Takes guts to stick with a gut instinct
If John Farrell were traversing the highways and byways of Baseball America in his new role as a scout with the Cincinnati Reds it would be piling on to revisit his tenure as manager of the Red Sox.
But it’s Farrell’s other job — analyst for ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” — that demands another round of examination.
Speaking with media types the other day via conference call, Analyst John said it was
“a little bit of a surprise a change was made,” referring to getting jettisoned as Manager John.
But during that same teleconference Farrell also said this: “I think, as the season wore on, as we got down to the final weeks, maybe there was a little bit of a gut feeling like, you know what, this might be taking place. And it did.”
Gut feeling? The only real surprise was that the Red Sox didn’t relieve Farrell of his duties during the regular season. That they did not was a head-in-the-sand decision by ownership and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. My apologies for the broken record, but, well, here goes: Farrell should have been fired in the aftermath of the Dustin Pedroia/Manny Machado debacle.
Farrell could have brought an end — forever — to any rehashing of his days as manager of the Red Sox had he stuck with his “gut feeling” take on things. But when he folds it in with the other take — “a little bit surprised” — it invites criticism on a couple of levels.
Most importantly, Farrell owes it to ESPN — and to viewers like you — to develop a strong take on the topic of the day and then stick with it. If he tries to play things down the middle by offering analysis that’s sanitized, or conflicting, or both, he’s going to lose those viewers like you. Just as he lost the Red Sox clubhouse.
Common sense tells us Farrell will be exploring every big league managerial opening that pops up this year and beyond. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Once a manager always a manager, right?
Former Sox skipper Terry Francona did some no-heavy-lifting with ESPN before the Cleveland Indians brought him in to run their shop, a decision that has worked out colossally well for everybody involved. The Indians are annual playoff contenders under Francona, and in 2016 they made it all the way to the last inning of the last game of the World Series, before being edged out by the Chicago Cubs. Francona, the former ESPN analyst, no longer needs another World Series ring to get to the Hall of Fame. He’s going to get there regardless.
Were Farrell to get another big league managing job he’d be off the “Baseball Tonight” set so fast his earpiece would momentarily be suspended in midair and viewers would be treated to a cartoonish sound. That’s later on. Maybe. For now, he has another job to do.
If Farrell provides one take on an issue, and not two takes on the same issue, he only has to defend the one take. But in saying he was surprised to be fired but that he had a gut feeling he’d be fired exposes him to criticism on both ends.
Given the very blunt “it was time for a change” comments made by Sox principal owner John Henry after the Farrell ouster was announced, it should be obvious to everyone that a change was in the works. And while Farrell can console himself with the belief he’d have been brought back for 2018 had the Red Sox waded deeper into last year’s postseason, I don’t believe that’s true, either.
Many people still think Grady Little was fired as manager of the Red Sox as punishment for leaving Pedro Martinez on the Yankee Stadium mound to fry in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series. Ummm ... no. Just one year later, when Francona was managing the Red Sox, Henry told me a change was going to be made regardless of how 2003 turned out. Henry, pointing out that championship athletes often say, “I’m going to Disney World,” said that had the Sox won it all in 2003 he would have been saying, “We just won the World Series. Let’s fire the manager!”
It’s time for John Farrell to go with his gut about going with his gut. That’s the only way he can close the books on 2017.