Projo Sox Blog

BOSTON -- Justin Masterson has just witnessed, first-hand, the painful firing of a popular manager. It's a feeling Terry Francona will never forget.

Although he's played in Cleveland for less than two months, Masterson grew fond of manager Eric Wedge in the time since he was traded from Boston in the deal that brought Victor Martinez to town.

"[Wedge is] good guy, and fun. The whole staff, they're good people," said Masterson. "What's been neat about them is, I think they've known for a little bit but they've still been trying to push and prod and get guys to develop into better players, which is a testament to their character."

The Indians decided to let Wedge manage the final series of the season this weekend. That was the same choice the Phillies made when they fired Francona back in 2000. In four seasons with the Phils, Francona's teams never won more games than they lost or finished above third place in their division. Philadelphia general manager Ed Wade was criticized in some quarters at the time for how the firing was executed.

"Everyone has to write a story, which I understand, and I think Eddie caught a lot of grief for when he fired me, not opposed to why," Francona said. "I knew why he did it. He was trying to be as classy as he could."

Francona has never protested his firing.

"I'd have fired me, too. I'm serious," he said. "Ed . . . had no choice. I knew that. The hardest part isn't getting fired. The hardest part is before you get fired. As its coming, it's tough. Philadelphia is tough. It's hard to have a graceful exit there."

Francona has frequently spoke about how his experiences in Philadelphia, positive and negative, helped prepare him for his next shot as a manager in Boston. In his six seasons with the Red Sox, he's guided the team to two World Series and five playoff appearances.

"I was trying to handle some things there that were kind of getting out of control," he said. "When you don't win, there are a lot of things to think about. I was probably taking a lot of bullets for a lot of different [people] but I felt like that was my responsibility. I think I understood my responsibilities but at the same time when the organization thinks you're ready to win and you don't win . . . whether I agreed with that or not, sometimes you've got to make a change."

-- KEVIN McNAMARA

 Tags  Justin Masterson Terry Francona

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