Will Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell have a job next season?
With a second straight early playoff exit, losing to the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series Monday afternoon, questions have begun to rise about the job security of the Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell.
The Boston Red Sox first move at last year’s annual winter meetings was to pick up Farrell’s 2018 option. At the time this didn’t seem too bad of an idea.
After managing the Red Sox to a World Series Championship Title during his first year as manager, the team finished last in the American League East in both 2014 and 2015, leading some to believe he was a one-hit wonder manager.
However, he then led the team, a newer team with younger players, to two straight AL East Division titles in 2016 and 2017 proving he could manage without a sorely needed replacement bat for the now retired David Ortiz. Unfortunately for Farrell he’s also now managed the team to two straight early postseason defeats.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Farrell has made some interesting and odd decisions in the playoffs and during the season in 2017. He started Eduardo Nunez in Game 1 of this year’s ALDS, who was fighting a knee injury and had had just two at-bats in the last month, instead of Hanley Ramirez. Nunez blew out his knee in the first inning of Game 1.
In Game 2, Farrell took rookie sensation Rafael Devers out of the lineup against lefty Dallas Keuchel, despite Devers having power and good numbers against left-handers.
In Monday’s game he allowed left-hander and Cy Young Award candidate Chris Sale to remain in the game in the eighth inning, despite him having to face the Astros’ young Alex Bregman.
Bregman is young but is a right-handed batter with a .331 average against lefties this season. Bregman had already homered off of Sale in Game 1 of the ALDS and he homered again on Monday as the Astros came back to take the series.
Farrell was even ejected during the second inning of Monday’s potential elimination game while arguing balls and strikes with umpire Mark Wegner during a Dustin Pedroia at-bat. Yes, he went to great lengths to support his players but it blew up in his face. Some of his strategies and actions are concerning and questionable at best.
Such as the incident earlier in the season that turned the clubhouse from the clubhouse that David Ortiz used to lead with such guidance and wisdom to a clubhouse run by pitcher David Price.
Price went on a tirade on the team plane against NSEN broadcaster, Hall of Famer and 1992 AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Dennis Eckersley.
Boston Red Sox
Instead of apologizing to Eck, Farrell kept simply saying, “we have a professional relationship,” words that made Farrell looked almost as guilty and responsible as Price was for Price’s actions.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski took over his position with the Boston Red Sox in late 2015 and inherited Farrell as his manager.
Now with just the one year left on his contract this could be Dombrowski’s chance to hire a manager of his choosing as opposed to bringing back Farrell as a lame duck for the season.
Rumors from ESPN staff writer Scott Lauber, already have ideas of who may replace Farrell. The short list of names included former Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, who could potentially bring great success back to the Red Sox and calm to their clubhouse, along with recently fired Detroit Tigers’ manager Brad Ausmus. Dombrowski hired Ausmus while with Detroit so he may not be the best candidate but he is a trustworthy and relatively proven managerial option.
As for Farrell, when asked if he was the right man to lead the Boston Red Sox in 2018, he said,
"“Personally, yes, I feel confidence in that. I know that we have got opportunity to assess where we are as a team. I can’t begin to talk about what the offseason plans are and what changes may be realized, but still there’s a lot of good things that are going here.”"
Next: Rafael Devers becomes youngest Red Sox player to hit a postseason home run
When asked specifically if he thought he would be back next year he answered, “Again, we just walked off the field 10 minutes ago.”
Ultimately, it seems that the decision will be up to Dombrowski and at the moment Farrell’s job is somewhat up in the air.