Farrell just another victim of Boston’s revolving door
Pressure squarely on Dombrowski after firing
John Farrell. Bobby Valentine. Terry Francona. Grady Little. Joe Kerrigan. Jimy Williams. Rick Pitino. Jim O’Brien. John Carroll. Doc Rivers. Pat Burns. Mike Keenan. Robbie Ftorek. Mike O’Connell. Mike Sullivan. Dave Lewis. Claude Julien.
They once led the Red Sox, Celtics or Bruins since the Patriots swiped Bill Belichick from the New York Jets in 2000.
Seventeen men. Seventeen years.
Blessed be the departed, real and metaphorical. Pray for Brad Stevens and Bruce Cassidy.
Meanwhile, Belichick goes for his 205th regular-season victory with the Patriots Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Some franchises are more stable than others.
This season, the Red Sox conflated stability with success. Farrell paid for that with his job. State Run Media entered a convulsive state from which it may never recover.
President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski is on the clock.
Managerial moves and coaching changes are no guarantee of lasting success. Yet they continue. The Red Sox (along with Bruins and Celtics) exist in a world where the sun rises above Tom and Gisele’s estate in Brookline and sets beneath the upper deck of Gillette Stadium.
The comparison is harsh. The NFL does not have guaranteed contracts. Robert Kraft is swimming in cash like Scrooge McDuck. And there’s always Tom Brady.
But I’m not the first to invoke the Patriots with this conversation. That award goes to Farrell himself, who wrote post-mortem: “There are no days off when managing this proud franchise.”
Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy, in a letter to seasonticket holders, spoke about a sign in the clubhouse that reads, “We play for championships.” A wise sentiment given the stratospheric demands of the ticket-buying public in Boston after 15 years of duck boat parades.
How intense was Red Sox Nation’s acrimony amid the ALDS? The team sent an email hawking available Game 4 seats — including a pair 11 rows behind home plate — just 14 hours before Monday’s first pitch.
Dombrowski runs the Red Sox now. That is irrefutable. Kennedy was present at yesterday’s press conference, but did not speak. Owner John Henry and Chairman Tom Werner were nowhere in sight.
In the case of the 2017 Red Sox, “defeat” was not an orphan. It had more dads than Chuck E. Cheese on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Farrell’s exit was preceded by a barrel of poor in-game and lineup decisions, late-September fatigue and a roster laden with underperformers. David Price, Rick Porcello, Hanley Ramirez, Jackie Bradley Jr., Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts were among the culprits.
The indefensible antics of Price toward Dennis Eckersley, before his resurgence out of the bullpen, framed the summer narrative. Henry then began blowing his Tom Yawkey dog whistle to the Boston fan base as if it was still 1977.
Farrell took the hit for how poorly the Price-Eckersley situation was handled. As he should have. No single incident better demonstrated how poorly the manager was able to control, or better yet, manage his players.
Farrell was finished before the Red Sox were thumped by the Astros. Certainly, Henry had been sufficiently embarrassed by his manager’s lack of authority and excess buffoonery to green-light Farrell’s exodus.
It appears there will be no major alterations in the Red Sox lineup that repeated as A.L. East champs. Dombrowski said this team has a young core that has yet to mature.
“You make moves because you think it’s the best for an organization in that particular time,” he said. “To me, I think change is good for the organization and the manager’s position for the Boston Red Sox going into 2018.”
If the improvement in 2018 is not dramatic, it will be Dombrowski’s position next time.