Terry Francona: 3 Possible Destinations for the Recently Fired Manager

It's official. Terry Francona is out as manager for the Boston Red Sox—so where is the two-time World Series champion headed next?

Here's a look at three possible destinations for the now unemployed Tito. 

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox got rid of Ozzie Guillen after eight (weird) years and now they're ready to move in a different direction.

The quiet, well-spoken, cribbage-playing Francona would certainly be a different direction for the "other" Sox. He's perfectly anti-Ozzie. 

In the early '90s, Francona actually managed the South Bend Sox and the Birmingham Barons, two minor league teams for the White Sox.

Chicago, a large-market club, would be willing to give Tito a high salary and a high payroll to play with similar to what he had in Boston. He would find himself in the same type of situation without the media of New England.

This win-win situation seems like the most likely.

Chicago Cubs

Why not stay in the same city for destination No. 2? Francona helped break one curse in Boston so it only seems right that he would move on to the Cubs to help break another one.

Again, it's another big market. Tito could handle the media and the pressure of a city looking to win their first World Series since 1908.

Francona even played for the Cubs back in 1986, so he's got a connection there.

Phoenix

No, no, no. He won't be replacing Kirk Gibson as manager. Don't worry.

But other than Chicago and Chicago, I don't see many possible destinations for Tito. He's likely to only go to a large-market team, so that doesn't leave a whole lot of other options with the exception of possibly the Mets.

They just hired Terry Collins at the start of 2011, however, and I imagine they'll give him more than one year to prove himself.

Francona could easily take a year off. Where's a more common place to spend a year of vacation than Phoenix?