Francona approves of choice for new Commissioner

CLEVELAND -- Indians manager Terry Francona does not know Rob Manfred as well as he knows Commissioner Bud Selig, but he was pleased with the news that Manfred will assume Selig's post beginning next season.

Following a conversation with Indians team president Mark Shapiro on Friday, Francona felt confident that the owners made the right choice in Thursday's vote to name the next Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Manfred, MLB's chief operating officer, will formally take over for Selig on Jan. 25, becoming the 10th Commissioner in baseball history.

"I know his reputation is really, really good," Francona said on Sunday. "What I ultimately cared about was not the name of the Commissioner. What I care about is the well-being of the game and I know from talking to Mark today for a while, it seems like we're in pretty good hands. That's what I really care about. I want out game to flourish."

Francona, who knows Selig from their days with the Brewers organization, praised the current Commissioner for the work he has done over the past 22 years.

"I've been one of his bigger fans," Francona said. "Again, there's a lot of history there. I think he's led baseball through some kind of tumultuous times, and he's probably taken some heat sometimes when maybe it's probably a lose-lose situation. But I think he's also brought baseball through those tumultuous times [and to] a pretty healthy place.

"I can't imagine trying to please 30 owners and 30 teams, especially the way baseball is set up with some of the so-called 'haves' or 'have nots' -- however you want to put it -- the disparity. You're never going to please everybody, and I think Mr. Selig has done a really good job of getting things done, because that's really hard. You can be the smartest guy in the world, but if you can't get stuff done, it doesn't really help."