Boston Red Sox: Parting Ways with Tito Francona Would Be the Wrong Reaction

The possibility exists that Terry Francona actually does want out of Boston. If that were the case then there's not much that the Red Sox could do to stop him from leaving. It seems more likely though that if later today Francona's tenure as manager of the Boston Red Sox comes to an end that it would be a decision to not renew his contract. And that would be a mistake on the part of management. 

There are a ton of cliched reasons behind letting Francona go. 

"You can't fire the whole team."

"The clubhouse had bad atmosphere."

"Someone has to pay the price for that September slump."

My replies to those points: "True," "true," and "why?"

Why does that mythological "someone" have to pay a price for the September slump? 

If Red Sox management were trying to promote a team atmosphere, wouldn't the whole team be better off sharing in the blame? We all know that everyone, with the possible exception of Adrian Gonzalez, will publicly take some responsibility for the epic Red Sox collapse. So with that being the case and the typically hyperbolic and at times viscous world of Boston sports radio also chiming in, why exactly is Terry Francona getting fired?

The Boston Red Sox are a franchise only five full seasons removed from their last World Series title. That's only a gap of 81 years less than the period between their 2004 World Series title and their win previous to that. Terry Francona was the manager for both the 2004 and 2007 World Series champs. His record in those two World Series was 8-0. The guy has never lost a World Series game. 

Let's not sugarcoat things too much. The past few seasons have been very rough.

I'm sure that Francona would do numerous things over if he had the chance to. Francona is not responsible for signing John Lackey or Bobby Jenks, or Carl Crawford, or Daisuke Matsuzaka, or J.D. Drew. He didn't make midseason trades for Erik Bedard or Eric Gagne for that matter.  Francona didn't bring in Andrew Miller. Francona didn't set up a minor league system whose best pitching prospect this season was Kyle Weiland.

Francona also didn't set up the Red Sox failed organizational philosophy of constantly resting pitchers and limiting innings.

Those are things that the Red Sox do from the top down. That's a good thing too. Even if one were to disagree with the philosophy as I do, it's good that the Red Sox operate as an organization with a singular vision and philosophy. When it works, it works very well as evidenced by the Red Sox's ability to produce some very, very good baseball players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, and Dustin Pedroia. 

When it doesn't work, it causes systemic problems as well such as the constant yearly search for pitchers who can actually stay healthy while being rested all season.

If the Red Sox are going to operate in this manner, then firing Francona seems to cut against that grain. If the Red Sox are truly an organization that doesn't scapegoat and realizes in the bigger picture that the blame for this past month's failures is too big to pin on one person's shoulders, then letting Francona go would be an odd way to show it. 

It will be interesting to see who steps in as manager of the Red Sox. I doubt it would be a shock to anyone if I were to declare that the job at hand is massive and the shoes they will be filling are quite large.

Thanks for the greatest seasons in Red Sox history as well as the greatest postseason comeback in Major League History Tito. Most people won't admit it today, but you will be missed.