After publicly stating that he is committed to the Red Sox, John Farrell has followed through and removed his name from consideration to be the Indians' next skipper, writes ESPN's Buster Olney. This comes on the heels of a Ken Rosenthal report that Cleveland was moving on as though Farrell would not be a candidate – but would have likely considered him again if he declared his interest in the job.
If Farrell and Cleveland had come to an agreement, they would have had to negotiate with Boston for a way out of the clause barring him from managing in 2010.
Now that they have scratched their reported early favorite off the list, the Indians must move ahead with their search. Rosenthal says the Tribe plans to conduct 8-10 phone interviews before whittling their way down to 3-5 finalists by the third week of October. Olney says that Torey Lovullo – manager of Cleveland's AAA affiliate – is among the in-house options that might be considered. Both Rosenthal and Olney identify Bobby Valentine as a contender.
In a separate report, Olney says that Valentine is already talking to the Marlins about a position. Although Valentine recently signed on with ESPN as an analyst, it is believed that his contract contains an escape clause that would allow him to accept an MLB managerial job. The charismatic skipper spent the last six years managing the Pacific League's Chiba Lotte Marines, where he had the support of the fans, but not the cash-strapped organization. The Mets reached the NLCS in 1999, the World Series in 2000 and went 536-467 (.534) in six seasons and change under Bobby V.
Would Valentine be your pick to manage the underachieving Indians? Who else should the Indians interview for the job?
