CLEVELAND – For the second time in four seasons, Tribe skipper Terry Francona has been honored with winning the American League Manager of the Year Award.
It wasn’t much of the shock that Francona won the award after taking the Indians to extra innings of a tie game in game seven of the World Series before eventually losing to the Chicago Cubs 8-7.
The manager, as he always does, was quick to credit the people around him and the team itself for allowing him to win the award.
“I think that the only good thing about winning this, it gives me a chance to brag about our players, our coaches and our organization,” Francona said.
“My reward is watching our guys play the game, I get to take a bow because of so many other people’s hard work.”
Francona didn’t have much time to digest the Indians losing the World Series, as he went under the knife for hip replacement surgery less than 72 hours after the final pitch of game seven.
As he does most things, the manager is handling his new hip with humor as he looks to make a full recovery for the Indians spring training in Goodyear, Arizona in February.
“I Feel like somebody put his hands inside my right hip, I’ve had both knees done and now my right hip, I get the other one done I’ll be fully bionic,” Francona said. “the first week is hard.”
Francona said that losing the AL Wild Card game at home to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2013 felt a lot worse than the outcome of game seven against the Cubs.
The sense of pride that most Indians fans felt despite losing the final game of the season is the same that their manager felt walking into the clubhouse for the last time in 2016.
“You don’t quite ever know how you are going to feel, after this game I knew I was going to get my hip done,” Francona said.
“Losing hurts, but I thought our guys really gave everything they had, that helped me a lot.”
Francona was asked about when he originally took the Indians manager job in 2013 after being fired by the Boston Red Sox after their September meltdown in 2011.
So far he’s exactly the manager the Indians have needed to become a force again in Major League Baseball like they were back in the mid-1990’s.
He’s led the team to a 352-294 (.545) mark as Indians manager, the 6th-highest winning percentage in the 116-year history of the franchise.
He has also his clubs to 12 consecutive winning seasons, including all four with the Indians, and they look like they will again be a force in baseball in 2017.
“You don’t know if you’re going to win or not, I don’t think I’m the smartest person in the room, but I’m smart enough to know where the right landing place was for me,” Francona says recalling his decision.
“I count my blessings every day.”
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