Yesterday the Globe's Pete Abraham tweeted something interesting:
"Here's what's interesting about the John Farrell rumors: Nobody has said no."
It's a good point. Plenty of people are speculating whether he'd be interested in returning to the Boston bench, this time as Tito's replacement, as he was once thought to be. Farrell's been asked about it, but he's deflected.
The Blue Jays are OK with him leaving, which isn't anything damning about John. It's an organizational philosophy. From Joe McDonald's piece on the subject:
"Selfishly, I don't want any of our guys to leave, but at the same time I hope all of our employees have opportunities to better themselves, whether it's responsibilities, financial, whatever it might be," Anthopoulos told sportsnet.ca over the weekend.
The Blue Jays' policy does allow employees to walk, even for a lateral move to another organization, according to a league source, which is different from most clubs.
Pretty forward-thinking from Anthopoulos -- and something that might work out for us.
Farrell would be a great replacement. He's well thought of. He has experience in this clubhouse, in this market. He's pitching focused -- which helps since pitching is our biggest problem.
Further, he might provide a good bridge between the old and the new. We all know how attached the pitchers are to Jason Varitek; maybe Farrell represents an opportunity of us to break free of Tek (and Wakefield) without sending Josh Beckett to a padded cell.
Farrell's also respected in the game and has a gravitas about him that his successor didn't live up to (I'm not sure I could pick Curt Young out of a lineup, which is crazy considering how many times he must have visited the mound this year).
I'd say our biggest competition isn't even Toronto -- it's Chicago. Throughout the whole Epstein-to-the-Cubs saga, we've seen Theo try to bring his old guys with him. Now, to date this has been limited to executives. But would it be that surprising to see Theo expand his interest to managerial candidates?
Even so, I actually think it might be more likely than not that Farrell ends up back here. I can't see them going with Hale after how September unfolded, and a protracted managerial search for a big name (Valentine, Torre, etc.) has never seemed like a good idea. I'd be happy to see John back.
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October 25, 2011
