Terry Francona wasn't out of baseball for long. A year after the Boston Red Sox declined to keep him, Francona, an ESPN baseball analyst, is being hired by the Indians as manager. The Indians were seen as a preseason dark horse for 2012 after finishing 80-82 in 2011 but instead slumped to 68-94. Can Francona, who led the Red Sox to a pair of World Series titles, help the Indians end their title drought? Or will it take longer to build Cleveland into a winner?

• tannerchewie: "Francona is renowned as a players manager, he brings cache to the position that will be attractive to potential free agents. If the Indians are willing to spend they're going to get players. As a Royals fan hoping my team will make a splash in free agency and get solid starting pitching, I feel like they have another factor to contend with now right in the division. AL central just got better."
• ondemonitors: "It's a good hire, of course it is, and I am happy. But I would have loved to have seen Alomar get it. He would have done well with this young team."
• j33hopper: "With Francona and 200 million in contracts this off season they might be decent....Just decent. Not a lot to work with in Cleveland. Hafner hurt all the time, Carlos Santana has taken 2 steps back and has been hurt and Ubaldo Jiminez is a shadow of his former self in Colorado. Basically you have Chris Perez and Cabrera to work with and Perez wants out Id say."
• danielmiller19: "Give Francona a $160M payroll and he can win you a title. ... oh wait."
• i know more than you junior: "Maybe we can actually spend money on free agents this offseason too... We have plenty of it if we let Hafner, Sizemore, and Fausto/Roberto go."
• milo777ify: "Definitely a good move, I hate the Indians but I think Tito will turn them around.. He can unite a club and after his last incident he knows what to do and what not to do to keep players inline and still be a players coach."

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