Terry Francona is like the rest of us: a little stir-crazy and very eager for baseball to start again.
Quarantined in Tucson, Francona stays in frequent touch with Cleveland Indians staffers and gets updates on potential plans for June, July and beyond.
"I'm kind of bored,'' acknowledged Francona. "But I'm out in Arizona, I'm in my new house, so I can't complain. I'm fine. It could be a lot worse. If I have to miss time, this is the perfect time and place.''
In recent weeks, networks like ESPN, for whom Francona once worked, have, in the absence of live sports programming, dug into their archives for vintage classic games to fill hours of air time. This past week, the network replayed Fox's telecast of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, when the Red Sox' unprecedented postseason comeback against the Yankees began.
"I really don't look back all that much,'' said Francona. "But, and I'm probably not the only one here, I'm desperate for (something to watch on) television. So, I'm clicking through with the remote and Game 4 came on and I was almost scared to watch it because I kept thinking we were going to lose. The more I watched it, I was like, 'Oh (expletive), we're going to lose!' Theo (Epstein) texted me and said the same thing. We were laughing like hell.
"But my memories of the guys are so strong. I mean, I love each team for different reasons. The players and the memories are so good. But I usually don't feel the need to go back and watch the games. I don't know -- it just doesn't do it for me. I lived through it and loved it, but I move on pretty good. Right now, all my energy is going into, 'OK, how are we going to keep our guys now (the Indians) invested in what they're doing so if we do come back, we're ready.''
Still, Francona couldn't totally resist the pull of nostalgia. He acknowledged he did watch at least some of the Game 4 rebroadcast and found himself surprised at some of the details that had slipped his memory in the last 16 years.
"Oh, definitely,'' said Francona. "Just little things, like there was an infield hit the Yankees got where they scored the go-ahead run (in the sixth inning) that (Orlando) Cabrera couldn't handle. When it happened, I was like, 'Oh damn, that's right.' Little things like that.''
Francona was also warmed by the dugout shots that show him standing next to bench coach Brad Mills, who has been his best friend for more than 40 years.
"One, I see how young we looked. This game has a way of aging you,'' said a chuckling Francona. "I know how lucky I am to have Millsy; I've learned more from him than he's learned from me. I don't think there's anyone in our game ... that's had the (longest) relationship that I've had, with Millsy. Since 1977, we've basically been together and he has made me better. He's my other half and I know that and I'm so fortunate. He has so much responsibility and that's a good thing for me.''
On occasion, he gives in to some second-guessing. Even though the game -- and subsequently, the series -- worked in the Red Sox' favor, he has his regrets.
"I brought Mike Myers in to face (Hideki) Matsui (in the 11th with two on and two out),'' recalled Francona, "and I told him to treat it like it was an 0-2 count because I didn't want Matsui to beat us. I remember thinking that I put Myers in a tough spot. And he walked him on four pitches and people we probably wondering, 'Well, why'd you bring him in?' I think Mike even thought it, too. I think I put him in a really tough spot. I just didn't want him leaving something out over the middle and have him beat us because I thought our next matchup (Curtis Leskanic vs. switch-hitting Bernie Williams) was pretty good, even with the bases loaded.
"That bothered me a little bit later. I was like, 'Damn, I didn't say what I wanted to.'''
Francona also took part in a split-screen interview (from home, of course) with Johnny Damon for ESPN. In a matter of minutes, the amount of time that had passed melted away. There's a brotherhood that exists that gets re-ignited immediately.
"Years can go by,'' he said, "and it's like no time has gone by. And I love that. Especially with guys like Johnny. His heart's so big and there's always a hug waiting. I love it. Whether it's (Kevin) Millar or David (Ortiz), it's always the same.''
The nature of that series in particular -- with the improbable comeback leading, eventually, to the franchise's first championship in 86 years -- means members of the 2004 teams share a bond few others will experience.
"To get the monkey off our back, the way we did it ... it's probably appropriate the way it happened,'' mused Francona. "Everybody always thought it was going to happen some other time and then when they didn't think it was going to happen, it happened. I tell people all the time -- it was my four most fun days in the game of baseball.''
Francona has also been closely following ESPN's The Last Dance, the Michael Jordan documentary -- both because he played a unique role in one of its chapters and because he was interviewed and included in it. (Francona's appearance is scheduled to air Sunday night).
"Somebody told me that I have 15 seconds of fame (in the doc) and not one more second,'' said Francona, again laughing heartily. "I'm enjoying the hell out of it and I don't know if it's because I know him or because I'm bored and I'm looking forward to just about anything.''
Francona, of course, served as Jordan's manager at Double-A Birmingham in 1994 when Jordan switched sports and has received "a ton of calls (from media) because of that these last couple of weeks.''
