Yeah I thought Francona would have been the best option. But I guess Matheny is fine, even though he has no experience. You have to start somewhere, and he gets to start with an amazing team. Kind of like when Tony Dungy retired in NFL, their new coach came in, and had a fantastic team already to work with.
Matheny was a great catcher fielding wise. He helped Yadier Molina get where he is today, so I'm sure he will be a good manager with the right guys around him from La Russa's staff.
Grand opening was pushed back once again, we'll just say it's TBA for now. We are still waiting on the completion of some custom development that has been in the works.