The old switch-a-roo by Jared Carrabis
ESPN hires Terry Francona to replace Bobby Valentine as Sunday Night Baseball analyst


Ah, the old inter-profession switch-a-roo; a beautiful thing when perfectly executed.

Last week, the Red Sox announced that former ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst Bobby Valentine would be the man to replace Terry Francona as the new manager of the Boston Red Sox. Last night, ESPN announced that former Red Sox manager Terry Francona would be the man to replace Bobby Valentine as the new ESPN Sunday Night Baseball analyst.

As a GM, I wouldn't have made this move. But now that it has happened and I had absolutely no say in it, I could get used to it. It's certainly going to be great to hear Tito in the booth on Sunday Night Baseball, especially during Red Sox games. I'm really looking forward to that.

We got our first taste of Tito in the booth during the ALCS this past October, but now we'll get to travel inside the mind of Francona for several teams around baseball.

In an interview with WEEI on the day that Valentine was introduced, ">Francona shared that allegations of pain killer abuse in the Bob Hohler column for the Boston Globe was brought up during his interview for the St. Louis Cardinals managerial position.

"That probably aggravated me -- not from St. Louis, I would have asked me [about the allegations], too -- but the fact that I had to defend myself aggravated me," said Francona.

I'm glad that Tito got a job doing something that he'll love doing. Managing here in Boston clearly wore the 52-year-old down both mentally and physically, so taking time away from the manager's office will do him a world of good.

I wish him the best of luck in his new endeavor, something that Bob Hohler should have considering doing instead of stabbing the greatest manager in Red Sox history in the back on his way out the door.

Follow @Jared_Carrabis


Published on December 06, 2011

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