Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

News Flash: The Red Sox and manager Terry Francona agree on a 3-year contract extension, with another 2-years in options available. While terms of the deal were not released, WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche, who broke the story this morning, says Francona will become one of the highest paid managers in baseball, though the value does not eclipse Joe Torre’s 3-year, $13-million contract with the Dodgers. In a statement, Francona called Boston the best city to manage baseball in.

The View from Mt. Olympus: Well-deserved…and probably long overdue!

Francona is the best Sox manager of my lifetime, as the two World Series will attest to. How he’s able to juggle the players, media, management and fans without losing his sanity is beyond me. Here’s a man who led the team to its first championship in 86-years, in the process doing something never before done in the history of the sport (come back from 3-0 down, to the Yankees, no less!), and yet every yahoo on talk radio thinks he/she can do a better job.

Imagine getting second-guessed as often as this guy does in public on an almost daily basis? Even when the Sox win, you can guarantee at least a handful of bozos complaining about a move or non-move in the 6th inning of a meaningless mid-summer game. I know I’d snap under that king of pressure and scrutiny!

Other than Torre, there isn’t an active manager in the game with more World Series titles than Tito. And if he gets as much time in Boston as his former arch-rival did in New York, he may match that total yet!

That’s the view from here…how do you see it? What took so long? Or did the Red Sox commit too many years to this deal? Should it have been a shorter contract? Who is the best Sox manager you’ve seen?

Updated News Flash: ESPN is reporting the Red Sox are about to ink Bartolo Colon to a minor league contract. If healthy, a big IF, the 2005 Cy Young winner could pay huge dividends and fill the void left by Curt Schilling's injury...All in all, a great, great gamble by Theo Epstein!