Terry Francona explains why he didn't want to influence the Guardians' managerial search: 'Go find your next guy'

Terry Francona officially retired after 23 years as a major-league manager. He broke in with the Philadelphia Phillies in the late 1990s, led the Boston Red Sox to two World Series during his eight years there, and helped the Guardians to a World Series appearance and four AL Central titles in his 13 years in Cleveland.

Francona won the AL Manager of the Year in 2022 and announced his retirement after the 2023 season. He stepped down from his managerial position to give way to the next era in Cleveland, now with Stephen Vogt at the helm.

Francona is still a consultant for the Guardians and explained why he didn’t want to be a part of the hiring process while appearing on the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” this week.

“No, and it was by design. Around the middle of August when I was telling my bosses, the reason I told them then, I said ‘Guys, you’ve been so good to me. I’ve been here 11 years. Go find your next guy, and you don’t need to tiptoe around me. It’s not like you’re firing me. I’m not dying,’” Francona said (7:10 in player above). “I just was tired.”

The longtime manager was ready to move on from his post and he helped the club do that in a respectful and comfortable manner.

“I think it was comfortable for everybody. And they kind of kept me in the loop, but I also told them I really didn’t need to be part of it because I have my own ideas and for 11 years those ideas were what we did,” he continued. “I just thought in fairness to them, they need to have free reign to get the guy they want to get. I thought they did a great job.”

The Guardians went from the longest-tenured manager in the league to a first-time manager in Stephen Vogt. Vogt spent time with Tampa Bay, Oakland, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Arizona, and Atlanta during his playing career as a journeyman catcher.

“I don’t pretend to know Stephen great,” said Francona, “but what I do know of him I really like and I think he’s going to do just fine.”