Terry Francona: Boston Red Sox Manager Unlikely to Return in 2012

According to several reports from ESPN Boston, it's unlikely that Terry Francona will return to the Boston Red Sox after this season.

The two sides are scheduled to meet today and according to ESPN, owner John Henry isn't likely to pick up Francona's option for the 2012 and 2013 seasons or else the Sox would have announced that already.

Henry has been known to make major moves after a collapse of less magnitude, so it seems right for the situation if he does things the way he normally does.

This to me is a head-scratcher.  Francona, in my humble opinion, is one of the best managers in MLB and not re-signing him is a big mistake. 

Unless, of course, Francona is the one who wants to part ways, which has also been reported by the same website.

There is no question that the Red Sox folded in one of the historic collapses in MLB history, but can we really blame it on Francona?

Apparently the Red Sox think so.  It's a knee-jerk reaction at best and one that will be regretted moving forward if Francona leaves Boston. 

Truth is, Francona can't throw the pitches and swing the bats for his players and somewhere along the lines, his team simply gave up.  Of course you know how the old saying goes, you can't fire 25 guys, but in this instance, you might be better off doing so.

Francona, like I said, is one of the best managers in baseball and will be jobless for all of about five minutes until another team will offer him whatever deal he wants.  The options will be plenty and even teams with managers already in place might be watching their backs.

It's another incredible story line to an incredible finish to the 2011 season.  The Red Sox are making a huge mistake but you know what they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Francona brought the Red Sox their first World Series title in over 80 years, two in total and it's a shame how quickly that has been forgotten.  But as we know in Boston, like New York, it's always, "what have you done for me lately?"

And apparently Francona hasn't done enough.