It was respect, but that isn't Francona's job - his job is to win the game.
Players want respect but they fail to respect the wishes of the team.
Respect is David Wells accepting a rehab assignment to Pawtucket or Portland instead of insisting on making his first start in a major league game when the team has a 1/2 game lead in a pennant race.
Schilling made rehab starts, Pedro made rehab starts - but David Wells won't.
Duty now for the future' type of deal, most important thing was to get him into real game and hope he gets it together by Sept. Wish I saw this coming, easy over bet -- pardon my hindsight. Wells needs to lose about 20lbs btw, no way can he perform that heavy.