9:41pm: It would be surprising at this point if Farrell turned down the Blue Jays job, a source familiar with the situation told Alex Speier of WEEI.
The Red Sox will look at both internal and external candidates to fill their pitching coach void if Farrell leaves. However, it is said that the club is underwhelmed with their in-house options.
8:23pm: Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell has been offered the managerial job in Toronto, multiple industry sources told Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. Now the 48-year-old and the Blue Jays must work to come to an agreement on a contract.
McAdam notes if Farrell ends up taking the position, this would mark the second straight season that the BoSox have lost a key member of their coaching staff to a managerial vacancy. Last winter, former bench coach Brad Mills left Boston to become the manager of the Astros.
It would seem that the Blue Jays have left no stone unturned in their managerial search. By some estimates, McAdam writes, Toronto spoke to upwards of 20 candidates.
Awesome. I totally trust AA and looking forward to next season!
Can the season start now? I miss the Jays already. =(
Hard to say whether or not for sure this is the right decsion because he has no prior managerial experience. However, AA did interview 20 canaditates or so, so you would think Farrell was the best fit to manage this team. As a Jays fan, I am disappointed that they didnt offer the position to Brian Butterfield who has been with the organization for 9 seasons, but they must of seen something in Farrell they really liked and were willing to lose Butter to another team(Orioles most likely) but not offering him the position.
I figured from the beginning that if they were going to make as exhaustive a search as they’d said, it’d be unlikely that the end result would be that the guy best suited to manage the Jays at this point would be the guy they’ve had right in front of them all these years. I hope Butter gets his chance someday. I guess it’s likely he’ll be gone to Baltimore now, which is understandable.
SON OF A BEE-STING!
I realize I’m in the minority here, but I’ve never like Farrell as a pitching coach, so this comes as terrific news to a Sox fan!
no one cares
Jimmy needs a Jameson! (my obligatory comment to every Bunk statement)
well done.
Yeah I’m kind of worried about this choice… He certainly didn’t do any wonders with the Sox staff last season… Not to say the blame should be placed on his shoulders but still…
If I recall correctly, one of the criticisms of Farrell was that he works better with younger pitchers than he does with veterans. Proof being the season Lester and Buchholz had compared to Beckett and Lackey. Considering the Jays have a pretty young rotation, this should probably be good news for you guys.
that’s a good point…
yep
Farrell is given lots of credit to the emergences of Lester and Bucholz
So does this mean he develops Romero to next Lester and Morrow to next Buchholz. :PIt’s a young team so that’s a good quality for a manager to have. Beckett will be better next season. He’s been a solid ace throughout his career and had an injury riddled season and face it, the entire team was injured and just a tough overall season for the Red Sox.
Awesome! Great success!
Very nice!
As a Blue Jays fan if it weren’t for the injuries Boston probably wins the Wild Card if not the division. The Jays have as lot of pitching and it needs to be sorted out Zep, Mills, McGowen, Litch, Hill even Draebek just aquired Buckholz. This is a second starting rotation. Farrel will sort it out.
Well,as a Boston fan, I’d LIKE to agree with you but I just feel like we got more out of the bats of nava and McD than cameron’s defense might have made up for. Another large issue was Ortiz being a instant out for the first month or two.
As for the rest, yeah having healthy pitching and catching would have been great. Ten 2 of the best bats on the team getting injured at the end was a nail in the coffin.
I think they could have gotten the wildcard but more than that I’m very skeptical about.
The WC and division were pretty close so really if you were to win WC, it’s not crazy that you could have won the division.
Oh pssh on your second point. Teixeira was equally bad in the beginning of the season as Ortiz was; in fact as I remember, Papi broke out of it before Mark did. And yet the Yanks were able to still win 97 games. I really think his effect on the team is being overblown sometimes. I mean, he’s great and really good for the team, but it sounds sometimes like people believe if he has a slump then the whole team falls apart or something.
I agree about Nava over Cameron and all that. I think Cameron’s right on their level at best; that situation didn’t affect the team too much. Losing people like Ellsbury and Pedroia and so forth is what beat us up.
Bad move. Worst guy for the job. Pitchers make terrible managers.
lol a good stereotype to make a decision on…
Like Bud Black? P.S. NOBODY can be worse than Cito was.
gibbons?
I’m sure Gibbons used a pinch hitter at least once over the years. I can’t say the same for Cito.
Gibbons was a vastly superior in-game manager than Cito Gaston.
but he employed a terrible terrible offensive strategy in which, our top of the line rotation seldom had any help.. I agree that game evolved past cito, but i think there were many good aspects to him as well.
And your qualifications that justify such a broad statement are?
I know there’s only a .1% chance of it happening, but I’m trying to fantasize having Dave Duncan in Boston.
