Earlier this winter, Elly De La Cruz drove to the hotel where Terry Francona was staying in Santo Domingo to make the first meeting more convenient for his new manager, and as they chatted, Francona had a question for his shortstop: What do you want to accomplish?
"I want to be the best player in baseball," De La Cruz responded, hardly an outlandish statement. Last year, in his age-22 season, he hit 25 homers and stole 67 bases.
Francona offered an amendment in thought: How about De La Cruz aim to become the best player in baseball on the best team in baseball, and that sounded good to De La Cruz, with the two men agreeing to work together toward that end.