What’s Next For the Red Sox?

Well, out goes John Farrell.  It might seem weird to fire a manager who posted three 90 win division title seasons to go along with a World Series in 5 seasons. Yet after a consecutive ALDS exit, General Manager Dave Dombrowski felt a change was sorely needed.  Many argue the talent is there for this Red Sox team, and the culture perpetrated by the manager is a main reason that this team cannot take the next step.  The suggestive reasoning around the move comes back to the players maybe needing to “hear a new voice,” similar to the argument around Tom Coughlin when he was forced out as Giants head coach.  Both saw great success, but were largely inconsistent during their tenures.  On Wednesday, Dombrowski said “I think sometimes change can be better.” It’ll be interesting to see what Dombrowski’s game plan is for this offseason. Will only new coaching thrust the team over the top in the AL, or does this team need an infusion of new talent, namely in the form of veteran leadership?

I do not blame John Farrell at all for this team’s lack of success this postseason.  An offense that scored the most runs in baseball regressed to 10th this year and went from 9th to 27th in home run production.  Cy Young winner Rick Porcello also came back to earth, both big reasons why across the board many fans saw this team as regressing in general.  Considering these facts, John Farrell deserves credit for managing this team to a 93 game win total.  He effectively managed his bullpen and even coached Drew Pomeranz to an ace-like year.  I believe it was predetermined by Dombrowski that Farrell would be gone, or at least that he would be on a short leash.  Remember, John Farrell was never Dombrowski’s guy.  When he was hired in 2015, Farrell underwent chemotherapy for cancer, so that forced Dombrowski’s hand into keeping him.   The Red Sox executive stuck with Farrell and he then led the team to a bounce-back year in 2016.  But now after a slight regression and another disappointing exit from the postseason, it was all but inevitable that Farrell would be gone.  

 One thing certainly working against Farrell were certain events of locker room strife enveloping his clubhouse this season.  After losing key leader David Ortiz, he had to deal with a dispute between broadcaster Dennis Eckersley and pitcher David Price.  In this dispute Price yelled at the commentator for negative on-air comments about Eduardo Rodriguez.  There is no way of knowing for sure how Farrell handled that under closed wraps though, meaning the dispute could have been resolved by July when it happened.

So maybe that in conjunction with the Manny Machado fight in April prove he does not have control over his clubhouse.  If Dave Dombrowski fully evaluated the situation and made this conclusion, that is his decision as general manager.  The problem becomes thrusting a manager into the same spot as Farrell, and placing higher expectations on the replacement.  Can Alex Cora, Brad Ausmus, or former Sox captain Jason Varitek do better than Farrell? That means uniting a clubhouse that seemingly has no veteran leadership, sparking an offense that regressed significantly, and managing a rotation that has failed in the postseason two years in a row.  Whoever walks in does have a great array of young, under 25 hitting talent, led by rising stars Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, and Andrew Benintendi.  Namely, though, Dave Dombrowski needs to equip the new manager with a power bat, a wily veteran, and some added bullpen aid.  I wouldn’t rule anything out with “Dealin’ Dave,” but ideally they should keep their core of young hitting talent and hope they take another step.  Making a move on a bat like JD Martinez with the Red Sox’s huge payroll, and then adding some clubhouse leadership in free agency is probably their best move.  Whatever happens, it should be an interesting offseason for Dombrowski and the Sox.

Written by Will McGuinness