Red Sox owners made team image and "sexy" players a priority, Francona book says

NEW YORK Owners of the Boston Red Sox thought the team wasn't marketable after the 2010 season and needed to add "sexy" players, former general manager Theo Epstein says in a new book co-written by former manager Terry Francona.

Epstein says owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner and president Larry Lucchino made the team's image a priority, according to excerpts released Tuesday by Sports Illustrated. "Francona: The Red Sox Years" is co-written by the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy and is scheduled for publication by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on Jan. 22.

"They told us we didn't have any marketable players. We need some sexy guys," Epstein was quoted as saying.

"Our owners in Boston, they've been owners for 10 years," Francona said in the book excerpt, via CBS Boston. "They come in with all these ideas about baseball, but I don't think they love baseball. I think they like baseball. It's revenue, and I know that's their right and their interest because they're owners -- and they're good owners. But they don't love the game. It's still more of a toy or a hobby for them. It's not their blood. They're going to come in and out of baseball. It's different for me. Baseball is my life."

Francona worked for ESPN in 2012. Cleveland hired him in October as its manager.