Francona may be OUT as Red Sox manager

Ian Browne, MLB.Com

BOSTON -- When Terry Francona's first seven seasons as manager of the Red Sox ended -- be it after a World Series championship, a postseason elimination or a season that didn't include playoffs -- it was always a given he would return.

But with season eight ending in the unfathomable way it did, draining everyone in the organization, including Francona, there is at least some uncertainty whether the widely respected manager will be back in Boston's dugout for 2012 and beyond.

The club holds options on Francona for 2012 ($4.25 million) and '13 ($4.5 million). Each option comes with a $750,000 buyout.

The option must be picked up 10 days after Boston's season ended, which means the deadline is Oct. 8.

One thing general manager Theo Epstein wanted to make clear is that nobody in ownership or the front office is making Francona a scapegoat for the team's historically poor September, in which Boston went 7-20 and blew a nine-game lead and didn't make the postseason.

That said, every aspect of the organization will be reviewed in the coming days, including the manager. And Francona also must decide whether returning for a ninth season in the pressure-cooker that is Boston is in his best interest.

"Tito and I spent some time talking today, just kind of catching up about the season and talking about what the next few days will look like," said Epstein.

"We're going to get together -- all of ownership and [president/CEO] Larry [Lucchino] and I and Tito over the next several days and talk about the season and talk about the future, and I think we're less than 24 hours removed from the end of the season, so we need to calm down, get objective, and look at ourselves, look at 2011, look ahead and make the best decisions for everybody."

Francona was asked, point blank, if he needed time to assess what his future held and whether he wanted to return.

"Theo and I talked today a little bit, and I think we'll continue to talk tomorrow," Francona said. "Maybe it's best today to stay with where we're at. It's still pretty fresh and pretty raw. It's a fair question. I just would rather focus on the other stuff today, if that's OK. It's a fair question."

With a 744-552 record, an 8-0 record in the World Series, and five postseason berths, Francona is widely regarded as the best manager in Red Sox history.

Was this his most difficult season in Boston?

"Only because it's now," Francona said. "It's easy to forget. There's not a whole lot here that isn't trying because everything is so important to people here -- and that's good. But because it's fresh and raw, it seems that way, but there's been a lot of trying moments here. We just fought through them a little bit better [in the past]."

The players in the clubhouse backed their manager following Wednesday's elimination defeat, suffered when the club was one strike away from advancing to a one-game tiebreaker against the Rays.

"It's not Tito's fault," said Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. "He's not on the field playing. You can't blame the manager who has kept an even keel the whole time. That's what he's supposed to do. You want him to show panic and put pressure on us? No. He did his job and us as players just didn't get it done."

Francona, from the account of nearly every player in the clubhouse, kept the same even keel he did in other difficult times, such as 2004, when the Sox were down 3-0 in the American League Championship Series and came all the way back to win it all.

"I don't think right now there's a reason to point any fingers," said captain Jason Varitek. "We as players didn't get our job done."

In the coming days, the front office and Francona will try to figure out why they didn't get the most out of a talented team when it counted most.

"I can't answer that question [about Francona's future] without saying that we've already talked about it, [owner] John [Henry], [chairman] Tom [Werner], Larry and I, and nobody blames what happened in September on Tito," Epstein said. "That would be totally irresponsible and totally short-sighted and wouldn't recognize everything he means to the organization and to all our successes, including, at times, in 2011, so we take full responsibility for what happened, all of us."

About a month ago, there was speculation that Epstein could emerge as a candidate to go to the Cubs' front office. However, he is still under contract with the Red Sox and the general assumption is that he will return.

"I'll throw myself into the same boat with Tito and the coaches. It's just less than 24 hours after the last game," Epstein said. "So we're going to all get together with ownership and discuss everything. I think the process that we're going to take is identifying all the issues, or continue to identify all the issues that need addressing, taking a hard look at ourselves and seeing whether we're the people to address them. And I believe in a lot of people in the organization, including Tito, including myself."

"Collectively it was a failure. I'm the general manager, so I take more responsibility than anybody. I don't think we believe in -- I know we don't believe in scapegoats. In particular, no one blames Tito for what happened in September. Look, we all failed collectively. We kind of failed collectively in this one and we have to live with that. We're not going to be pointing the fingers at any one person in particular. We're going to be identifying issues, finding ways to address those issues and in some cases, sure, getting the right people to address those issues. But it's going to be issues-based. There's plenty to fix."