Chris Jaffe, author of Evaluating Baseball's Managers, 1876-2008, explains what kind of manager Francona is in The Hardball Times. Jaffe only evaluates managers with at least 10 years of experience, to ensure an accurate look at the manager instead of just the team surrounding him.
The 2009 season was Francona's sixth with Boston and 10th overall, having four years of experience with Philadelphia from 1997 to 2000.
Jaffe finds that Francona is unlikely to call for a sacrifice bunt or intentional walk, two aspects of baseball that run counter to the key philosophies of winning games: creating outs and putting opposing runners on base.
For a sacrifice bunt, Francona ranks fourth least likely to call one behind Buck Showalter, current Giants manager Bruce Bochy, and Tom Kelly. In intentional walks, Francona trails Davey Johnson, Casey Stengel and Tom Kelly — well-respected managers that stand the test of time. Not bad company to be in.
One intriguing aspect of Francona's stewardship has been the inability of his teams to turn the double play. None of his teams have finished last, while 2006's Mark Loretta-Alex Gonzalez combo actually finished first. All told, however, Francona is the fourth-worst manager at seeing his team convert double plays.
Another statistic in which Francona scores notably is reliever frequency. Tony La Russa is considered the father of the modern-day bullpen, having effectively pioneered the position of closer, as well as breaking down relievers into specific skill sets that can help the team (such as a left-handed pitcher focused on getting lefties out).
However, Francona is more likely than La Russa to minimize relief innings, checking in at fourth out of five, with La Russa standing fifth. His goal in such relief appearances is to gain the platoon advantage — have a left-handed pitcher face a lefty or a righty take on a righty. He ranks third in reliever platoon advantage out of all managers.
As Jaffe notes, "Francona also has hitters who draw walks, older pitchers and teams who have trouble keeping an even pace all year round."
It's difficult to argue with these observations, as they back up perceptions of Francona's time in Boston. Clearly, Francona's tendencies are ones that put a winning product on the field.
