Terry Francona’s Cleveland Guardians could show Red Sox the way to better days

Terry Francona's Guardians had only two stars in 2022 but thrived because of contributions from young players the Red Sox can only dream of.

Terry Francona had hearty congratulations for Tanner Bibee on Wednesday, the third pitcher to make his major-league debut in Cleveland's starting rotation in this season's first 25 games. Nick Cammett/Getty Images

By Jon Couture

April 28, 2023

4 minutes to read

COMMENTARY

I hope you’ll excuse my Terry Francona on the brain today. “Tito: The Terry Francona Story” has gotten a couple extra watches at this address, his Guardians headed to Fenway Park this weekend for their annual visit.

“I was too dumb, too stupid to die,” Francona says in the documentary, with Curt Schilling — remember him? — noting the baseball lifer’s litany of health problems included receiving last rites in the early 2000s.

Debated turning this into a top-quotes listing, prominently including the above. The jibes with former Sox utility man and current Rays manager Kevin Cash — complete with a 2018 clip of when he stole Francona’s scooter so his team could ding it up in batting practice. The story of a champagne-soaked Theo Epstein visiting the Cleveland clubhouse in the gloaming of the 2016 World Series, the one-time Red Sox architect given more time than anyone to gush in the film.

“I’m not surprised everyone wanted to show up for this documentary for the way that they’d show up for him, anywhere, anytime. He is baseball,” Epstein said. “When you think about Tito, you think about just being in a clubhouse, the bonds that are created, the brotherhood. The friendships and the beauty of it for him is the way he’s developed countless unbelievable connections and friendships with people in the game.”

Not being sure when the doc is airing again, however, quashed that. I debated using Francona — who’s not only been in Cleveland longer than he was in Boston (11 years vs. eight), but made more playoff appearances there — as the jumping-off point for a run-through the greatest Red Sox who got away.

Alas, even Francona says it was time for something new at the end of 2011. And, honestly, it’s too easy. I wager there’s not a ton of new ground to cover in this list:

Babe Ruth
Tris Speaker
Carlton Fisk
Sparky Lyle
Jeff Bagwell
Wade Boggs
Roger Clemens
Pedro Martinez
Mookie Betts
Xander Bogaerts

You hit most of those names yourself in, what, 30 seconds? Even if we pull the recent additions because the history’s not been written yet, Reggie Smith and Dennis Eckersley aren’t exactly stains on the franchise.

Eh. I’d rather look at a list you’re less likely to know.

Shane Bieber
Zach Plesac
Logan Allen

That’s Cleveland’s pitching probables this weekend. A recent Cy Young winner (2020), a solid homegrown piece, and a recently debuted lefty who could be another.

Boy, could the Red Sox use some of that.

Cleveland was a shock winner of the American League Central last year as baseball’s youngest team, 17 players making their major-league debuts. The formula was simple: Pitch well, and pressure defenses with balls in play and speed until they crack.

(The formula was also to be in the AL Central, where Cleveland was the only team better than .500, but they still won a division they were picked as fourth-best in when the year began.)

This year’s Guardians come to Boston just 12-13, but that’s not out of character; they were sub-.500 into mid-July last year, and didn’t lock up October until winning 24 of their final 30. Nor is already needing three debuts just in the starting rotation all that different, Peyton Battenfield and Allen joined by Tanner Bibee on Wednesday.

It’s been a major challenge of piecing it together without Triston McKenzie, the potential ace of the future who might be ready for June following a shoulder strain, and Northeastern’s Aaron Civale, whose latest injury battle in a career full of them is a strained oblique.

Again, it’s working. Bibee, a fifth-round draft pick in 2021, struck out eight in 5⅔ innings. Allen, who’s scheduled to make his second career start Sunday, did the same in his winning debut. And in so much as one start against Colorado and Miami respectively requires perspective, it’s another note of just how Cleveland has done this.

Their youth, unencumbered by expectations, took the torch and ran with it.

Steven Kwan ended up third in Rookie of the Year voting and won a Gold Glove in left field. Andrés Giménez, the star of the package Cleveland got when it dealt its generational talent Francisco Lindor, made the All-Star team at second base. McKenzie, coming off a 2021 in which he ponged between Triple-A and the majors, made 30 starts to a 2.96 ERA. Cal Quantrill, a swingman in 2021, had a 3.38 ERA and never left the starting rotation.

The 2022 Guardians had two stars, José Ramírez and Bieber, and a bunch of corks filling holes while their prospects percolated. Last season, the kids simply overran the stage and turned a sleepy bridge year into something far more.

It’s certainly a situation Francona’s old franchise would love to get to experience.

For Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock, and Brayan Bello to decrease the need for Chris Sale and Corey Kluber and James Paxton to turn back the clock.

For Alex Verdugo, a centerpiece in his own right, to follow through on that All-Star promise of the early going. (And for Connor Wong, probably the best defender of his position that this group’s got, to keep chipping in as well.)

For Triston Casas, experiencing understandable rookie growing pains, to become more than a walk collector and a defensive mess. (Jarren Duran certainly is providing a nice example, from far deeper depths.)

And for Alex Cora’s team to be more than a good attitude, no-quit squad who just can’t keep pace in division.

These Red Sox want you to believe it’s coming, and sometimes even offer hints that it is. And if nothing else, they certainly have the same low expectations to work with.