Will Terry Francona Become Baseball's Jon Gruden?

"Gruden, the former Raiders and Buccaneers coach who is now a “Monday Night Football’’ analyst and helped recruit Francona to ESPN, is an enjoyable personality with a sharp sense of humor. He is already a television star. But he could be much more if not for his habit of cheerleading pretty much every player and coach in the league. The perception that Gruden does not want his words to come back and bite him – should he ever return to the sidelines – is a fair one. That’s why it was disappointing when Francona, the former Red Sox manager who parlayed a well-received two-game stint as an analyst for Fox during the 2011 American League Championship Series into a prominent role on ESPN’s baseball coverage, backed down this week from comments he made about the Red Sox’ decision to ban beer in the clubhouse."

It’s not Gruden’s relentless positivity per se that plays poorly on television. It’s the disingenuousness. We’ve seen him coach. He’s sharp. He’s charismatic. We know how great he could be. Instead, we get an over the top smarmy facade. It’s disappointing.

Francona is a long way from that. He wants to get back into management. Thus, he’s not going to trash anyone. That’s fine. He does not need to bludgeon with a mace to offer honest commentary. Pulling back on the “PR Move” comment seems as much about not wanting to start silly media kerfuffles with Bobby Valentine as censoring legitimate criticism.

Spring training just started. Let’s let him call a few games before sweating about whether he has entered the Gruden zone.