Terry Francona bids farewell to Guardians as club officially confirms departure: "I'm leaving for the right reasons"

The Cleveland Guardians are officially in the market for a new manager as Terry Francona has confirmed that 2023 was his final year in the role. The manager led the team to the 2022 AL Central title but they did not contend in 2023. Francona, who has been with the team since 2013, is officially stepping down.

Terry Francona said:

"I came here for the right reasons, and I think I'm leaving for the right reasons, but in between has been really good."

The Guardians, who were known as the Cleveland Indians when he first took over as manager, have never finished last under Francona's rule. They won the division four times in that span.

The pinnacle of his managing career with Cleveland came when he brought them to within a few outs of a World Series title in 2016, but they lost to the Chicago Cubs.

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Terry Francona leaving Cleveland Guardians

Terry Francona has been the Cleveland Guardians manager since 2013, but he has had a very long managerial career. He began managing in 1997 for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was there for four seasons, never finishing above third place.

He then moved on to the Boston Red Sox, where he had tremendous success. His first year there, in 2004 (which was four years after leaving the Phillies), the team won it all. Three years later, in 2007, they did so once more.

Terry Francona used to manage the Red Sox

He did not have that kind of success with the Guardians. However, it's hard for a manager in today's era to make it 10 or more years with one team without being good at their job.

Francona may have managed his final inning of professional baseball. He is 64 years old and managers are only getting younger right now. Nevertheless, he had love from each of his team's fan bases.

Bruce Bochy and some others have seen success as the older managers in baseball, but most teams look for someone younger when they're hiring. It will be interesting to see what Francona's official plan is for his future.