Terry Francona replaces Bobby Valentine as baseball analyst – MLB News
Terry Francona on Tuesday, December 6 became a part of ESPN as a baseball analyst, weeks after he was reportedly in talks with a few teams for managerial post. The former Boston Red Sox manager, Francona will now replace Bobby Valentine as a “Sunday Night
Baseball” analyst.
This came on Tuesday in the Winter Meetings currently underway in Dallas. Interestingly, he has two-game trial this year in October, with FOX, embellishing his already impressive CV with another skill: That of analyst.
The 52-year-old will now formally join Orel Hershiser and Dan Shulman in the “Sunday Night Baseball”. That which comes as a sheer coincidence, or a swap that will make everyone surprised, is that Bobby Valentine will now head the Red Sox as manager, a former
post of Francona, while Terry will replace Valentine on ESPN, which was occupied by Bobby.
ESPN senior vice president and executive producer Jed Drake was pleased with the deal, calling it a “great” thing for the baseball coverage of ESPN, with the candour, wit and insights that Francona has in his possession.
"It's a great thing for our baseball coverage for Terry to be working with us," ESPN‘s Jed Drake said. "We pulled off the biggest trade of all to get Terry to the position where he will have Bobby's role. What we've got is a guy who has great candour, great
wit, great insights and ultimately all the skills to be a great broadcaster."
As for his candour that Francona is known for, he stated that he had no problem in telling the truth, also humbly stating that he himself had a lot to learn in the days to come.
"I have no problem watching a game and telling the truth," he said. "If somebody doesn't catch the ball, they didn't catch the ball.”
Francona also joked about the virtual job swap whereby Valentine will have managerial post in the Boston Red Sox, saying what he knew was that he will be sleeping better than Bobby next year, calling the recent move of his own joining ESPN, a refreshing
move for him.
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