Indians Hire Tito as Their Manager

It has been a year since Terry Francona was fired from the Red Sox for a disappointing end to the 2011 season. It's a pity that the team made that knee jerk reaction.

Tito did a year of broadcast work for ESPN waiting for the next season to come to an end when teams start to look for managers. That chance did come for Terry and with a team he was with before for a brief period of time in 1988 as a player. Terry Francona is putting the microphone in storage and getting the old Indians hat out. Terry has been hired by the Cleveland Indians as their new manager.

The terms of the agreement are not worked out yet but the official announcement is set to be made Monday. Tito takes over a team that was within reach of first place of their division until August showed up. The Indians went 5-24 in that month. The Indians have actually not been to the postseason since the Red Sox knocked them out in the ALCS in 2007 and went on to win the World Series with Tito as their manager.

We all knew that Terry was going to be picked up by some team and it was just up to Tito to determine the time and place for coming back. The Indians have been struggling to find their way back to the postseason and have just not been able to develop a ball club that can stand up for a few seasons like they had in the late 1990's. The team is still a work in progress considering how bad they collapsed in the 2nd half of the season. I don't expect the team to make huge waves for a couple years or so but with Terry Francona as manager they can perhaps straighten out the dugout and bring stability to the team.

P.S. Good Luck to you Terry.