It's taken a few years, but Terry Francona has molded a team truly in his own image.
The baseball manager is, in many ways, an anachronism. The sport, the way it’s played especially today, could almost be handled game to game without him, or so it seems.
A pitching coach is needed to walk out and talk down his pitcher, perhaps, though even the catcher could handle that. A veteran with a C on his uniform to decide his starter has lost gas. Any one of the nine, or even a Designated Arguer in the dugout, to kick dirt and hurl insults at the umpire in the event of some affront.