The Blue Jays haven't officially announced that John Farrell will be the team's next manager, but John Henry confirms to Peter Abraham and Nick Cafardo that Farrell will be leaving Boston for Toronto. The Red Sox owner told the Boston Globe in an e-mail that "the Jays are getting a great baseball man and a great person."
Reports on Friday indicated that Farrell had been offered the managerial job by the Jays and was expected to accept. Now, Henry suggests that it's a done deal: "He will be an effective, excellent manager. I expect him to manage in MLB for as long as he wants to…. He will be missed."
The Blue Jays' managerial search, following Cito Gaston's retirement, was an exhaustive process that began with a list of about 200 candidates and was eventually whittled down to four finalists. From there, it became clear that Farrell, Boston's pitching coach, was the frontrunner. He will take over a club that finished 85-77, good for fourth in the American League East. According to Abraham and Cafardo, the Jays are expected to introduce Farrell in Toronto tomorrow.
Looks like the search will begin soon now for a replacement, but really.. Tremendous job John did in Boston and he has a good young staff to work with in Toronto, something he is good with and picking out mechanical flaws as well, then in correcting them.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Dagnabbit! A big loss for the Red Sox, a great grab by the Blue Jays.
I wonder who will replace John? This will be interesting if the Red Sox have to go into 2011 with a new pitching coach and brand new catching squad.
Sounds like the Jays made a good choice based on what the Boston faithful have said. Very exciting, can’t wait for spring training to roll around!
Tough blow to the Sox. Hurts being a fan of them. I hope we can come up with a solid replacement for him. He’s been great for us over the years. Good hire by Toronto, though.
Now we have to wait until next year for a new season, and I’m excited already!
As am I! Less than 4 months until pitchers and catchers and injured players report!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait!! But Hot Stove League first!
Although I am a Mets fan first and foremost, I have always enjoyed the Jays to the point of “escaping” to Toronto to catch some games when I can. Now it’s going to be great to see Jonn Farrell manage his first team in great city, with passionate (and hilarious!) fans. I have been hoping for this!
Also, while I’m at it: way to NOT drag out the hiring process and media-driven speculation for weeks, Jays! You got it DONE so you can move on to other important things.
Take note, Wilpons!!!
Go Jays!
Oh man, a Mets and Jays fan? That’s brutal.
Nah, being a Mets fan is like boot camp. I got this!
Cant think of a man that could deserve a shot at coaching more then him. Hate to see him go, especially to a division rival. Good luck to Farrell, hopefully he can get the Jays to finish better, right behind Boston 🙂
You know, they did finish only 4 games behind Boston this year…
I’ll agree with your statement only if the Sox finish first in the division with 100 wins and the Jays make the WC with 95+. haha
Good for Farrell. Now the slight Indian fan in me is kind of mad at him. He wouldn’t even interview for the Indians last year. They are the team that gave him his start in the coaching/development ranks. So yay and boo at the same time.
it wasn’t his fault the red sox had a clause in his contract that would not allow him to interview for other jobs till now
I heard that too. But I expected John Farrell to beg the Sox to let him interview for the job anyway, since he left on good terms. Part of being a fan is thinking with your heart and not your head.
I do wish Farrell well, and I think he earned this chance to manage, and I think he’ll be good at it.
I Can Picture the Caption Now: The Boston Red Sox Promote the Manager of the Pawtuckett Red Sox to be their new Pitching Coach because they are too poor to get a real pitching coach.
that makes a ton of sense.
lol… you know it’s not a bad thing to develop your coaches and Red Sox have been doing a very good job at it.
And those coaches are familiar with players in the farm they’ve seen rise through so they know how to work with them.
Jays didn’t hire an experienced manager and I’m not mad about it. It’s not about being cheap but rather, what can make your team better. Just because they are inexperienced at the big league level doesn’t mean they are not good.
The Red Sox and the Angels keep losing staff to other organizations. It does mean they’re doing something right-because the guys they lose have proved to be very good in their own right.
If I wanted to be a major league manager or coach, I’d try to get myself hired by the Red Sox or the Angels. It’s the quickest way to get in house training and preparation for your next job up the ladder.
I’m excited for the upcoming season and I hope Farrell decides to keep Walton.
I’d keep murphy too, and butter if he wanted to stay, dunno why he would take the same job in baltimore
yeah it will be interesting to see if they keep the staff around or not… i know there is a ton of talk about butterfield leaving to go to baltimore, but hopefully he reconsiders. seems kind of dumb to go to a division team in a far worse position even if you are close with the manager.
I could understand if Butterfield left to manage a club, but to leave to hold the same position in Baltimore seems odd. Hopefelly he stays.
But staying around and working for the guy who beat you out for the manager’s job seems odd too. That, coupled with his ties to Showalter, makes me think he’ll go to Baltimore. Showalter is the type of manager who wears out his welcome quickly, so maybe Butter will get a shot there before too long.
Considering that the coaching positions are chosen by the manager, I have my doubts he would want to have a guy who competed for his job around. I think if AA wants to keep Butterfield around it may be better to have him managing a minor league club in the system.
Good call, that completely slipped my mind. Must be the baseball withdrawl.
Was just thinking an interesting thing to add to the contract would be a bonus something like $100,000 for every win above 86.
not a great idea… that’s what cito pulled at the end of this year, and we saw JP arencibia (sic) what like 4 times in the last 6 weeks and snider not playing against left handers…
it was always, always about cito
Imagine Farrell hires Hale as his bench coach? ^_^