Terry Francona out as Boston Red Sox Manager

By James Sheldon on September 30th, 2011

You saw this coming a month away, didn’t you?

As a monster collapse mounted in September, and the Boston Red Sox saw it all the way through, you just knew that Francona would be gone. Technically, he wasn’t fired. His contract was up–within the rider he had two $4.5 million one-year extensions, and presumably, the club chose not to pick them up.

I don’t believe Francona would have suggested that they did, either. I do believe it was amicable. Everyone is probably still in shock after the last month.

Somewhere along the line, Terry Francona lost this team. It seemed that the squad was interested in doing their thing, and lets be honest, marquee names sucked down the stretch. They sucked. So, there you have it Red Sox fan–gone is the man who led your squad to two World Series championships and helped lift the curse of the Bambino.

Francona will have no problem finding a new gig. If he chose to do so, he could probably ink a new deal within the upcoming week. It’ll be interesting to see where he lands, or if he hangs back for awhile looking for the right opportunity.

In the meantime, Boston’s got a few things to fix. Red Sox GM, Theo Epstein, aka the dude that is always verbally slap fighting with Yankees GM Brian Cashman like they’re a couple of girls…yeah, that guy…he’s got some triggers to pull and some strings to cut. I have a feeling Sox fans have seen the last of David “Big Papi” Ortiz in a Sox uni, but then, one never knows. Just stay away from my Albert Pujols, Epstein–got it, pal!?

After a long discussion following the September collapse of the Red Sox, I agreed with some of my fellow baseball experts that Boston is missing that quintessential Johnny Damon type. The loose, comical, vocal leader who understands when it’s time to be serious, and time to play like you’ve got nothing to lose. They’re well equipped with grind-it-out type in Boston, and now they need someone to re-inject some personality into the clubhouse. Even Papi looked like a stressed parent down the stretch–that’ll never cut it.