John Farrell earned his return

It was an easy decision.

John Farrell is back. He’s managing the Boston Red Sox again next season. And his entire coaching staff has been invited back. Why wouldn’t they have been?

Say what you will about John Farrell, but the Red Sox did not collapse under his watch. He kept them together. He had a strong relationship with nearly everyone on the team, and they wanted to play. They trust him. This isn’t like 2012 when the locker room was toxic–or September 2011 when Terry Francona just gave up and the Red Sox collapsed under this watch. That hasn’t happened under Farrell yet.

Dave Dombrowski said he thought Farrell did a fine job. It was one of the first things he said this offseason. There really seemed to be no doubt in his mind about the return.

A lot of fans and the radio probably aren’t happy though. Just remember this though: Dombrowski probably doesn’t care much about in-game managing. There’s a few pinch-hits or bullpen moves one could question on Farrell, but keeping a team together is more important from a front office perspective. Not to mention, Farrell seemed to make a lot of right decisions that just didn’t go well for him. And he took a lot of criticism for it, not that it bothered him.

 

 

The one question left remaining is if the Red Sox will exercise Farrell’s 2018 option. Hmm.. Maybe worry about that one in 2017. A lot could change in that time, plus it puts it on him to keep doing what he’s doing instead of letting go.

So at what point would Farrell’s job come into question. He hasn’t been used as a scapegoat yet, so one has to wonder if that would ever happen. Maybe if next year is a losing season. If it’s another postseason year, then probably not. Couldn’t do that to him — regardless of a few in game decisions.

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