"It Should Be Considered An Organizational Award:" Terry Francona Reflects On Third Manager Of The Year Award
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It's official! Terry Francona is taking home his third Manager of the Year award.
Tuesday it was announced that Tito won the honor of the best manager in the American League. This isn't the first time that he's won the award with Cleveland. He also won it in 2013 and 2016.
The three-time winner still stayed humble when talking about what the award means:
"Obviously, it's a huge honor. But what Buck [Showalter] said reigns so much with me when he said it should be considered an organizational award, because that's how I feel. When you start hearing people talk about you personally, it makes you a little uneasy. But, it allows me to brag about our organization. That part makes me really happy. Whether it's the players, the coaches, all the way to the clubbies, the trainers, the medical people, I mean that's the part that's fun because we get to live it out every day."
What Tito said toward the end about how much fun the organization has is nothing new. Anyone who watched the Guardians play in 2022 can tell that they have fun on and off the field. Whether that's a Josh Naylor head-butt or Steven Kwan playing chess with local high school students, there's always a lot of joy throughout the team.
That joy starts with Tito who allows his team to enjoy the game and each other.
In an interview with MLB Network, Tito went on to say this about the coaches in Cleveland's organization:
"I guarantee you I learn more from our coaches than they've ever learned from me. From the top to bottom ... we're diverse, we have guys that have been doing it for 35 years, we have guys that are young. It's a good mix. But they care about the players, they care about the game, and just like our players they put the game and everybody else first and themselves second and I'm so fortunate to have those guys around."
It's hard to argue with anything that Tito said about the coaching staff in the organization. Clearly, it's one of the best in baseball. The writers believe so by voting Manager of the Year and let's not forget that Chris Antonetti is fresh off of an Executive of the Year award too.
Cleveland truly is lucky to have Tito as the manager of this team.
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Read More:
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Guardians And Diamondbacks Swap RHP Prospects
Guardians' Terry Francona Wins American League Manager Of The Year
Steven Kwan Loses Out On American League Rookie Of The Year
REPORT: Guardians Won't Move Shane Bieber This Offseason
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