CLEVELAND: The Indians have already picked up manager Terry Francona’s options for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, ensuring he remains in Cleveland for the foreseeable future. On Tuesday night, he received some additional recognition for his work guiding the Indians in 2016.
Francona was named the 2016 American League Manager of the Year, as voted upon by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. It’s the second time in four years Francona has won the award, making him the eighth AL manager to win multiple times. He received 22 of the 30 first-place votes and was the lone manager to appear in the top three of every ballot.
Jeff Banister of the Texas Rangers and Buck Showalter of the Baltimore Orioles finished second and third, respectively. John Farrell of the Boston Red Sox also received first-place votes.
“The really good thing about winning this is it gives me an opportunity to brag about our players, our coaches and the organization,” Francona said Tuesday night. “My reward is watching our guys play the game and building the relationships with them and those types of things. I want our players to win the awards. So when something like this happens, I think the reason it happens is because coaches, players, front office, they do their job so well and I end up winning an award.”
In his four seasons in Cleveland, Francona has led the Indians to a 352-294 record, the best AL record in the span, as well as two trips to the postseason, one AL Central title and one AL pennant.
Francona now has 12 consecutive winning seasons between the Red Sox and Indians, the longest active streak in the major leagues, including two World Series titles in three trips. It’s the longest such streak since Joe Torre had 14 consecutive winning seasons between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers.
The BBWAA Awards only take into consideration the regular season. Francona received near universal praise for his management of the Indians’ pitching staff in the postseason. But the Indians are still in the wake of their Game 7 loss in the World Series to the Chicago Cubs.
Francona is also recovering from hip surgery that he underwent just a few days after Game 7. He felt a bit different following the World Series than he did after the Indians’ loss in the 2013 Wild Card Game.
“That’s the interesting thing about emotions,” Francona said. “That’s why you don’t plan them out ahead of time because you don’t ever quite know how you’re going to feel. I remember after the Wild Card Game in [2013], I was devastated. And after this one, I knew I was getting my hip done. They put you under anesthetic, that’ll help you forget about stuff in a hurry. But I didn’t feel as bad — losing hurts. But I thought our guys really gave everything they had, and I meant that when I said it. And so, that helped me a lot.”
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at www.ohio.com/indians. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RyanLewisABJ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RyanLewisABJ.