GM confident Tortorella can turn it around
It wasn’t an absolute vote of confidence that John Tortorella will finish this season as the Blue Jackets’ head coach, but it was really close.
Jarmo Kekalainen, the Blue Jackets’ general manager, arranged a video conference Tuesday to address a bubbling cauldron of commentary regarding his team’s five-game slide potentially putting his head coach on the hot seat.
“We’ve got a new opportunity tonight, again, to get back on track and I wanted to have this call to just kind of clarify that this coaching staff has gotten us out of slumps before,” Kekalainen said, referring to the Blue Jackets’ game against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena. “They’ve done a great job for us in the past five to six years that they’ve been here, and they are the ones that are going to get out of this jam, as well, with the team that we have.”
Kekalainen later declined to commit to saying Tortorella, who is in the final year of his contract, is assured of finishing this season. But his answer made it clear that Tortorella’s job doesn’t appear to be in imminent jeopardy.
“What I said was that I have 100 percent confidence that these guys will get us out of this,” Kekalainen said. “They’ve done it before. They’ve done a great job for us before and for many, many years. They have a great track record, both (statistically) and what they do day-to-day here and I’m a big believer in the process and not just watching the record, but watching what these guys do every day.”
Indians manager CLEVELAND — Terry Francona said no one in the Cleveland organization “covered up” for former pitching coach Mickey Callaway, who is under investigation by Major League Baseball following allegations of sexual harassment.
In a story Tuesday, The Athletic reported that 12 current and former Indians employees have come forward in the last month to say the Indians were aware of Callaway’s inappropriate behavior while he was their pitching coach from 2013-17.
“Nobody’s ever deliberately covered up for anybody, I can tell you that,” Francona said on a Zoom call from the team’s spring training complex in Goodyear, Arizona.
Francona was asked if he was troubled by the report.
“I have never worked in a place where I have more respect for people than here,” said the two-time World Series winner, starting his ninth season with Cleveland. “And I’ve been very fortunate to work for some wonderful people. I believe that in my heart.
“I don’t think today is the day to go into details, things like that. I do hope there is a day, because I think it would be good, and I think it’s necessary,” he said.
Francona said the Indians plan to release a statement further addressing the matter.
Shortly before Francona spoke to the media, his son, Nick, posted on Twitter that he had read the new story on Callaway and confronted his father. The younger Francona said the Indians “are clearly in the wrong.”
“Their behavior is unacceptable, and even worse, it’s hard to have faith in them to improve and learn when they seem more concerned about covering up wrongdoings that addressing them honestly,” Nick Francona wrote.
The 61-year-old Francona, who managed only 14 games last season because of health issues, said his son’s comments were painful.
“I love all my children unconditionally,” he said. “As you can imagine, that’s a very difficult thing to see. So to deal with it publicly is hurtful.”