Terry Francona remembered the specific moment that sparked his return to the dugout. “My girls went to Europe for 10 days, and I watched the grandkids,” he said. “That was the one day I thought maybe I’ll go back to baseball.

Terry Francona, who was hired in October to run the Reds, said Monday that he feels he can once again do the work needed to improve a team.

Francona has a 1,950-1,672 record in 23 seasons managing Philadelphia (1997-2000), Boston (2004-11) and Cleveland (2013-23). He won World Series titles with the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007 and took the Guardians to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

He meant no disrespect to Cleveland or its fans when he suddenly changed course to become manager of the Reds in October after stepping down as the Guardians manager following the 2023 season.

Francona spent the past year working on his health and might get a scooter to ride to Great American Ball Park.