According to an industry source, former Red Sox manager Terry Francona will serve as a guest analyst on Fox Sports during the network's playoff broadcasts of the American League Championship Series. Francona will fill in for color man Tim McCarver in the first two games of the ALCS, at a time when McCarver -- who is expected to return to the booth for Game 3 -- is undergoing what Fox has described as "a minor heart procedure."
Francona just concluded an eight-year tenure as manager of the Red Sox in which he went 744-552 and helped guide the Sox to two World Series while reaching the postseason five times.
However, the Sox missed the playoffs in each of the last two years, including this year, when the team went 7-20 in September in the biggest final month collapse in baseball history. After the season, however, the Sox did not pick up the two-year, $8.75 million option on Francona's contract, with the manager and team both suggesting their feeling that it was time for the Sox to identify a new voice to lead the clubhouse.
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