As if things for the Red Sox weren’t already as weird as one could think they would get…yesterday they just got even stranger when ESPN announced that former Red Sox manager Terry Francona would be working for them…taking over for current Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine.
As Valentine did, Francona will be working the Sunday Night Baseball game and making appearances on Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter. Â He’ll also be part of ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series.
In the 2011 post-season, Francona did the color commentary for the first two games of the American League Championship Series along side Joe Buck while Tim McCarver was out due to surgery. Â Francona got rave reviews from critics and fans alike and while he did interview for the St. Louis Cardinals manager position most assumed he would take at least a year off from managing and end up on television in one form or another.
Francona replacing the man who replaced him seemed like a joke in October and now it’s a reality. Â While it’s unclear how the Red Sox will do under Bobby Valentine, ESPN certainly just improved their Sunday Night Baseball program.
(Originally published on Examiner.com)