Boston dream comes to an end for Farrell

On Wednesday morning at Fenway Park, in a courtesy face-to-face meeting with team president Dave Dombrowski and with a season remaining on his original six-year contract, John Farrell had his dream job yanked from under him.

That was what he had called managing the Red Sox when he leveraged his way out of the remaining season of his Blue Jays contract at the end of 2012.

Farrell’s firing did not come as a surprise, but the timing of the dismissal did, with the first round of the playoffs continuing to unfold.

Dombrowski relieved Farrell of his duties less than 48 hours after the Sox lost the American League Division Series to the Houston Astros in four games. Farrell won three division titles and the 2013 World Series with Boston, but he did not have much support anywhere — among management, in the clubhouse, or with the fan base. He did not engender the loyalty of players or capture the imagination of fans the way former skipper Terry Francona did.

When Farrell was let go, an impatient and judgmental Red Sox Nation celebrated.

It turns out Farrell may have missed the sublime presence of the retired David Ortiz more than just for his offensive contributions. Big Papi was an important influence in the clubhouse, a lighting rod for many player issues.

Without Ortiz, left-hander David Price was able to feud with an abrasive Red Sox media and trash-talk a hall-of-famer, Dennis Eckersley, for something he said on a broadcast, without any repercussion. And without Ortiz, the Sox finished last in the AL in home runs, totally against perception and park.

Farrell was ejected for defending Dustin Pedroia on a strikeout in his final game but when the gritty former MVP was asked if Farrell should be back, he evaded the question. Pedroia instead praised the entire team for the year they had just completed with a second straight division title.

Face it. Francona was always going to be a tough act to follow, ignoring that one failed managerial season by Bobby Valentine in 2012. From 2004 to 2011, the Francona years, early afternoon on many game days, Pedroia and the ultimate players’ manager could be seen playing cribbage in his office. Farrell was never that crib guy and was ultimately skunked by Dombrowski.

So who is likely to be next? It won’t be third-base coach Brian Butterfield or any of the current coaches who still have contracts for 2018 but were told they are free to seek work elsewhere. It won’t be someone from within the organization, Dombrowski said, while suggesting experience in a major-league dugout is a must, though not necessarily as manager.

He understands the special demands of managing in Boston with famous fan attributes of fatalism, cynicism and know-it-all-ism. It’s much like coaching the Leafs or the Canadiens in terms of scrutiny and emotion.

Given Dombrowski’s history, he will either hire 72-year-old Jim Leyland, or someone with the same managerial attributes. Dombrowski began with the White Sox in the early ’80s when Leyland was thirdbase coach under Tony LaRussa and was considered baseball’s hottest managerial candidate. Dombrowski was interested in Leyland as a replacement to Buck Rodgers in Montreal, but the manager was under contract to Pittsburgh.

Dombrowski would eventually get his man though — again and again.

As GM with the expansion Florida Marlins, Dombrowski replaced manager John Boles with Leyland at the end of 1996 and they won the World Series a year later. When he took over the Detroit Tigers, Dombrowski fired local favourite Alan Trammell at the end of 2005 and quickly hired Leyland, going to the World Series again the next year.

Leyland, an adviser to the Tigers, managed the U.S. to a gold medal in the World Baseball Classic this past March. But, at 72, he may feel he’s too old and comfortable at this stage of life.

If it’s not Leyland, some of the other possibilities include former Red Sox infielder Alex Cora, former Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, hired by Dombrowski at the end of 2013, and Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez, a protege of Joe Maddon and a coach for the Tampa Bay Rays in Price’s early years.

Dombrowski at least has changed his technique of firing managers since his Expos days. He asked Farrell to join him at Fenway Park to tell him the bad news. “You have the chance to tell someone face to face and you do it,” Dombrowski said.

That wasn’t the case in 1991, when the Expos had an off-day in Montreal with a late-afternoon charter flight to Houston. The GM called Rodgers at his apartment and told him he was fired, then held a news conference at Olympic Stadium with replacement Tom Runnells. Rodgers had an impromptu farewell news conference at a Bishop St. bar called Grumpy’s.

Dombrowski’s Red Sox are going to be very good for years to come, with a young base led by Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi and some great young arms. As long as the new guy can get along with the current veterans, Price, Pedroia and others, Boston will be back.