Contrary to the public comments of Red Sox chairman Tom Werner and CEO Larry Lucchino at their press conference on Friday, the 'Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight' panel of Gary Tanguay, Greg Dickerson and Joe Haggerty said it was clear Terry Francona had little support from team ownership.
"The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy reported that principle owner John Henry who missed the press conference because of a minor accident suffered on his boat has had Francona in his sights for a while," said Tanguay.
"I was told tonight Werner didn't want him back, either. Now I don't know if Werner didn't want him back because John Henry didn't want him back, I don't know what his thought process was.
Tanguay continued: "Why didn't they just come out and say, 'Look. We haven't made the playoffs for two years, we have the second-highest payroll in baseball, there's no reason why we shouldn't have made the playoffs, somebody's got to be held accountable, we're holding the manager accountable.' . . .
"Then you might have had . . . a debate. Because you would have had someone who said, 'You know what? John Henry's right! They should have done better!' "