Farrell opens up about wanting Red Sox job last year
TORONTO – John Farrell alerted his Toronto Blue Jays bosses a year ago that he wanted to leave for Boston.
CEO Paul Beeston and general manager Alex Anthopoulos knew all season he had his heart set on managing the Red Sox, even as he was managing the Blue Jays.
During his introductory news conference at Fenway Park on Tuesday, Farrell was in a far more expansive mood than he was back in mid-August, when a Toronto reporter asked him about the mounting speculation out of Boston.
Then, he snapped that he would not comment on speculation and abruptly ended his daily media session before a game at the Rogers Centre.
But as the Red Sox welcomed him as their new skipper Tuesday, Farrell volunteered that he yearned to leave for his dream job in Boston a year ago.
Neither he nor the Blue Jays had previously acknowledged the prevailing rumour that Boston had tried to hire him after the 2011 season.
“This situation — coming to Boston — came about a year ago after having spent one year in Toronto,” Farrell said.
“The request was denied. In my conversations with Paul and Alex, I expressed to them at that time: ‘Yes, (Boston) is a place that I cut my teeth as a major-league coach. We experienced a lot of success, had a lot of strong relationships that still exist.’
“I was very candid and honest with them.”
And he was again earlier this month, he said, when he met with Anthopoulos to review the Jays’ disastrous season.
“When it came up again this year, on the heels of two extensive days of conversations in a year-end review, I expressed the same interest again,” he said. “And fortunately, all parties were able to work out this trade.”
Boston sent infielder Mike Aviles to Toronto for minorleague pitcher David Carpenter, and the Jays released Farrell from the final season of his three-year contract. He is starting another three-year deal in Boston.
When he told Anthopoulos of his ambitions, Farrell said the GM understood.
“Alex was very candid. His analogy was that he’s a guy from Montreal and if the Montreal Expos were still in play and that (GM) opportunity opened up, it would be similar to (this) situation,” Farrell said.
Farrell said Anthopoulos did not ask him about the Boston rumours until near the end of their two-day discussion just after Thanksgiving.
If the Red Sox were to call — they had not done so at that point — “I would be interested in speaking to them,” Farrell said.
Boston called a day or two later, and during the 10 days of negotiations that followed, Farrell said he had no communication with either side.
His discussions about Boston with Beeston and Anthopoulos last year did not adversely affect his relationship with the Jays’ front office this past season, he said.
He was sufficiently concerned during the 2011-12 offseason to broach that subject with Beeston.
But the Jays CEO had no problem and it was business as usual for the 2012 season, according to Farrell.
He refused to reply when asked whether Anthopoulos had ever discussed a contract extension with him.
In his own public statements at the end of the season, Anthopoulos said he was in no hurry to address that topic.
Asked about lessons he learned during his two years in Toronto, Farrell said he wished he would have lobbied harder for certain roster moves during conversations with Anthopoulos.
He also responded, indirectly, to late-season criticisms that his young players were often undisciplined on the bases.
“We looked to incorporate a much more aggressive running game,” he said. “Some of that was overboard. We ran into some outs.
“So creating that environment, that approach, and then putting young players into it, there probably were opportunities where I should have shut them down.”