Manny & Pedro

I'm only on chapter 5 of Francona's book, but it details the clubhouse beehive that Tito walked into in 2004 with individualists like Manny & Pedro, not to mention that Nomar was pissed that he almost got traded the year before. Given the situation, it's truly amazing that Tito kept them all together to win a World Series. Something had to give & it was Francona who bent his own rules that he grew up with in baseball to protect his players & get the most out of them. I'm shocked that he lasted in this job from 2004 through 2011 in the fishbowl that is Red Sox baseball. Between players, management & media 8 years of 12 hour days would put 50 years on anyone's life. There is no doubt that Theo picked the right guy for the job.