cleveland fielded the youngest roster in MLB this season (average age of 26.42 years old). Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez and Will Brennan were among the many rookie contributors the team used to make the playoffs.

The Guardians' season came to an end with a loss to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series. But the future looks very bright for the franchise with José Ramírez leading the way after signing a long-term extension in April.

When Francona first joined Cleveland in 2013, the team had missed the playoffs for five straight years but had the foundation laid for what would be an American League pennant-winning squad in 2016. He didn't have to toil for years in mediocrity or worse before the turnaround began.

During his 10 seasons managing the club, Cleveland has posted nine winning seasons and made the playoffs six times. He is the franchise's all-time leader in games managed (1,516) and wins (845).