Francona has always done his best to protect Jordan's privacy and legacy and resists revealing heretofore untold anecdotes from their time together.
"Everybody wants their own story and I'm just not comfortable with that,'' Francona said. "I want to respect the guy. What's out there is out there.''
To this day, Francona sometimes finds it hard to believe that, of all the possibilities, he ended up being Jordan's first and only baseball manager.
"I mean, what are the odds? It wasn't because I was this super hot-shot manager prospect,'' he said. "It's because Jerry Reinsdorf owned both the Bulls and the White Sox and they deemed that he should play in Birmingham and I just happened to be there. It was the greatest learning experience you could ever be thrust into. I didn't know it at the time; I was just trying to survive.
"But when you look back, you couldn't have put into a better learning experience. And I have no doubt that helped me get the job in Philadelphia (first major league managing opportunity three years later). You just got so much more exposure than normal. I remember Lee Thomas (the Phillies GM who hired him) told me that he came down (to Birmingham) and got an autographed ball (from Jordan) and he said, 'I watched how you handled everything and I was impressed. I remember telling him, 'Lee, if I had known you were going to interview me, I'd have gotten you a ball, bat and a hat!' ''
Francona also resists evaluating Jordan's playing skills or projecting what might have happened had he stuck with baseball.
"I don't think that would be fair to give an opinion on him getting to the major leagues,'' he said, "until he played (in the minors) three full years. Some of the things he did, I was really surprised he was able to do. And there were some other things he struggled with that it would have been unfair to think he wouldn't. But I did see him getting better -- his awareness of the game. He was so in-tune, he wanted to learn everything.
"When he first started, he didn't know what base to throw to. But by the end, he was picking up all of that start. When to run, when not to run ... things like that. It was fun to watch that progression.''
These days, Francona periodically touches base with Jordan's personal assistant George Kohler, and occasionally, when they talk by phone, Jordan is nearby and jumps on to catch up with his former manager.
"But I saw how he lived his life and how many people want to get at him,'' said Francona, "so I don't really bug him. If something funny happens, sometimes I'll get a text from him, or I'll see something and send him a text and he's great about getting back to me. But I kind of leave him alone.
"I do know that I have a standing invitation to go down to his golf course (in Jupiter, Fla.). But that's only because he thinks he can take my money. And he knows I'm making more money now, so he thinks he can take me for more money.''
_____________________________
- With the short shut down for now and an uncertain future in a tanking economy, it's understandable that MLB and its owners would want to limit outlays of capital for the foreseeable future. But when you consider that the draft is actually one of the most efficient ways to obtain future talent, this move seems short-sighted. Baseball is already losing too many athletes to other sports (NBA, NFL) who offer potentially quicker paths to pro ball. Surely, there will be some who look at this move and question whether baseball presents the best opportunities.
- Last year, as noted by former major league pitcher C.J. Nitkowski, 1,410 different players played at least one game in the major leagues. Of those, 1,046 were once drafted players (the rest were either international signings or undrafted free agents) and of those, 483 were drafted after the fifth round. Meaning that almost half (46 percent) of all drafted players were taken after the fifth round.
- Teams will be able to sign as many undrafted players as they wish, with a maximum signing bonus of $20,000. For teams willing to spend the money, that represents a chance to uncover some undervalued players at minimal cost. A team could budget $1 million and come away with 50 players; if it got one or two future major leaguers out of that crop, it would be a terrific investment.
- Of course, it's worth noting that many of the players signed for such a modest amount won't be the equivalent of sixth- or seventh-rounders from past years, since the players who would have otherwise been drafted then wouldn't think of signing for such a small bonus. (In 2019, to use the most recent example, signing bonuses from the sixth through 10th rounds ranged from approximately $150,000-$300,000). Instead, high school players will reject those overtures and go to college, and college juniors offered that will opt to go back to school and re-enter the draft as seniors in 2021, when things will have presumably begun to return to normalcy.
- Already, there's been some speculation that some teams will have inherent advantages to signing the $20,000 undrafted players. As Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com pointed out, with every team offering the same amount, the supposition is that teams will tend to favor either their hometown teams or teams for whom they grew up rooting. In theory, the former will help teams based in warmer climates -- Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California -- where, naturally, amateur talent is more plentiful and usually of higher quality. The latter could help teams with national profiles and fan bases -- like the Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs and Cardinals.
- The inability for MLB and the MLBPA to agree on making the draft 10 rounds instead of five does not bode well. MLB had proposed that the slot value for rounds 6-10 be cut in half from last year, and the union rejected that proposal. If the two sides couldn't agree on something like this, what are the odds they can reach agreement on pro-rated pay for a shortened 2020 season, or, for that matter, so many larger issues that loom ahead with the expiration of current CBA in 2021?