I’m with ya there bud, I’m with ya there.
Although I’d make that a .00001% chance. Just sayin.
Something tells me even those odds are optimistic.
So, you’re saying there’s a chance. Sweet!
Thank you, Lloyd Christmas.
Coaches are overrated, it’s all about the talent, and the Cards have had a lot of it
I’ve seen pitchers go into St Louis washed up or just #5 arms and come out as quality pitchers at a much more noticeable frequency than any other team. The major variable: Dave Duncan.
Second major variable: playing in the NL, with less patient hitters and a lineup of 8.
You would think Toronto would hire somebody that has a philosophy like Cito’s? Not sure Farrell matches up that well. I understand he would prefer his team to use their speed – not sure Toronto has a bunch of base burners. Or at least not yet. Oh well. When you guys win the East you’ll be toasting Farrell’s managerial skills. If you finish 5th you’ll be wondering why you signed this bum.
By like Cito do you mean playing Fred Lewis and Kevin Millar over their franchise player? Or putting in Brian fricking Tallet in one run games?
Or in a tied game for the 9th, 10th AND 11th inning only to blow it (I know, I know, I totally wasn’t expecting him to blow it either)
Who says we want Cito’s philosophy? AA wants guys that will get on base, use their speed and hit homeruns. He wants a balanced line-up not just a homerun mashing one.
Look at Texas Rangers and Tampa, that’s what we’re aiming for.
Let’s hope he doesn’t suck!
I wish Butterfield got the job. I’m not too optimistic about Farrell
I wish that the Pirates had interviewed Mr. Farrell, as he seems to be more qualified than any of the other candidates they have interviewed. Probably too expensive for them, so they are going to go with an inexperienced guy and hope it actually works for once.
Be happy you’re not getting Gibbons.
I actually thought Gibbons was a very strong in game manager. Handled the bullpen really well. His clashes with Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilly were the only real blemishes I can think of..
seriously… he might punch-out anybody who pisses him off! you don’t want your young prospects on the DL cuz the coach beat em.
But yea, I want to see Gibbons manage another team though, see whats he con do
Ya that was my fear with him, the only good thing was his .500 record, something the Pirates haven’t had in 18 Years!
Gibbons was an excellent manager.
He had the best jays team that took the field in a long time and didnt get the team in to the playoffs… so excellent is a bit of a stretch.
But we’re delving back into the nonsense here…!
DJF drop?
I would prefer that the Jays hired Leo Mazzone as their manager.
Although I was hoping it’d be Alomar, I’m happy with Farrell as the choice. I watched a bunch of interviews with him on YouTube, and he’s obviously an intelligent, articulate baseball guy, with a lot of range to his thinking. His background in player development can’t hurt. His familiarity with Latin American leagues and players can’t hurt either.
One of the other things I think he might bring to the mix is this: sooner or later the Jays are going to have to trade one or more of their young pitchers to get the player or players they need to contend in the AL East. The question is always going to be: which pitcher to trade? Farrell has the capability to provide one more experienced evaluating eye to answer that question, and having that sort of capability coming from a manager is a good thing. Certainly it’s not something the Jays had with Cito, or Gibbons, or any of their recent managers.
I think he’s likely to be able to operate in partnership with AA and the front office, and presumably they think he’s the guy to be on board with the development plan that’s already in process. So I’m happy.
Red Sox next pitching coach?
Rich Sauveur @ Pawtucket?
Bob Kipper a@ Portland?
Dick Such @ Salem?
Whoever says “I will slap Papelbon in the face and remind him he’s not a rock star”?
Outstanding!
You know, even though the Red Sox team ERA was down this year, I have a feeling that Farrell was wearing out his welcome in Boston. When the 2010 season began must pundits agreed that the Sox had the best starting rotation in the AL, if not in all of MLB. That didn’t pan out and there may have been some recent whispers circulating that John would be better off elsewhere.. Just my opinion…but it doesn’t seem as though the front office is saying as much about Farrell’s move as one might expect..
Curt Schilling for Red Sox PC
MORE PITCHING COACHES!!!!!!
Bruce Walton already adds about 10% to swings and misses on your changeups, Farrell can only improve on that!
good that were bring this guy in, maybe he will teach our guys to have some disciple once in a while. we did hit 254 HRs but where did we finish? sure the long ball looks nice but you need a well balanced team to win games, as proven by the rangers this year.
i’ll be waiting the next 5 years until Gose is called up. as he will make or break this team most likely.
Gose will not make or break this team, its baseball not basketball, one player doesn’t make or break a team.
Secondly, you can’t teach players how to be good 2 strike hitters, how to have good plate coverage and a good eye, if all you have is homerun hitters, then you work that angle. . Its up to the GM to field a balanced attack and upto the manager to get the most out of that lineup.