Guardians manager Terry Francona hints at retirement

CLEVELAND — Though Guardians manager Terry Francona stopped short of announcing his retirement, he hinted that the day was coming soon — likely at the end of the season. "I've talked to (president) Chris (Antonetti) and (general manager Mike Chernoff) at length about the future and everything, because I don't want to put them in any kind of a predicament. We've had a lot of talks about moving forward," Francona said during his pregame media session Tuesday. Francona, 64, the longest-tenured manager in the majors (since 2013), seemed to indicate he might not be the best fit for the Guardians' roster — the youngest in baseball — moving forward. "I felt my whole career, the players always have to come first," the two-time World Series champion manager with Boston (2004, '07) said. "I think to deviate from that now is wrong. There will be a time to answer any question there might be about what I'm going to do or not do. I don't think that's now. "I don't ever want this, it can't be on me. The other part is I don't want to lie. We've all seen coaches that, I'm probably talking about college coaches, but they're going somewhere and somebody asks them a question point blank and they go, 'No.' And then an hour later they got a six-year deal. I don't want to ever be like that. "I'm just telling you that we're getting there and there's just a time, I think, to do it appropriately." Though he has remained relatively healthy since the beginning of last year's Central Division championship season, Francona has dealt with serious medical issues in the past. He missed extended time in 2020-21. "This job is really hard — not that it's a bad job. It's a great job, but it's hard and the older you get or the more beat up you get," Francona said. "Sometimes it's both. It just kind of beats on you, kind of wears on you and I think so much of this organization that I don't ever want to (manage) for the wrong reasons." It's been a disappointing season for Cleveland thus far, with the front office choosing to trade veterans Aaron Civale, Josh Bell and Amed Rosario despite trailing the first-place Twins by a half-game in the standings. The Guardians entered Tuesday trailing Minnesota by six games. Francona was asked if this year had been more difficult than others. "I know what my job is, just trying to do it sometimes becomes a little bit harder or if you get short of patience at times," Francona said. "Well, that's on me. I just think that again, there's going to be a time to talk about whatever questions you have. I just don't ever want this to be on me. It's got to be on the players and that's telling you the truth." If this is the end of Francona's run in Cleveland, it's been a successful ride. He's guided his teams to six postseason appearances, including one World Series loss in 2016, and owned the most wins in franchise history (845) prior to the season. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on X.