Guardians just getting started
Terry Francona has two World Series rings and more accomplishments than will fit on his Hall of Fame plaque. This season was among his best work.
The Guardians, with the fourth-lowest payroll in the majors, won their division by 11 games and came within a win of advancing to the ALCS.
“Probably further than anybody except the people in [the clubhouse] thought they would go. I just reminded them of that,” Francona said after Cleveland was eliminated by the Yankees on Tuesday.
“I know they are hurting right now, because they care, and they worked unbelievably hard. But I hope as that wears off, they will realize just how proud we are of them and how much we care about them.”
Cleveland had 17 players make their major league debuts and they accounted for 27 percent of the team’s plate appearances. No team had ever won a division title using so many rookies.
That group included left fielder Stephen Kwan and right fielder Oscar Gonzalez. Kwan had a .773 OPS and stole 19 bases over 147 games. Gonzalez had a .788 OPS in 91 games then had two walkoff hits in the postseason. On the pitching side, Konnor Pilkington made 11 starts and had a 3.88 ERA.
“This needs to be a starting place for us. This can’t just be a good story this year,” Francona said. “We need to take this and go, because I think we have a chance to have something really special.”
Francona, 63, is contemplating when he will retire, but said Friday he will be back next season. He certainly is adaptable. Cleveland was second in the American League in stolen bases (119) and sacrifices (22) and 14th in home runs (127).
Its team defense also ranked in the top five across most metrics.
The same manager who won games with punishing hitters and a big payroll in Boston succeeded with a low payroll and small ball.
“Although we didn’t get to our final destination, it’s a pretty good year,” Francona said. “A lot of things happened that I don’t think people were expecting. Where it goes from here, that’s up to us. We are going to have to take it and do better.”
The next trick will be winning decisive games. The Guardians are 1-8 in winner-take-all postseason games with eight losses in a row dating to Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.
The lone victory was in Game 5 of the 1997 Division Series when Manny Ramirez drove in two runs to beat the pre-dynasty Yankees.
O’Brien fondly remembered
Three of his grandsons played in the majors and he won 293 games as a respected college coach. For Fran O’Brien, who passed away this month at 90, it was a baseball life well lived.
A Reading native and 1955 Tufts graduate, O’Brien became MIT’s coach in 1969 and lasted 28 seasons. He led the Engineers to the program’s first NCAA berth in 1974 and the ECAC championship in 1993. The school’s field is named in his honor.
O’Brien also mixed in 14 seasons as MIT’s head men’s basketball coach and was New England coach of the year in 1980.
His son, Kevin, was signed by the Yankees and spent a year in the minors. Three grandsons — Daniel Bard, Luke Bard, and John Andreoli — have combined for 14 seasons and 446 games of major league experience.
O’Brien’s accolades included the American Baseball Coaches Association’s ethics award in 2014 and the Jack Butterfield Award from the New England Baseball Coaches Association for his devotion to the college game. He also managed Harwich in the Cape Cod League, and was manager of the year in 1990, and coached Holy Cross from 2002-04.
“Fran O’Brien’s impact on the MIT baseball program will always be remembered and celebrated,” MIT coach Andy Barlow said.
O’Brien is survived by five children, 16 grandchildren, and eight greatgrandchildren.
Extra bases
Ran across Roger Clemens at the ALCS. He lives a short distance from Minute Maid Park but in recent years has strengthened his once-frayed ties to the Red Sox and follows the team as closely as he can. “They’ll be fine. I really believe that,” Clemens said. “I like
[Alex Cora]. He’s just got to get some healthy arms.” How would the Rocket pitch Aaron Judge? “Very carefully. [In Houston] you can pitch him away a little bit easier than in. At Yankee Stadium, even though I pitched at old Yankee Stadium, it’s still a chip shot [to right field] there. I’d be careful with him. Solo home runs are good. Stay away from the three-run homer. He’s a special player and he’s dangerous.” . . .
Christian Vázquez plans to play for Puerto Rico and manager Yadier Molina in the World Baseball Classic and likely will share catching duties with Astros teammate Martin Maldonado. Vázquez, who will be a free agent after the season, said the ideal scenario would be to sign with a new team quickly so he could start getting to know the coaches and pitchers and lessen the impact of missing days in spring training . . . Judge has four home runs in deciding games of postseason series, a record. The disparate group of
Yogi Berra, Didi Gregorius, Troy O’Leary, Bill “Moose” Skowron, and
Giancarlo Stanton have three. O’Leary had two homers in Game 5 of the 1999 Division Series against Cleveland, the game in which Pedro Martinez threw six innings of no-hit relief . . . Dusty Baker has done everything a manager can do short of winning a World Series. The Astros are capable of getting the 73-year-old Baker over that hurdle, but he doesn’t let that enter his day-to-day thinking. “I’ll get it. You can’t rush it before it gets here because it ain’t here yet. So you just got to put yourself in a position to do it,” Baker said. “I’m just taking it one game at a time and just living my life because you can’t live too far in the future, or else you’re not really enjoying today.” World Series or not, Baker should be in the Hall of Fame. He’s ninth in career victories and has won pennants in both leagues . . . Because coaches and managers vote and don’t always do their homework, the Gold Glove finalists can be a bit sketchy. Juan Soto, for instance, joined Mookie Betts and Daulton Varsho as National League finalists in right field. Soto is a solid fielder, but Aristides Aquino was clearly better this season. And while we are generally in favor of Jackie Bradley Jr. when it comes to defensive accolades, he started only 66 games in right field and was a finalist in the American League. Bradley was excellent when he played there but was a part-time player.
Andrew Benintendi was selected as a left field finalist in the AL. Boy, if only a team could have Betts, Bradley, and Benintendi in the same outfield . . . Dodgers president of baseball ops Andrew Friedman is getting testy about the idea that the front office dictates the ingame decisions manager Dave Roberts makes. “Is that really a narrative?” Friedman said. “After every single postseason I’ve answered that question. So I don’t feel like it’s a narrative. If it ever changes, I’ll let people know.” There is a fine line between dictating decisions and pregame meetings laying out what the analytically approved decision should be for certain situations . . . It was extraordinarily odd to come across
Reggie Jackson wearing an Astros cap at the ALCS. The 76-year-old Jackson was a Yankees adviser for roughly 25 years before a falling out with the team in 2020. He joined the Astros as a “special adviser” to owner Jim Crane early in the 2021 season. Crane, meanwhile, is said to be contemplating removing
James Click as general manager because of personal animus. Assistant GM
Pete Putila left for the Giants earlier this month to become GM under Farhan Zaidi . . . Happy birthday to John Lackey, who is 44. The big lug spent 15 years in the majors, won 188 games and helped the Angels (2002), Red Sox (2013), and Cubs (2016) win the World Series. Lackey had a 3.44 ERA in 29 postseason games, including 3.45 in seven appearances in the World Series . .. Felix Doubront is 35. The lefty pitched for the Sox from 2010-14. Doubront allowed one earned run over seven innings in four relief appearances in the 2013 postseason.