Speculation about the timing of former Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta's firing earlier this week suggested Cleveland may have made the decision now rather than after the season ended to have a better chance at pursuing former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who indicated he wanted to manage again in 2013.
Friday, Indians general manager Chris Antonetti confirmed that the Indians are indeed interested in Francona to Jordan Bastian and Zack Meisel of MLB.com:
On Friday, one day after the Indians dismissed manager Manny Acta, general manager Chris Antonetti confirmed that Sandy Alomar Jr. and Terry Francona -- a pair of baseball minds with which the organization is plenty familiar -- are the only options the club is publicly considering at this point.
The Indians are still composing a final list, but will not openly identify additional candidates associated with other teams until the season concludes. Alomar is serving as interim manager for the club's final six contests.
Antonetti indicated that the team might pursue other candidates as well, but he didn't want to identify anyone currently employed by another team.
Francona is 1,029-915 in 12 years as a manager. He managed the Philadelphia Phillies for four seasons and the Boston Red Sox for eight. He won two World Series titles with Boston.