This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat e-newsletter. To learn the complete e-newsletter, click on right here. And subscribe to get it often in your inbox.
After Guardians supervisor Terry Francona hinted at presumably retiring on the finish of the season, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti figured it could be finest to make himself obtainable to the media.
No, he wasn’t able to say it could be Francona’s final season, both. It’s clear that Francona doesn’t need it to be official — if it’s going to be official — till the final sport is performed when the eye he’ll inevitably get received’t be taken away from his workforce.
But there have been nonetheless questions Antonetti might reply — both about Francona or the workforce, itself. Here’s a have a look at some subjects he mentioned.
Q: What have been your ideas about Francona hinting at retirement?
Antonetti: I imply, Tito, [general manager] Mike [Chernoff] and I discuss on a regular basis. There’s not a day that goes by that we’re not speaking a number of instances a day. We discuss issues which might be on his thoughts day by day: How he’s feeling, what he’s feeling. So, there was nothing stunning to me or us [on Tuesday].
Q: Do you might have plans for when Francona ultimately retires? Are you bringing any person inside your group?
Antonetti: Nothing particular. I believe it’s fairly clear in our preferences that we needed Tito [to] handle right here and handle right here so long as he’s capable of and it doesn’t battle together with his total well-being and happiness. If there ever got here a cut-off date the place his well-being, his achievement, his well being began to battle with the job, we must relook at issues at that time and begin fascinated with what’s subsequent. The most necessary factor, I believe, I care about probably the most is Tito’s life after this, after baseball. We wish to be sure that he’s nicely positioned to get pleasure from each second together with his children and his grandkids for a very long time.
Q: How necessary is it — that open line of communication — that if he decides to retire, that you simply’ve received somewhat little bit of time to organize?
Antonetti: I imply, the fact is, proper now, all of our focus is on the subsequent six weeks of normal season video games. That’s all we will do. All we will do throughout the season is attempt to put together and win as many video games as we will and assist this group develop. Once we get to the offseason, there’s a brand new set of issues that we’ll be centered on and, at that time, we’ll revisit issues with Tito, see the place his head is and take the suitable steps.
Q: Switching again to baseball, as you guys attempt to consider younger gamers: Brayan Rocchio, Tyler Freeman and Gabriel Arias, what are you looking for or what do it is advisable know over the following six weeks?
Antonetti: Getting them sport at-bats and seeing how they proceed to work, develop and enhance. I might say every of those guys, the trail we’re presently on, all of them will proceed to be within the group all through the course of the winter, into Spring Training subsequent 12 months and past. So, we don’t need to make any type of definitive selections within the subsequent few weeks — on the finish of the season. Our job is to assist them every be one of the best every of them can presumably be. If we try this nicely sufficient, hopefully we now have quite a few nice choices, and there’s some nice competitions.
Q: Do you see Xzavion Curry extra as a starter or reliever?
Antonetti: He’s saved us in plenty of methods. I imply, he was a essential member of the bullpen when he was pitching in that function. Then, a workforce want dictated that he would get some beginning alternatives and has performed an incredible job with that. Having a pitcher like that that’s able to succeeding in both function is actually invaluable to us as we have a look at constructing not simply the stability of this 12 months’s workforce however subsequent 12 months’s.
Q: What have you ever considered the way in which the workforce has responded for the reason that Trade Deadline?
Antonetti: I don’t assume the outcomes and the wins and losses are essentially reflective of how guys proceed to work, how a lot they care, how arduous they put together and the way a lot they care about one another. So, the surroundings across the workforce is similar to what it’s been prior to now. It’s a gaggle of men that care deeply about one another and exit and attempt to play the sport as finest as they will. We acknowledge the outcomes haven’t been pretty much as good as any of us would’ve hoped however there’s not been a change in dynamic or lack of effort.
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