This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Terry Francona wants one thing to be clear: His decision to manage the Reds did not mean he had any ill will toward Cleveland.

“I got treated so well, and that's why I always wanted to make sure people understood that I didn't leave because I was mad or [anything else]. There [were] no ulterior motives,” Francona said. “Those 11 were the best years I've ever had. Those guys made me a better person, and I'll always feel that way.”

The 2023 season was hard on Francona. He had to undergo one procedure after the next. He never fully recovered from the staph infection in his left big toe in 2021. Francona would spend every night icing his foot in his office before going home and propping it up over his head so he could have a chance to limp around the clubhouse the next day. Flying every week took a toll on him and he noticed that his pain was causing him to be short with everyone around him. It wasn’t a lifestyle he could continue at the time.

So Francona stepped away from the game last offseason. After sitting still long enough to fully heal, he spent a lot of time with family and at the golf course. Francona has now gone 11 consecutive months without needing surgery, which he joked is a new personal best. And he found a new way to enjoy the game he’s loved his entire life.

“I have the baseball package, and there would be a game tied in the eighth inning, and I would see and watch three or four of the ends of games,” Francona said. “I still love listening to baseball on the radio. So it's kind of relaxing. I know I'm showing my age, but I still really like that.”

Francona was technically a consultant for the Guardians over the past year, but the organization was good about giving its former skipper some time to get healthy. It was a role that left the door open for him to take on a front-office role in the future, because everyone knew he’d get the itch to come back to baseball sooner rather than later.

Surprisingly, though, the itch never came up in 2024.

“I had a really good year,” Francona said. “My girls went to Europe for 10 days, and I watched the grandkids. That was the one day I thought maybe I'll go back to baseball.”

He laughed for a minute and continued.

“Towards the end of the year, talking to Chris [Antonetti] a little bit,” Francona said. “I was trying to start to think, ‘OK, what do I want to do next year?’ But like I said, I had a really good year, and maybe I just needed that. But then when [the Reds] called, it just felt right.”

This job fell in his lap. Francona wasn’t seeking it out. But now, he’s found himself on the other side of the Battle of Ohio. Like many new skippers, Francona was joining a coaching staff that was relatively set, but in order for him to settle in, he knew he needed some familiar faces. He’s bringing his good friend Brad Mills in as a bench coach after he had some much-needed time away from the game following the death of his grandson. One of Francona’s favorite players he’s managed, Mike Napoli, is now on his staff. And Chris Valaika left Cleveland to be Cincinnati’s hitting coach.

“I explained to our holdover coaches, it's not a knock on them,” Francona said. “In fairness to me, we need to have some guys that know how I want to do things before we even do it.”

This will be a little bit different for everyone involved. It’ll be weird for Guardians fans to see Francona in the opposing dugout. It’ll be strange for Francona to have to start all over again after calling Cleveland home for over a decade. But at the same time, something just feels right about having Francona back in baseball.

Oh, and he’s trying to make sure his beloved scooter will be making the trip to Cincinnati, because some things just have to stay the same.

“I'm hopeful we're going to get to that,” Francona said with a smirk.