Red Sox Extend Terry Francona

The Red Sox have finally taken care of manager Terry Francona by signing him to a three year contract extension in the neighborhood of $12 million. The contract also has club options for 2012 and 2013, which would make Francona the second longest serving manager in Sox history if he gets those extra years. The only Red Sox manager with a longer tenure was Joe Cronin, who held the job from 1935-47, just a few short years before my time.

With the new deal, Francona is now closer to new Dodger manager Joe Torre as baseball's highest-paid manager. Torre signed a $13 million, three-year deal this offseason after spending the previous 12 seasons as manager of the New York Yonkees. Just as a side note, I don't see Torre excelling in La-La Land. Actually, I'm sort of looking forward to the Dodgers having an awful year.

In addition to a multi-year, mulit-million dollar extension, Francona also received something else during the negotiations- a touching love e-mail from general manager Theo Epstein.

"It was just personal about what we've been through since the very beginning. It meant a lot to me. He means a lot to me." Umm, I thought there was no crying in baseball. Seriously, pull yourself together there, Terry. And please try to remember that this is the same Theo that walked away from you and the organization two years ago to go hang out with Pearl Jam in Brazil.

I do give Francona a ton of credit for the job he's done. He's led the Red Sox to two (yes, two!) World Series Championships and has done an incredible job of handling the Boston media and the players. Not to mention that he has to deal with the annual Manny Being Manny episode. In fact, I think it's written in the new contract.

For his Red Sox career, Francona has a .579 regular-season winning percentage (375-273), which is the second-best in club history among managers with at least 350 games. His .710 winning percentage (22-9) in postseason games is the best in major league history among managers with at least 20 games and he has the most World Series wins (eight) without a loss. Did I mention that the Red Sox have won two World Series Championships with him as manager? Yes, two!

In my opinion, Francona shouldn't have to buy another drink or another meal in Boston for the rest of his life. So if you see him around town, take care of his tab for him because he's only make four million a year.