Familiar extremes
Farrell’s status again up in air as Red Sox enter off-season
John Farrell is familiar with the extremes that come with being the manager of the Boston Red Sox.
He knows what it’s like to be celebrated, as he was in his first season in 2013 when he managed the team to the franchise’s eighth World Series title. He also knows what it feels like under a harsh spotlight, where he’s found himself each of the last two seasons after exits in the division series of the post-season.
So he wasn’t surprised to hear his job security questioned after the Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs with their 5-4 loss to Houston on Monday night.
“I can’t begin to talk about what the off-season plans are and what changes may be realized, but I still feel like there’s a lot of good things that are going on here,” Farrell said.
Farrell was unavailable Tuesday as Boston’s players cleaned out their lockers and departed for the off-season.
“But team officials said he and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski are scheduled to hold season-ending news conferences later in the week.
Farrell’s current contract runs through the 2018 season. Boston won back-to-back American League East titles for the first time in franchise history this season despite losing the bat of retired slugger David Ortiz. It also did it despite starting the season with $217 million pitcher David Price on the disabled list and watching as 2016 Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello stumbled to an 11-17 record.
The season also featured a second straight All-Star appearance by Mookie Betts and the arrival of Rafael Devers. Other young cogs like Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi also were key contributors.
The group showed resiliency throughout the season. And Farrell said Monday that he believes he is the manager that can get it over its current hump. “We didn’t meet our goals,” Farrell said. “But we have seen some really good young players continue to develop. We had a number of challenges thrown our way from individual injuries to performance. But as a team they stuck together.”
Time will tell whether the franchise sticks with him.